Château Durfort Vivens Margaux 2020

Château Durfort Vivens has a long history of winemaking in the Margaux appellation of Bordeaux. Like many Bordeaux estates, Durfort Vivens is named after owners from the past. In this case, it was the Durfort de Duras, a well-connected family from southwest France, and then several hundred years later, in 1824, Château Durfort took the second part of its name from the owner at the time, the Viscount of Vivens, and became Château Durfort Vivens. Renowned for its quality in the 1800's, the 1844 vintage was priced higher than every other Bordeaux wine in the appellation, except for Château Margaux. Thomas Jefferson, the American ambassador to France and the future president of the United States, was a Bordeaux wine connoisseur and ranked Durfort Vivens directly after Châteaux Lafite Rothschild, Latour and Margaux in his travel diaries. In 1855, Durfort Vivens was classified as a 2nd growth. 

Today the estate is owned and managed by Gonzague Lurton who is what the French call a taiseux, meaning he does not usually talk much, but he gets a lot done. He is passionate about his terroir and his vines. Lurton makes wines that he likes, sometimes going against the trends and critics, and has often been one of the first in Bordeaux to experiment in his vineyards and cellars on certain things. 

Gonzague’s true love is Château Durfort Vivens. When it was time for his father to divide his estates equally between his children, Lucien asked them each to write down their first, second and third choices. Headstrong and determined, Gonzague wrote Château Durfort Vivens down in every slot as a first, second and third choice. It was Durfort Vivens, or nothing. “It was my dream as a young man, and it still is,” says Gonzague. 

Lurton became a “trailblazer” in Bordeaux, who is leading the charge in innovation and risk taking. By the 2013 harvest, the estate became 100% organically and biodynamically farmed, not as common in the Bordeaux region as in other regions of France such as Burgundy and Alsace. They received their certification for biodynamic and organic farming in 2016 from Ecocert, Biodyvin and Demeter. This made Château Durfort the first classified growth in the Margaux appellation to be Demeter Certified as being 100% biodynamic. The goal was to express the purity of the fruit in his wines in addition to its renowned structure, and to let the terroir be expressed to its fullest.

Starting with the 2019 vintage, Château Durfort Vivens added 3 additional wines from diverse terroirs to its portfolio: Les Plantes, Le Hameau and Le Plateau. This wine here, Les Plantes, comes from the estate’s youngest vines. A blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot and 2% Cabernet-Franc, aged 16 months in 2/3 amphoras (earthenware jars) and 1/3 in traditional oak barrels.

William Kelley from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate says, "Anyone who isn’t aware of just how good Gonzague Lurton’s wines are these days should taste a bottle. Recent vintages have certainly been on a qualitative roll, and today, Durfort Vivens unquestionably lives up to its 1855 second growth status.”