CHATEAU SIRENE DE GISCOURS 2020

Château Giscours is an estate in the Margaux appellation of the Médoc, rated as a third growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification. Since the 1990s, it has moved from being a Merlot-dominant wine to a more long-lived blend, typically of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The Giscours vineyard is one of the largest on the Left Bank with 165 hectares (407 acres) in total. Of this, 102ha (252 acres) falls within the Margaux appellation. This vineyard is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon with  Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The second wine, La Sirène de Giscours, comes from a selection of fruit from the youngest vines. Additionally, a 63-ha (156-acre) plot, adjacent to Giscours but outside the Margaux boundary, provides the fruit for Le Haut Médoc de Giscours. Château Duthil is a made from a selection of the best Haut-Médoc plots and also vinified at Giscours. The range is completed by Le Rosé de Giscours. Total production across the range is around 350,000 bottles a year. Scandal hit the property in 1998, when a former employee accused management and the new owner, the Dutch businessman Eric Albada-Jelgersma, of blending Haut-Médoc fruit into the 1995 La Sirène to increase its volume, and adding various illegal additives including fruit acids and milk. Legal proceedings dragged on to 2008, but the result of the trial was never made public. More positively, in the intervening period, many improvements in techniques and facilities were made. Château Giscours dates back to 1552, when a wealthy Bordeaux draper named Pierre de Lhomme bought a house called Guyscoutz, extended the lands and planted the first vines. The current neoclassical form of the large château dates from the 19th Century. It is also the home ground of Bordeaux-Giscours Cricket Club, one of the top teams in France.