Saint Estephe

Strongly-flavoured dishes match perfectly; beef or lamb stews come to mind but vegetable dishes in rich sauces would also be good, and perhaps a classic Toulouse or duck cassoulet.

The grapes are fermented with natural yeasts in a mix of glazed concrete and large wooden vats before ageing in 100% new barriques for 18-24 months, depending on the vintage.

In Saint-Estèphe, you will find the historic place “Marbuzet” between the Château Cos d’Estournel and Château Montrose. This hamlet is home to several domains, but among them the most remarkable is of course the Château Haut-Marbuzet. The revival and rise of the property began in 1952 when Hervé Duboscq bought 7 hectares in life annuity. Without initial training, he became passionate about wine and began to reconstruct the vast estate that had been broken up a century earlier by the heirs of the MacCarthy family. Following the various acquisitions of neighboring vineyards, the domain will reach in 1996 the area of ??61 hectares. Today, this exceptional vineyard covers 61 hectares and Hervé Duboscq is still at the helm, now assisted by his two sons Bruno and Hughes. The grape variety is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. The vast majority of the Château Haut-Marbuzet vineyard is carried by a ridge of gravel in the clay-limestone subsoil with the presence of iron. In the vineyards, one immediately notices the high density of plantation, about 9000 feet / ha on average. It should be noted here that a high density makes it possible, among other things, to have at equal yield fewer bunches per vine, hence better quality grapes. No chemical weed killers are used in vines that are plowed and scratched. What makes the personality of Haut-Marbuzet probably lies largely in the winemaking. The grapes are harvested very ripe (sometimes almost overripe) and then destemmed. Macerations are long. Henri Duboscq remains attached to the traditional equipment and works a lot the diversification of the woods and the heaters to look for a real richness of the aromas.