John Learns from the Masters at Château Margaux

Originally published in Te Motu Tidings No. 3 (April 1997), this article documents John Dunleavy's experiences working the 1996 vintage at Château Margaux under the guidance of Dr Paul Pontallier. Preserved here as part of the Te Motu Archives, it provides a fascinating snapshot of Bordeaux winemaking philosophy and the influences that helped shape Te Motu's early years. Minor edits have been made for formatting and clarity.

A sign of growing international recognition of the quality of Te Motu was an invitation to John Dunleavy, our vineyard manager and co-winemaker, to be a guest worker at the prestigious Château Margaux in Bordeaux for the 1996 vintage.

Following are notes written by John about his experiences at Margaux, where he carried out a wide variety of winemaking duties under the tutelage of the Château's director of winery operations, Dr Paul Pontallier.

The harvest of the reds at Margaux began on Monday, 23 September, with Merlot being the first variety picked. The fruit was in good condition generally, with potential alcohols 11 to 12%.

The fruit arrived in trailers and was tipped into one of two granite-lined bins capable of holding 5 to 6 tonnes of grapes. Here the fruit is checked over as it is shifted manually across the floor to the auger that conveys the bunches to the crusher/destemmer. The crushed must is pumped from there through large pipes into the waiting wooden fermentation cuves (vats) as well as to 10 stainless steel vats.

The second red variety harvested was Cabernet Franc, and again had good fruit quality. There was also a small amount of Petit Verdot.

The major portion of the red blend was Cabernet Sauvignon. For the harvest of Cabernet, Margaux would bus in people from Bordeaux, about 35 minutes' drive away. With a full complement of locals and "ring-ins", the harvest '96 team numbered about 220 people who worked on approximately 10 to 15 days.

The weekends were reserved for Château workers and locals, with the team then numbering about 60.

Each day that harvesting took place we were all fed lunch in the dining hall. Lunch consisted of a five-course meal, with wine of course.

The Cabernet grapes were in good condition, but low in sugars. It seems that at Margaux, the winemakers prefer concentration of flavours and fruit quality ahead of physiological ripeness and high sugars. I feel that pressure from deteriorating weather forced harvest to begin sooner than maybe we in New Zealand would consider.

The weather seemed to change from warm late summer to cool autumn very quickly in Bordeaux. The mists that arrived most mornings and covered the vineyards, holding the temperature down, played a part in that pressure. When the mist lifts around midday, the temperature soars up by approximately 10 degrees.

The process of making the wine is very similar to that in many other wineries, but at Château Margaux there are the amazing 26 wooden cuves which, according to the winemaking hierarchy, have a very positive effect on the wine.

Aeration during remontage (pumping over) is emphasised. The fermentations seemed to be very quick and vigorous, with plenty of cooling via simple water radiators when the temperatures reached 30°C.

My feeling is that the wooden cuves come into their own during maceration and especially later while the wine undergoes its malolactic fermentation.

Château Margaux also has a room of 10 large stainless steel fermentation vats, each with a capacity of 190 hectolitres. I believe that, as a general rule, the wine in stainless would probably end up as Pavillon Rouge, but this is by no means a certainty.

Chaptalisation (addition of sugar) ensures that the required alcohol level of 12.5% can be achieved.

An example of this came to light during one of the tasting sessions of wines from each cuve that had finished primary fermentation. Paul Pontallier remarked about one wine that it would have to be one of the best examples of Cabernet that he had tasted anywhere.

I looked up the log book from the Maître du Chai and noted that this particular wine was picked with a low potential alcohol, and it was chaptalised. Interesting compared with the general striving for grape sugar ripeness in New Zealand.

Fermentations began, peaked and ended much as they do anywhere, with remontage often governed by the amount of cooling the must needed.

Château Margaux maintains some very old traditions, for example moving wine from cuve to cuve by barrel rather than pumping. When I queried this with Paul Pontallier he explained that he would rather see people working with wine than pumps and technology doing the job.

He felt the wine gained from having human contact.