Chateau Durfort Vivens, Margaux 2nd Grand Cru Classe 2010

Vineyard: 55 hectares of deep gravels with a matrix sand and clay. Located in Margaux, Cantenac and Soussans in Margaux appellation. 

Ageing: 18 months with 50% new oak barrels.

"Durfort Vivens 2010 is an assemblage of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc, (Which is almost identical to the blend in 2009) this medium bodied, soft, cassis and red plum wine is elegantly styled and should drink well within a few years of release."

The Wine Cellar Insider 90pts.

Chateau Durfort Vivens, like many Bordeaux wine producers, is named after a previous owner. In this case, it was the Durfort de Duras, a well-connected family from southwest France. Several hundred years later, in 1824, Chateau Durfort took the second part of its name from the owner at the time, the Viscount of Vivens, and became Chateau Durfort Vivens.

In those days, the wines of Chateau Durfort Vivens were popular. In fact, the 1844 vintage was priced higher than every other Bordeaux wine in the appellation, except for Chateau Margaux.

Thomas Jefferson, the American ambassador to France and the future president of the United States, was a Bordeaux wine connoisseur and ranked it directly after Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Latour, and Chateau Margaux in his fascinating travel diaries.

Today the property is owned and managed by the Lurton family who purchased Durfort Vivens in 1961. Prior to the Lurton era, for a period of time, the wines were made at Chateau Margaux.

Gonzague Lurton, who took over the estate in 1992, runs the property today. Under his stewardship, Durfort Vivens has been modernized with new cellars and new fermentation vats of both cement and wood in their Left Bank cellars.

Starting with the 2009 vintage, Gonzague Lurton has begun striving to produce a riper and more concentrated style of wine at Durfort Vivens.

For the 2009 vintage, the Medoc estate changed its label to an antique rendering in order to reflect a design that was previously used by the estate ages ago. Another change took place in 2009 for Chateau Durfort Vivens. They began to experiment with organic farming techniques.

According to Gonzague Lurton, they farmed 20% of their Margaux vineyards using organic methods. By the 2013 harvest, the estate became 100% organically and Biodynamically farmed. They received their certification for biodynamic and organic farming in 2016 from Ecocert and Biodyvin. This made Chateau Durfort the first classified growth in the Margaux appellation to be Demeter certified as being 100% biodynamic.

In 2018, Durfort Vivens completed a full renovation and modernization of the cellars and the chateau.