By Jane Anson – Journalist Free Lance – :
\r\n” Finding an available piece of land in Margaux, and launching a new wine, is an almost impossible task today – but the family behind renowned Château Cambon la Pelouse have managed to achieve the impossible.
\r\nThe tiny half-hectare (1.24 acres) plot, lying in between Château Margaux and Château Brane-Cantenac, used to belong to the village butcher, a man who for years had supplied the best cuts of meat to the illustrious properties that surrounded his shop. But when it came to selling his small parcel of woodland in 2002 – that had the plantation rights for vines – he wanted to pass it on as agricultural land to a family, not to a big business.
\r\nJean-Pierre Marie, of (former) cru bourgeois supérieur Cambon La Pelouse was the lucky recipient, buying half a hectare for €65,000 in 2002. The family spent in total €80,000 to ready the land and plant the vines (where the usual price in Margaux can reach between €1 million and €3 million per planted hectare). Their first harvest was in 2006, with the wine, L’Aura de Cambon,
\r\ngoing into bottle in June 2008.
\r\nThe typical Margaux property is big – Margaux at 87 hectares, Palmer 52 hectares, Rauzan-Ségla 52 hectares, Brane-Cantenac 90 hectares, Giscours 80 hectares – so to make a wine from 0.5 hectares is truly unusual (another would be Clos du Jaugueyron from Michel Théron). With 50% Merlot in the final blend, L’Aura de Cambon is rich and feminine in style.
\r\nNicolas Marie, Jean Pierre’s son, explains, ‘It’s extremely rare to find an unplanted terroir, with rights for planting, in this region. We want to create a distinctive wine, just as we did with Cambon La Pelouse, one that could be measured against the biggest names in the appellation.”
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