Chateau Patache d'Aux, Medoc 2018

Château Patache d'Aux lies in the town of Bégadan in the far north of the Médoc peninsula above Bordeaux. Like many in this region it has a long history which, in their case, stetches back to aound the early 1600s. This part of the world is a quite distance away from the more famous Médoc appellations and prices for the wines from round here are correspondingly less exalted as a result. However, Patache d'Aux, along with their neighbour, Château la Tour de By, have built themselves a reputation as the star perfomers around here and the wines from both estates are always highly regarded.

Since 2016 Patache d'Aux has been under the ownership of Antoine Moueix Propriétés s managed by technial director Lucie Lauilhé and Thibaut de la Haye. Their vineyards are located in two different locations, one in Bégadan itself, while the other is 10km away at Saint-Christoly-Médoc where the vineyard is gently sloping, easterly facing and overlooks the Gironde estuary. In total they have around 65 hectares of vines with most planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, about a third to Merlot with the remainder being a small amount of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

For their price the wines of Patache d'Aux are reliably consistent performers and good expressions of the style of Médoc reds.