Before we went to Château Smith Haut Lafitte my wife and I decided to visit the village of Margaux. It looks very quiet and perhaps from the outside a little bit boring and old-fashioned. The village might surprise you. It isn’t very big and it hasn’t got a lot of nice shops but… It is one of the most interesting wine-villages of the Bordeaux area. There are several outstanding wineries in and around Margaux.
One of the shops I have to mention is ‘Mademoiselle de Bordeaux’. It sells some of the most extraordinary chocolate I
tasted for a long time. In 1969 people started in Margaux a chocolate factory. Over the years it became famous for its ‘Guinettes’ (Morello cherries in dark chocolate with a hint of Armagnac). In 1981 something peculiar happened in the chocolate factory. During the machines were making chocolate-sticks they suddenly blocked. The machines produced now a new kind of thinner and sinuous sticks. Their well-known ’Sarments’ were born. Perhaps you can call this mistake even a gift from heaven. In a wine-area this product doesn’t seem very strange. In the shop you can taste some of their outstanding creations. Chocolate is for me hard to resist because I am a chocolate lover. In 2015 the company opened a new shop in the city of Bordeaux.
If the weather is grey with a little bit of rain Margaux doesn’t look very nice. I am sorry to say so. But as I mentioned before you have to look for the hidden treasures in this village.
Walking through the streets of Margaux we came across a beautiful fence. Behind it we saw a winery called Château Marquis d’Alesme.
Luckily it was open for the public. This château was bought in 2006 by the French industrial Hubert Perrodo. He was the founder of the oil-company Perenco and the owner of Château Labégorce (cru Bourgeois).
The buildings (cellar, shop etc.) where substantially modernized and recreated. With the château are 15 ha of vineyard all around Margaux. The average age of the vineyard is 45 years old.
In the classification there was made in 1855 for some of the best Bordeaux wines Château Marquis d’Alesme was mentioned as a third Grand Cru Classé (and still is). Already for 400 years this house is known in Margaux for its culture and its passion.
This wine-estate was established between the 16th and the 17th century by the Marquis d’Alesme. In 1809 the property was acquired by the Dutch business man Jan Bekker Teerlink. He attached his name also to the property.
In 2008 Nathalie Perrodo-Samani (the daughter of Hubert Perrodo) became the director of the château.
The shop, the big room where you can eat some tapas and drink a glass of their wine and the terrace with the small garden are very elegant. If the weather is nice you can stay also on the terrace.
At the moment only the vintages of 2009 and 2010 are available in their shop.
The vintage of 2009 is made of 15% Merlot, 61% Cabernet-Sauvignon,7% Petit-Verdot and 17% Cabernet-Franc. Only 60% of the wine has aged in new oak.
The vintage of 2010 is made of 25% Merlot, 70% Cabernet-Sauvignon, 2% Petit-Verdot 3% Cabernet-Franc. With this wine 70% aged in new 
French oak barrels and 30% of one year old barrels. There was an aging on the lees for 3 months and after that a period for 12 month on wood.
This winery makes a nice, round and balanced wine that is a feast for the senses you use for tasting wine.
https://www.mademoiselledemargaux.com
https://www.marquisdalesme.wine