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A Medoc is a moderate Claret at a moderate price; it is lighter
than St. Emilion, both in colour and body. Both Medoc and St.
Emilion may prove to be quite agreeable luncheon wines and one
should be able to purchase them at quite a moderate price according
to the age of the wine.
A small proportion of the millions of Claret that is produced
each year is sold merely as Me d o c ; much more of the ordinary sort
is sold under the name of one or other of the Communes or parishes
of the Medoc and, if of the better sort, under the name of the Estate
or Chateau of its origin.
Margaux is a parish or Commune of the Medoc and in the parish
of Margaux stands the Chateau Margaux, one of the first three
chateaux of the Medoc.
There are about seventy parishes of Medoc producing Claret;
the best known are the Communes of St. Julian, St. Estephe and
Margaux, but the Commune of the parish of Pauillac, which is not
so well known in England, produces more superlative Claret than
any other.
In 1880 Phylloxera destroyed the Bordeaux vineyards; that is
why Claret made previously to 1880 is called " Pre-Phylloxera
Claret." That which has been produced since has been as good
probably, but not quite the same, not so lasting. Clarets of 1870,
for instance, are still perfectly sound and good to-day. It is, how
ever, a risk and often a mistake to keep Claret too long.
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