Places compared
Pauillac vs Margaux
Two Médoc communes, ten miles apart, that produce recognisably different wine.
Which to choose
Worth knowing
"Margaux" names three things: the commune, the appellation covering five communes, and Château Margaux the estate. A bottle labelled Margaux is almost never from the château of that name, and the appellation name is a weaker guide to quality here than in Saint-Julien.
Where they differ
Written rather than computed. A place has no taste profile of its own — the wines made there do, and they vary — so averaging one into existence would produce a number for every dimension and a meaning for none.
Soil
Pauillac
The deepest gravel in the Médoc, several metres thick, over clay and marl. Roots go a very long way down.
Margaux
The thinnest and most broken gravel of the four communes, over variable subsoils that change within short distances.
Character
Pauillac
Power. Concentrated cassis, firm abundant tannin, and the graphite note most associated with the commune.
Margaux
Perfume. Violets and red-and-black fruit over fine, silky tannin — the commune people reach for the word "elegant" to describe.
Consistency
Pauillac
Comparatively uniform. The gravel is deep across most of the appellation.
Margaux
The least uniform of the four. The gap between a well-sited estate and a poorly sited one is wider here than anywhere else in the Médoc.
Approachability
Pauillac
Slow. Serious Pauillac is unyielding for its first decade and rewards fifteen years.
Margaux
Earlier, without being a lighter wine. The tannin is finer rather than scarcer.
Classified estates
Pauillac
Three of the five first growths, plus two second growths and a strong cluster of fifths.
Margaux
Twenty-one classified growths, more than any other commune — and the widest spread of quality between them.