2014 CHÂTEAU DURFORT VIVENS 2ème Cru Classé Margaux Lea & Sandeman, Lea & Sandeman

CHÂTEAU DURFORT VIVENS

2020 2ème Cru Classé Margaux

Grapes Merlot, Cab Sauv, Cab Franc
Colour Red
Origin France, Bordeaux
Other Practising Organic, Bio-dynamic, Certified Organic
Sub-district Haut Médoc
Village Margaux
Classification 2ème Cru Classé
ABV 13.5%

Aromas of blackberries, black olives, lead pencil and blueberries. Full-bodied with very velvety tannins. It’s big and rich for Margaux, but then it tightens at the finish. It will come around with bottle age. One for the cellar. 88% cabernet sauvignon and 12% merlot. From biodynamically grown grapes. Try after 2026. Rating: 96 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (May 2023)


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The 2020 Durfort-Vivens is a dense, concentrated wine, just as it was en primeur. Blackberry jam, grilled herbs, lavender, menthol and chocolate are some of the many notes that build as the 2020 shows off its breadth and sheer power. Striking inner perfume and sweet aromatics lend an exotic flair that is so distinctive. Superb. Drinking range: 2028 - 2050 Rating: 96 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2023)

The 2020 Durfort-Vivens is aged in two-thirds new barrel and one-third amphora. It has a fresh and lively bouquet, black cherries intermixed with veins of blue fruit, very pure and oddly Burgundy-like. The oak is nicely integrated. The palate is well balanced with grainy tannins, quite strict and saline, lightly spiced and then easing down with a pliant, graphite-tinged, almost Pauillac-like finish. Give this 4-6 years in bottle. Drinking range: 2026 - 2042 Rating: 92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Feb 2023)

With sappy oak which rather swamps the fruit, it is quite hard to appreciate this wine right now. The fruit seems ripe but it is foreshortened by the oak and this brings with it tannins which combine with the fruit tannins and dry everything out. I am unsure about this wine and so therefore I am giving it a defensive score and will adjust this when I have a second chance to taste this wine. Rating: 17+? Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (Jun 2021)

Château Durfort Vivens

The Durfort de Duras family came to Bordeaux in the 14th Century and laid the foundations of today's estate. They also, for a while, owned the near-by Château Lamothe (which went on to become Château Margaux). In 1824 the family sold to a Monsieur de Vivens who added his name to his new property. Under his ownership, Durfort-Vivens was awarded Second Growth status in 1855, a status it has often struggled to live up to. In 1937 the company that owned Château Margaux bought Durfort-Vivens and it was, once again, in common ownership with the villages grandest estate. Indeed, until 1961 when Durfort-Vivens was sold to Lucien Lurton, the wine from Château Durfort Vivens was made at Château Margaux.

The period of Lurton ownership has seen slow steady progress for Durfort-Vivens particularly since Lucien's son Gonzague took over and had a new chai built in the 1990s.

Gonzague decided to take the whole property into organic farming in 2012, and achieved certification in 2016. Following a biodynamic regime, the estate is also certified by Demeter.

AOC appellation : Margaux
Ranking : 2nd Classified Growth in 1855
Surface of the vineyard : 65 hectares of which 55 are vines
Soil : deep gravel from the Quaternary
period (Günz and Mindel) with a sand/clay matrix
Density : 6600 to 8300 vines/hectare
Vats : wooden, concrete vats and terracotta jars with capacities that enable each parcel to be treated separately.
Barrels : Bordeaux type barrels made of French oak from the centre of France. 60 % of new oak
Owner : Gonzague Lurton
Production Manager : Léopold Valentin

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