Château Marojallia: Tasting & Drinking
The wines of Château Marojallia are, I suspect, what might colloquially be known as marmite wines; you either love them, or hate them. I understand negative reactions to wines such as these; some tasters yearn for the fragrant, rose-petal and redcurrant-gravel style of Margaux, and these days that is a style which is increasingly hard to come by. Many different pressures, including climate, viticultural practices and the influential palates of certain critics have tended to nudge some of the wines made in the region away from the more delicate and fragrant styles towards a character more defined by texture, oak and tannin. Indeed, even though the Thunevin’s have not had a hand in the winemaking here for close to two decades, tasting the wines in Jean-Luc’s garage they do not seem out of place here. They have a glossy, saturated, crimson-black appearance in their extreme youth, and they do indeed flatter with texture and ripeness.
My take on the wines is that they are of very high quality. They may not be for everybody but if choosing a wine from among the Margaux pantheon, bearing in mind I usually find this the weakest of all the Médoc communal appellations, for me Château Marojallia would come pretty high up my list. While I perhaps would not go so far to say I love the wines, they are excellent, and if the price were right, and the availability did not stymie your plans, I would recommend adding a bottle or two to the cellar. In recent vintages, the 2016 and 2015 vintages lead the way, while 2014 showed charm and promise. The 2013 was not a bad effort for the vintage, and while I would not recommend anybody buy red wines from Bordeaux in the 2013 vintage, I must tip my hat to anybody who made a wine which even vaguely approaches a drinkable character in this wash-out vintage. (29/12/17)
Please log in to continue reading: