1961 | Château Giscours | Margaux

This is a rare bottle from the 1961 vintage, a legendary year in Bordeaux, with some of the best examples made in the 20th century.

Reviews:

• Vinous: The 1961 Giscours is perhaps a hidden gem of the vintage and several bottles testify a Margaux that is just a couple of paces behind that of Palmer. This example has a magnificent bouquet with almost identical aromas to the château bottle, beautifully defined blackberry, estuary mudflats, seaweed and a hint of bay. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, very pure and ethereal in style that belies that intensity on displays. The Cabernet Sauvignon dominates the finish so that it offers the upstanding nature of a Pauillac. Classic Giscours and actually one that is reasonably priced given the quality.

• Tom Cannavan: Lovely sense of clarity and crispness here for the first time, with a really bright red fruit quality showing through. Some meaty and earthy notes, but also glimpses of a little Margaux perfume. Palate too is crisp, with cherry acidity keeping it quite crisp. Although not without breadth and a bit of spice and warmth, this is pretty lightweight stuff, without huge complexity or flesh on it. Lovely all the same.

Producer Information

Château Giscours is a well-regarded wine estate in the Margaux appellation of the Haut-Médoc region just north of Bordeaux city. It was rated as a third growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification and, since the 1990s, it has moved from being a Merlot-dominant wine to a more long-lived blend, typically of 75 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 25 percent Merlot. The Giscours vineyard is one of the largest on the Left Bank with 165 hectares (407 acres) in total. Of this, 102 hectares (252 acres) falls within the Margaux appellation. This vineyard is planted 60 percent to Cabernet Sauvignon with 32 percent Merlot, 5 percent Cabernet Franc and 3 percent Petit Verdot. The second wine, La Sirène de Giscours, comes from a selection of fruit from the youngest vines. Additionally, a 63-hectare (156-acre) plot, adjacent to Giscours but outside the Margaux boundary, provides the fruit for Le Haut Médoc de Giscours. Château Duthil is a made from a selection of the best Haut-Médoc plots and also vinified at Giscours. The range is completed by Le Rosé de Giscours. Total production across the range is around 350,000 bottles a year. Scandal hit the property in 1998, when a former employee accused management and the new owner, the Dutch businessman Eric Albada-Jelgersma, of blending Haut-Médoc fruit into the 1995 La Sirène to increase its volume, and adding various illegal additives including fruit acids and milk. Legal proceedings dragged on to 2008, but the result of the trial was never made public. In 2018, the estate again made headlines after it was fined for an illegal sugar addition (chaptalization) to a batch of Merlot at the winery, despite receiving (erroneous) local assurances the chaptalization was allowed. Although representatives for the estate said after the ruling they would appeal the fine, no further developments have been made public. Nonetheless, throughout the recent twenty years many improvements in techniques and facilities were made. Château Giscours dates back to 1552, when a wealthy Bordeaux draper named Pierre de Lhomme bought a house called Guyscoutz, extended the lands and planted the first vines. The current neoclassical form of the large château dates from the 19th Century. It is also the home ground of Bordeaux-Giscours Cricket Club, one of the top teams in France.

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