Château du Tertre: Vineyards
In the south-western reaches of Margaux is Le Grand Poujeau, a large gravel plateau which peaks at just over 20 metres above sea level. Château du Tertre sits upon a low crest near the edge of the plateau; of course tertre refers to a hill, as in Château Tertre-Roteboeuf and Château Tertre-Daugay, and the estate’s position atop the gravelly slope is surely the origin of its name. While it is hardly Mount Everest, Château du Tertre does in fact sit on the highest point in the entire Margaux appellation.
The vines are closely approximated to the town of Arsac, but there are several other well-known Margaux châteaux located nearby, their vines rooted into the same gravelly soils as those of Château du Tertre. There include most notably Château Giscours, which is located just to the east, and Château Angludet, which is also very close, located just to the northeast. To the north is Château La Tour de Bessan, while on the other side of Arsac, to the southwest, is Château d’Arsac itself.
The vineyard today covers 52 hectares of the appellation, and it is remarkable for being in a single, coherent block wrapped around the château. Also noteworthy is the fact that the parcels which today constitute the Château du Tertre vineyard are exactly those which belonged to the estate when it was classified in 1855; this is rare, as most classed-growth proprietors have spent the last 150-or-so years buying, selling and trading vineyards, in the majority of cases making considerable changes to the profile of estate since it was classified.
