It is said that Château Haut-Marbuzet owner Henri Duboscq defined his fine wines after women he (may or may not have) bedded. So one year would be “opulent and rich”, another might be “voluptuous and hedonistic”, while another, “silky and seductive”. “Show me a great man”, he is famously quoted as saying, “and I will show you the women who have made him”. Whether he was referring to himself, or indeed his father Hervé, founder of the estate, we are unsure.

Duboscq’s slightly unusual approach to describing fine wine is idiosyncratic yet indulged by the traditionally very staid fine wine world. This is because, along with his father, the pair revolutionised the winemaking region of St Estéphe. They proved that patience, ambition and good honest work are more valuable than heritage and bundles of cash in Bordeaux. Hervé was a railway stationmaster until he was 42 (and illiterate until he was nine), when a change of heart led him to winemaking. This was post-war rural France where land was cheap and labour was scarce. Hervé struck a deal with a local farmer; he would own the land, provided that the farmer could have a quarter of his harvest every year until his death. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Hervé immediately said yes.

This deal was only possible as Château Haut-Marbuzet had not been classified in the 1855 appellation as it was so small (it is classified as a Crus Bourgeois when it easily outperforms many of its Grand Crus Classe neighbours). Hervé planted Merlot (the secret of his success) along with Cabernet Sauvignon in the gravel, clay and limestone soils. Lack of funds meant he had to bottle his wine before selling it. This too proved fortuitous. After a brief dalliance with medicine (Hervé was on the brink of selling the estate) his son, Henri gamely took up the gauntlet in 1962 and continued his father’s vision. Henri completed his 56th harvest in 2018.

Building Château Haut-Marbuzet from just 7-hectares to the 70-hectares that it is today, the Duboscqs are the Haut Medoc’s favourite success story. Their “hard graft” attitude allowed them to grow the modest vineyard into the sprawling 21st-century estate. The pair created a premium wine which was sold to both Cunard cruise lines and British Airways and has received rave reviews from Robert Parker. The wine ages beautifully and is a collector’s favourite; averaging around €46 a bottle (Q3 2019). ROI very rarely dips and the outlook seems overall steady for the long term based on wine-searcher.com’s past statistics.