Château Giscours· Margaux

Few Margaux estates can match Giscours for sheer scale of fine gravel. Eighty hectares of Günz and Mindel deposits, the oldest, deepest beds in the region, sit over clay subsoil, and that combination is why this Third Growth of 1855 so often punches above its classification. The estate dates to 1330 and was restored to form under the late Eric Albada Jelgersma.

The Grand Vin is the textbook Margaux I reach for when I want to show someone what the appellation means: violets and black plum over fine, resolved tannin, with the second wine, La Sirène, carrying the same signature at an easier price.

Raised in half new oak, it is generous but never heavy. In strong years like 2019 and 2020 it is, to my palate, one of the surest values in classed-growth Margaux.