Chateau Dauzac

Dauzac is a fifth growth in Margaux, sitting on flat gravel at Labarde near the river, and it carries a reputation as one of the quieter names on the 1855 list. The thing people get wrong is treating that reputation as a fixed property of the wine. Ownership, direction and winemaking here have changed more than once, and a bottle from the 1980s and a bottle from the 2010s are not the same argument about the same estate.

The range divides by era rather than by tier. There is one wine, and what separates the bottles is which decade made them. Recent vintages are still firm and built for food. A handful of older bottles held back from the 1980s and 1990s are drinking now and need nothing from you. A large format sits at the top for people buying for a room rather than a dinner.

Past a point you are paying for the year on the label and for the fact that somebody stored it properly for forty years. That is a real cost, honestly passed on. It is not more flavour.

The list below is sorted by price, lowest first.