1948 is the vintage nobody talks about, caught between the two most celebrated years of the decade. It was cooler than 1947 and less generous than 1949, the crop was small, and the wines came out firm and reserved. Time has been kind to a handful of them, and Château Margaux — then in the hands of the Ginestet family, Bordeaux négociants who had been building their stake since the 1920s — sits on that short list.
Margaux is the largest of the five First Growths and the most recognisably itself: Cabernet Sauvignon grown on deep gravel banks near the Gironde, giving a wine that persuades by perfume rather than force. In an austere year that restraint reads as elegance instead of thinness.
A First Growth from 1948 is scarce for an unglamorous reason. Almost nobody laid it down in quantity, because 1947 and 1949 were sitting either side of it. What reaches the market now comes out of private cellars one or two bottles at a time, which is exactly how this one has come to us.
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Producer: Château Margaux
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Vintage: 1948
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Appellation: Margaux AOC
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Format: 75cl
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Region: Bordeaux, France
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Style: Red
Where it is likely to be now. A First Growth from a firm, structured year is the profile most likely to have held, but at seventy-eight years this is sold as a collectible object without a guarantee that the wine is still sound.
Who it suits. For a seventy-eighth birthday where the budget is genuinely open — the kind of present that gets kept and shown rather than opened.
Condition. Graded good for its age by the merchant, with no fault recorded against fill, capsule or label; we re-check it and send you photographs before the bottle ships.
Provenance. Bought to order from a professional European merchant. We check fill, label and capsule when the bottle reaches us and photograph it before it ships.
Delivered in 7 to 10 working days, tracked. Transit cover can be added at checkout.
Sold as a collectible item, as seen. No guarantee is given on drinkability.
