Central Medoc

Central Medoc is the area between St-Julien and Margaux, with four villages but without a single classed growth. The appellation is simply Haut-Medoc, with the gravel mounds rising just above the river, a high water table leaving the vines more readily watered and producing generally less complex wines.

The commune of Cussac maintains a bit of St-Julien, with some of the land seeking for reclassification to the more famous commune. This is a Cru Bourgeois country more so than St-Estephe, with a significant portion of the 2003 Cru Bourgeois Superieurs, with no fewer than two of the nine Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnels in Moulis: Chateau Chasse-Spleen and Poujeaux.

Both lie on the outskirt of the hamlet of Grand Poujeaux, west of Arcins with the gravel ridges rise and extend to inland, all the way to Listrac. Now Moulis and Listrac have their own appellations instead of the Haut-Medoc, and in recent years had gained a higher esteem too.

Chateau Chasse-Spleen has a smoothness similar to a St-Julien, with accessibility but yet firm and oak-aged structure. Chateau Poujeaux is surrounded by properties with the name of Grand Poujeaux, producing long-lived reds with typical flavors of the Medoc. Chateau Maucaillou is another wine offering exceptional value.

Further inland in Listrac there is a higher plateau, with limestone beneath gravel, producing tough tannic wine that needs time to mellow, with the Fourcas chateaux (Hosten and Dupre) to watch for. Chateau Clarke has 53 hectares of vines, just within Listrac, is the creation of the late Baron Edmond de Rothschild.

The twin chateaux Fonreaud and Lestage are south of the village with tempered austerity, making rounder wines to help make the commune better known. Chateau Lanessan is just across the canal from St-Julien on the north, and along with its neighbor Caronne Ste-Gemme are well-run estates with high standards.

One point to note is that the forests here in Cussac comes close to the river. Chateau Beaumont occupies the best outcrop, with easy to drink, fragrant, and quick to mature wine. Opposite is Chateau Tour du Haut-Moulin, producing more old-fashioned wines requiring years to age.

On the riverside there is the beautiful 17^th-century battlement of Fort Medoc, and in Lamarque it has a regular car-ferry to connect with Blaye on the other side of the Gironde. Chateau de Lamarque produces full-bodied wine.

Recently there are lots of replanting as well, with Chateau Malecasse one of the first to restore, along with Barreyres and d’Arcins to the south, and together with Arnauld they are making the commune better known. The village chief claim to fame is still the Lion d’Or, Medoc’s wine trade canteen.

Near Margaux there is Chateau Citran, now owned by the Merlaut family, lying in the commune of Avensan, which also got the smaller Villegeorge as its representative. Soussans is not merely Haut-Medoc but also Margaux, with La Tour de Mons and Paveil de Luze both having good quality.

I have tasted the following wines from Central Medoc so far:

Chateau Chasse-Spleen	2003
Chateau Citran	2003
Chateau de Sainte Gemme	2000
Chateau Poujeaux	2000
Chateau Poujeaux	2006