Clos du Jaugueyron, Margaux 2016

This top cuvee is a selection from specific parcels and barrels oriented towards cabernet (the soils are more gravelly in the higher part of the vineyard where cabernet is planted and sandier for merlot in the lower). Aged for 12 months in 85% new and 15% one year old barrels, then nine months in cuvee to settle the wine.

Originally from Minervois in Languedoc, Michel Theron was destined to take over the family domaine after completing his studies in Bordeaux but he fell in love with his now-wife Stephanie, a Bordelaise, and never went back. Michel quickly became fascinated by the history and beauty of the Medoc and bought his first parcel in Cantenac in 1993, 0.4ha of ungrafted vines that gave their name to the domaine. This historical plot was subsequently leased to their friends Laurence Alias and Pascal Choime when they created Closeries des Moussis.

As outsiders without substantial financial means, Michel and Stephanie showed patience and determination to acquire vineyards through different fermages (long-term leases). They reached 8.5ha before reducing their holdings to 7ha (4.2ha Haut-Medoc, 2.8ha Margaux), "we want to enhance quality and preserve our health", the couple recently commented. Anticipating the end of some of these contracts, they managed to buy 2ha of abandoned land in Margaux which nobody wanted because of their proximity to the cool and humid Landes forest (susceptible to violent attacks of mildew). Michel and Stephanie, on the other hand, love taking risks and saw this as an opportunity to benefit from the surrounding woods and its biodiverse wildlife. They painstakingly cleared it, sometimes reclaiming from the forest, and planted at a high density of 10,000 vines per ha.