As with all important decisions, choosing between the Bordeaux wines of Margaux and Pessac-Léognan is simply an exercise in personal taste. For supreme elegance, finesse and bragging rights, the iconic châteaux of Margaux have few equals. But the wines of Pessac-Léognan, both red and white, are just as fine. In the quality stakes, there is little to choose between them.

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Regional histories

The wines of Pessac-Léognan have a far longer history than those of Margaux; since the early 1300s, barrels of Pessac-Léognan (known as Graves until the 20th century) were shipped to export markets in Northern Europe, following the establishment of Château Pape Clement by Pope V of Avignon. Indeed, it is in the southern outskirts of the city of Bordeaux that investors kickstarted the region’s fine wine industry. Château Haut-Brion, founded in the 1660s, is the seminal Bordeaux fine wine. Its legacy predates that of Château Latour, Margaux, and even Lafite Rothschild.

Meanwhile, while Pessac-Léognan was seducing Europe’s aristocracy, the land that today encompasses the Margaux appellation was used for grazing livestock. Until the latter part of the 17th century, Margaux and its neighbouring communes in the Médoc region (located north of the city of Bordeaux) consisted of salt marshes, flanked by the Gironde estuary to the east. However, an opportunity to expand Bordeaux’s lucrative wine trade was seized upon by merchants from the Low Countries, who used artificial drainage channels to transform the landscape of the Médoc.

By the 18th century, marshland had drained away to reveal gravel-rich soils, perfect for cultivating vines. Wine estates proliferated throughout Margaux during the 1700s. By the early 19th century, the area’s reputation for fine wine had superseded that of its rival down south. The appellation now has over 1500 hectares under vine, predominantly consisting of red grape varieties. It takes less than 30 minutes to make the journey from Bordeaux (the appellation’s boundaries are approximately 25 kilometres away), and yet Margaux represents a whole other world. You’ll leave the city’s urban sprawl behind to discover beautiful châteaux, endless rows of vines, and peaceful tranquillity. The most famous property is undeniably Château Margaux, renowned for its splendid neoclassical mansion. But the First Growth is in good company: there are 20 Cru Classé properties in Margaux, more than any other Médoc appellation.

Wine production

A great deal of investment has poured into Pessac-Léognan over the past 30 years, expanding its tourism infrastructure to include several luxury hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants. The appellation was created as recently as 1987, after local wineries pressured the authorities into creating a designation separate from the wider Graves region. However, properties that were absorbed into the new appellation had long been considered to be superior to their neighbours in Graves, even when they lacked a distinct legal identity of their own. They are all located on the left bank of the River Garonne, a few miles from Bordeaux’s city centre.

Today there are approximately 1770 hectares under vine in the zone. Pessac-Léognan is renowned for both its red and white wines, while Margaux produces only a tiny volume of white. In fact, this is arguably the former’s most important USP. There are plenty of prestigious red wines made in the Médoc and Saint-Émilion to rival the best of Pessac-Léognan, but only in this part of Bordeaux can you find still whites that fetch prices comparable to Puligny Montrachet. Almost every local wine is a blend of the Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes, aged in French oak to produce textured, rich and age-worthy whites. The best examples are every inch a First Growth, a complex and harmonious marriage between Sémillon’s honeyed opulence and Sauvignon Blanc’s piercing acidity. In the best vintages, such wines can outlive their red counterparts!

Classifications

Pessac-Léognan is also the only part of the Bordeaux region where (dry) white wines have been formally classified. When the merchants of Bordeaux unveiled their classification of the Médoc’s leading châteaux in 1855, only Haut-Brion was included from the Graves zone. It was a ranking exclusively dedicated to red wines; any white wine produced in Margaux, for example, must be labelled ‘Bordeaux Blanc’. The city’s commercial elite once again embarked upon a hierarchical ranking in 1959 of Graves’ leading estates, although this time it was colour-specific. Some châteaux were bestowed Cru Classé status for their red wine, but not their white—or vice versa. Today, there are eight classified white wines and 13 reds. The ranking is a unique fixture in Bordeaux, not least because it does not contain sub-divisions, unlike the 1855 classification.

Grapes

Equally, there is much that unites Margaux and Pessac-Léognan. The noble Cabernet Sauvignon grape plays a defining role in the red wines of both appellations, supported by smaller amounts of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Oenologists in Margaux and Pessac-Léognan are in complete agreement: Cabernet Sauvignon is responsible for structure, while Merlot and Cabernet Franc add freshness, suppleness, texture and perfume. The cultural attachment to blending is also a longstanding tradition in Pessac-Léognan and Margaux. It is exceedingly rare to encounter a mono-varietal red wine, although a 100% Sémillon or Sauvignon Blanc is not unheard of.

Terroir

Terroir offers another key point of comparison. Margaux is renowned for its well-drained gravel and sandy soils, ideal for ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, as they reflect heat. But the terroir is not uniform; quartz may dominate certain sites, while other terroirs are a mixture of sand, clay and limestone. Pessac-Léognan also has a great deal of free-draining gravel, deposited by rivers and glacial flows from the Pyrenees.

Like Margaux, the prime vineyard sites contain a mix of sand and quartz pebbles, although the gravel beds vary greatly in depth. They can range from 30 centimetres to several metres deep, eventually giving way to calcareous subsoils. This gravel/alluvial terroir is concentrated in the northern and central parts of the appellation. Farther south, there is a greater proportion of sand, clay and limestone.

In summary

As a result, delineating the red wines of Margaux and Pessac-Léognan is no easy task. In terms of quality aspirations, they compete as equals. Yet if you judiciously taste red wines from both appellations, ideally from the same harvest, then subtle points of difference will emerge. A recent comparison between the same vintage of Château Margaux and Haut-Brion provides an interesting case study. The Haut-Brion boasted an open and complex bouquet, yet it couldn’t quite match the structure of its counterpart. Vineyards in Pessac-Léognan tend to ripen earlier, due to their proximity to the city of Bordeaux and concomitant warmer micro-climate. Therefore, the grapes are picked with less tannin in comparison with the Médoc; this softer and more accessible texture is a welcome feature of the appellation’s wines. Moreover, a quintessential Pessac-Léognan wine offers aromas of minerals and earth, in addition to caramel and herbaceous notes. These are not trademarks of Margaux wines.

So our final advice is to follow your palate. If you desire a red wine that marries fruit expression with earthy complexity, choose Pessac-Léognan. If you covet finesse, perfume and the building blocks of a long life ahead, delve into Margaux. But for maximum satisfaction, simply choose both.

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