{"id":2066869,"date":"2026-08-05T16:56:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T14:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/2026\/08\/05\/aurore-de-dauzac-2021-how-margauxs-sandy-soils-affect-a-challenging-vintage\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T16:59:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T14:59:27","slug":"aurore-de-dauzac-2021-how-margauxs-sandy-soils-affect-a-challenging-vintage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/2026\/08\/05\/aurore-de-dauzac-2021-how-margauxs-sandy-soils-affect-a-challenging-vintage\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurore de Dauzac 2021: How Margaux\u2019s Sandy Soils Affect a Challenging Vintage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 2021 vintage in Bordeaux was not the easiest. A cold spring, a wet summer, 20% less sunshine than usual, and persistent downy mildew pressure right up until harvest. Ch\u00e2teau Dauzac harvested its Merlot on September 22 and its Cabernet Sauvignon on October 13\u2014a three-week gap that speaks to the care taken with each plot.The 2021 L\u2019Aurore de Dauzac<\/em> is the result of that patience. <\/p>\n\n

This cuv\u00e9e comes from a unique geological formation within the estate\u2019s 49 hectares: mounds of fine, sandy gravel, distinct from the clay-limestone terroirs that make up the bulk of the Margaux appellation. This well-drained soil, planted at a density of 10,000 vines per hectare on 101-14, Riparia Gloire, and 3309 rootstocks, promotes the slow ripening of Cabernet Sauvignon\u2014the dominant grape variety in the blend at 62%, complemented by 37% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot. The vines are between thirty-five and forty years old: an age at which yields naturally decline and concentration develops without intervention. <\/p>\n\n

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Winemaking Details<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Aurore\u2019s winemaking process relies on a gravity-fed system, which eliminates the need for mechanical pumping of the grapes and allows for extraction by simple gravity. Alcoholic fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled wooden and stainless steel tanks at 28\u00b0C. Aging lasts twelve months, divided between 45% in French oak barrels\u201420% of which are new\u2014and 55% in large oak casks. This high proportion of large oak casks allows for a gradual integration of oak without tannic saturation. Fining, if necessary, is performed using vegetable proteins. The wine is certified vegan. <\/p>\n\n

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What sets 2021 apart from sunnier vintages is precisely the adverse weather conditions. Flowering began on May 25 under hot, dry conditions, followed by June, which saw rainfall 127% above average\u2014with signs of coulure and millerandage in some plots. The Dauzac vineyards benefit from their immediate proximity to the Gironde estuary, whose thermal inertia moderates temperature fluctuations: this natural regulator protected the vineyard during the April frost and maintained a viable ripening window despite the cold summer. Rigorous intra-plot selection, with sorting on the sorting table before and after destemming, focused efforts on harvesting the healthiest grapes. <\/p>\n\n

The projected aging potential\u2014between three and fifteen years, with the possibility of up to twenty or thirty years for the best bottles\u2014is no small matter for a cuv\u00e9e positioned as the second wine of an 1855 Grand Cru Class\u00e9. It signals that Dauzac treats Aurore<\/em> less as an affordable product than as an independent expression of the terroir\u2014distinct in its geology and produced according to the same technical protocol as the main cuv\u00e9e. <\/p>\n\n

In Bordeaux, where generic appellations are facing price pressure and a loss of direction, the 2021 Aurore de Dauzac<\/em> raises a broader question: How far down the range can a 170-year-old classification go without diluting the quality it guarantees?<\/p>\n\n

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The 2021 vintage in Bordeaux was not the easiest. A cold spring, a wet summer, 20% less sunshine than usual, and persistent downy mildew pressure right up until harvest. Ch\u00e2teau…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2051086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30493],"tags":[80161,80159,80163,80158,80165],"class_list":["post-2066869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wines-and-spirits","tag-2021-bordeaux-vintage","tag-chateau-dauzac-margaux","tag-grand-cru-classe-second-wine","tag-gravity-fed-wine-cellar-and-winemaking","tag-margaux-sandblasting-machines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2066869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2051086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2066869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2066869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2066869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}