Château du Moulin Rouge
Located in the shadow of Château Lamothe-Bergeron, on the very peripheries of Cussac-Fort-Médoc, sit some unassuming cellars, surrounded by two or three tiny parcels of vines. These low-slung buildings blend into their surroundings with ease, the pale walls and roofs of rusty red-brown terracotta tiles identical to those of the little jumble of houses that surround them. Indeed is it were not for one very visible clue, I suspect I would never have given these buildings a second glance, my focus on my next appointment at some other grander estate nearby.
That ‘clue’, of course, is the presence of Moulin Rouge in large red letters along the wall of the main cellar. These cellars are home to one of the Haut-Médoc appellation’s most notable Cru Bourgeois estates, Château du Moulin Rouge.
Origins and History
Despite trawling through all my usual historical resources relating to Bordeaux and its wines I have found little of note concerning the genesis and subsequent development of this estate. Unlike its neighbour Château Lamothe-Bergeron there is no grand château here, one factor which has no doubt helped the property fly under the radar for many years. Nevertheless the current proprietors claim a presence stretching back at least thirteen generations, so it would seem that the property has ancient origins. It is just that they are not easy to track down.
