Château Durfort Vivens 2012

The 2012 vintage in Margaux

Vintage benchmark: 85/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A late cycle closing with rain gave an uneven vintage: the cabernets hold up, the merlots remain taut.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Margaux. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

Blend of the 2012 vintage

Figures from the 2012 sheet

• 13 % vol.Alcohol
• 32 hl/haYield
• 25 yrsVine age
• 120,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

The team conducted fermentations at low temperatures with short maceration periods for the young-vine lots that had suffered from the summer drought. More intense and longer extractions on the best lots produced a fine richness, both aromatic and on the palate.

Ageing

In Bordeaux barrels for 16 to 18 months. 40% to 50% of the barrels are new.

Food pairings

Pair with rib of beef, duck breast, game, cheese.

Terroir

Situated in the communes of Margaux, Cantenac and Soussans, the Durfort-Vivens vineyard puts down its roots on deep and particularly poor gravel rises. These gravels were deposited by the successive beds of the Garonne in the Quaternary era. This great terroir gives Cabernet Sauvignon an early and optimal ripeness, allowing it to express fully the finesse and silkiness of its tannins, the guarantee of the freshness and elegance characteristic of the great Margaux wines. At Château Durfort-Vivens, the constant search for a natural balance between the vine and its terroir is reflected in traditional cultivation practices. In 2012, 80% of the vineyard was farmed biodynamically and 20% under integrated production