A Brief History Of Chateau Margaux

Chateau Margaux
Today I'd like to talk about one of the greatest investments to come out of Bordeaux. One of the four original first growths. Some of the people don’t realize that back in 1855, Molten Rothschild was not classified as one of the first growths. As a matter of fact, it was the only property that was elevated from that original 1855 classification. Chateau Margaux was considered to be one of the greatest wines in Margaux Bordeaux for a very long time.
ver a hundred fifty years ago, they were classified at first growth; maybe not at the top of the tops but Margaux was a lonely Appalachian back then.

In my opinion there wasn’t really a lot of exciting stuff coming from Chateau Margaux until really just recently. Today you’ve got a lot of top level stuff coming from Margaux. Margala is a new property that we’ve just in the store; outstanding. Lostcomes had become one of the top wines in Margaux this century and a lot of other great stuff popping up: Kitneck Brown, Brine Kitneck, but Chateau Margaux is still at the top in Margaux. The top level of quality. This property was purchased in the late 70s. It had been fallen in disarray by the Megalopolis family and Karin, the daughter still runs it today and really, if you look at the great vintages of Margaux, you have 61, you have 59, which we showed at the Great Wine Seminar which Paul Pontier, the gentlemen that has run this property since 1983. Well he was brought on it in 83 to run it for – shortly after that he’s been the wine maker for one of the head guys. A really nice guy; one of the ultimate gentlemen of Bordeaux.

And we showed this property going back to 1950 including the 61. But now vintages in the 70s even though when the Megalopolis family took it over in the late 70s. In 78, it was immediately the first vintage. They were considered one of the greatest wines of the 78 vintage which was not considered a great vintage. Again in 79 and again in 1980 you could see that Margaux was again on the move and the people in charge now were willing to make the sacrifices monetarily and physically to make Margaux a great wine again. I’ve been to Chateau Margaux several times. The people there are always very accommodating and one of the big surprises for me at the Great Wine Seminar last year was the Pavillon Rouge at the Chateau Margaux and the white wine. The Pavillon Blanc, one of the greatest white wines made in the Margaux Appalachians. 100% Savion Blanc, this wine in 2006 was over 15% alcohol. Man, that is unreal. In Bordeaux you don’t see wines that are that alcoholic but you don’t notice it in this wine, incredible balance, incredible concentration, just wonderful melon, grapefruit, and almost like a lemon/oil kind of citrus to this wine.
Love the balance like I said for being so rich. You really don’t notice that it’s high alcohol. The Pavillon Rouge was created I think about the same time the Megalopolis family took over Chateau Margaux. This was to improve the quality and they actually make 16000/17000 cases of Pavillon Rouge to their 12000 cases of the first wine, Chateau Margaux and as I mentioned in previous emails, these great growths of the Medoc. The vineyards are not classified. They could make as much Chateau Margaux as they wanted to but they still have this high level of quality to adhere to and they can only come up with about 10000/12000 cases for this great growth of Margaux. 


For more information on investment grade and vintage wines please visit us at www.interestinwine.co.uk

How to Save Money on Car Hire/ Rental Costs

Need To Save money? This Article Provides Tips On Saving Money Off Hire Car Rental.
If you enjoy exploring the holiday destinations you go to, but prefer to be flexible rather than tied down to tour operator times, hire a car. The problem is car rental charges can be pretty steep if you go into such deals blindly. Read this check list and you could save yourself £100´s of pounds.

 

Compare prices of car rentals
To get the best deals on car rentals compare costs by using price comparison sites such Carrentals.co.uk . These sites save you hours of time researching each car rental service independently and you can easily identify the firms with the best deals. Also check for further discounts advertised on the site. The key to getting a good price for hiring a car abroad however is booking early.

Car rental accessories
Whenever you hire a car you will be offered accessories which come with additional charges. Therefore consider what you will need and don´t need. You will be offered such things as a roof rack, baby seat, sat-nav and other named drivers. These additional costs are generally standard prices from one company to the next, but some add them on within the hire price so if you are booking online, check the boxes for “extras” are unticked if you don´t need them.

Car hire insurance costs
Another extra that car hire companies include as additional costs to the advertised price is car insurance. You are not permitted to hire a car without insurance, therefore check exactly what you are paying for as part of the insurance policy. In particular you want to know how much excess you are paying in the event of an accident as these vary widely from one firm to the next. Car hire insurance can easily be bought online from sites such as http://www.car-hire-insurance.co.uk/

 

To identify how much excess you will be liable for, seek out the Collision Damage Waiver (CDW). The excess you have to pay should be included in the terms and conditions. If it´s not find out how much it is before you agree to a deal. You also want to know what the excess is for theft protection.

Also be wary of the type of insurance car hire firms are offering you. When you ask them about the CDW costs they will almost certainly offer you insurance which reduces the excess to nil, but subsequently the car insurance costs are then inflated and are very expensive. You are therefore better off buying cheaper car insurance, but one that offers affordable CDW rates. Obviously, before going into a car hire contract, you have to be confident you are not likely to have an accident but at the same time should air on the side of caution and don´t accept a policy that has extortionate excess costs just because it´s the lowest quote.

Make sure you get the car rental you paid for
When you arrive at the car hire firm to collect your vehicle, make sure you are given the car you are paying for. It may be that they try to persuade you to upgrade your booking, or they give you an inferior model to the one you paid for. If the latter is the case you are entitled to claim your money back for the difference in price.

Not all car hire firm owners are honest so when they run through the damages with you make sure every knock and scrape is clearly marked on the check list. You should be given a car diagram of your own with the contract which you should fill in and agree with the salesman. It wouldn´t hurt to take your camera and take photographs as well.

You may think it is safer to use a reputable car hire firm that you have heard of such as Hertz or Avis, but it is often the case that the local firms are equal to them, and are trustworthy, but offer better prices. 

Therefore don´t be afraid of using local firms because you think they might cheat you.

Check the fuel
Before you drive the car away, check the fuel gauge against how much fuel you have paid for. You will also want to know whether the car runs on petrol or diesel, and where the nearest petrol station is so you can restore the fuel before returning the hire car.

Conclusion
Use the tips in this article and you should be successful in saving money on car hire and rental costs. Feel free to leave a comment to let us know how you got on with finding a great car rental deal, also don't forget the insurance!

Image Credits: DrJohnBullas and stowupland.