Chateau d'Issan 3rd Classified Growth

Château d'Issan is one of the most captivating châteaux of the Médoc, 3e Grand Cru Classé in the 1855 Imperial Classification, located in the heart of the Margaux appellation. A former fief dating back to the 12th century, then called La Mothe-Cantenac, it passed through many hands over the centuries, until the d'Essenault family, who from 1575 steered it for five generations and gave it its current name.

The reputation of its wine is centuries-old: according to tradition it was served at the wedding of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry Plantagenet in 1152. In 1787 Thomas Jefferson included it in his famous selection of Bordeaux vineyards, and at the end of the nineteenth century it is said to have been Emperor Franz Joseph's favorite wine, to whom we owe the motto engraved above the château gate: "Regum mensis arisque deorum", for the table of kings and the altar of the gods. The château, with its portico, towers and moats, is encircled by a wall built in 1644; thanks to the restoration initiated by the Cruse family, in 1970 it was entered in France's inventory of historic monuments.

The vineyard, restructured by the Cruse family after 1945 and with vines averaging 35 years of age, grows on gravel ridges and alluvial hills, with clay in the subsoil, in a climate tempered by the ocean and the estuary. Cabernet Sauvignon is the main grape variety, alongside Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. Harvesting is by hand with double sorting, and vinification is carried out parcel by parcel in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks.

The Grand Vin comes from the old vines of the château's clos and ages for 16–18 months in barriques, half of them new, with a production of about 100,000 bottles. Supple, refined, elegant and age-worthy, it expresses the polished bouquet typical of Margaux.

Where history, nobility and terroir meet, Château d'Issan is a great Margaux classic.