Pétrus Soil Without the Pétrus Price.

Marsau Cotes de Francs 2019 Link to the wine: https://www.winex.com/marsau-cotes-de-francs-2019.html Join our Daily Email Offer List: https://cdn.forms-content.sg-form.com/f3da488a-d10b-11ee-94a3-62718bdc6118 Some Bordeaux discoveries come and go. Château Marsau has been part of our story for nearly three decades. We've followed this little estate since the early days of Wine Exchange, sold thousands of bottles across multiple vintages, visited the property ourselves, and watched bottles from the late 1990s and early 2000s mature far beyond what their modest price tags ever suggested they should. And after all those years, the fundamental reason we've believed in Marsau hasn't changed. It's the dirt. Château Marsau sits in Francs Côtes de Bordeaux, just east of Saint-Émilion, where the vineyard possesses an extraordinary combination of blue and black clay soils ideally suited to Merlot. It's the same basic geological story that has made clay-rich sites elsewhere on Bordeaux's Right Bank legendary, most famously at Pétrus in Pomerol. That connection wasn't lost on Robert Parker, who famously referred to Marsau as the "Pétrus of the Côtes de Francs." Of course, we're not telling you this is Pétrus. What makes Marsau so compelling is that it doesn't need to be. Move roughly ten miles away from the glamorous addresses of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol, and suddenly extraordinary Merlot terroir can still produce serious Bordeaux without the three-digit, four-digit, or even five-digit price tag. That's where Château Marsau becomes really interesting. The property was acquired in the early 1990s by Jean-Marie Chadronnier, whose background at leading Bordeaux négociant CVBG gave him an unusually deep understanding of the region's vineyards. He recognized that Marsau possessed excellent raw material, even if the wines weren't yet realizing the vineyard's full potential. Today, the estate is run by the next generation, Mathieu and Anne-Laurence Chadronnier, with Anne-Laurence overseeing the winemaking. Their work has increasingly focused on what happens before the grapes ever reach the cellar: thoughtful farming, organic certification, greater biodiversity, and allowing the vineyard to develop as naturally functioning an ecosystem as possible. That's important because Marsau isn't a wine manufactured into greatness in the cellar. The vineyard does the heavy lifting. The 2019 Château Marsau is 100% Merlot grown on those deep clay soils, and at seven years of age it's beginning to show exactly why we've been talking about this property for so long. There's plenty of fruit up front: ripe plum, black cherry, currant, and darker berry flavors give the wine generosity and richness. But underneath that fruit, bottle age is beginning to introduce the secondary characteristics that make mature Bordeaux so compelling. Earth, spice, savory complexity, and subtle tertiary notes are beginning to emerge, while the tannins have developed a remarkably fine, silky, seamless texture. And yet there's still grip. Still structure. Still life. That's the magic of Marsau. We've tasted old bottles from this property many times, including wines from 1998, 1999, and 2000, and they've repeatedly demonstrated an ability to evolve beautifully. The 2019 is already delicious today, but everything we've learned from previous vintages tells us there's absolutely no hurry. Drink it now. Put it away. Better yet, do both. The critics certainly recognized the quality here, too. The 2019 received an impressive collection of reviews, including 95 points from James Suckling, 93 points from Lisa Perrotti-Brown's The Wine Independent, 93 from Decanter, 92 from Wine Advocate, and 92 from Jeff Leve. But the number that might matter most is the one on the price tag. Under $30. That's what makes Bordeaux so fascinating when you're willing to look beyond the famous addresses. Take this same combination of old-school Right Bank character, 100% Merlot, serious clay terroir, meticulous organic farming, proven aging ability, and critical acclaim and move it a few miles west toward Saint-Émilion or Pomerol, and the conversation around price changes dramatically. Marsau gives you another option. Great terroir without paying for the famous ZIP code. We've believed in Château Marsau for nearly 30 years. The 2019 gives us absolutely no reason to stop now.