2000 Chateau Malescot St. Exupery Margaux

My husband opened this 2000 Chateau Malescot St. Exupery Margaux a few nights ago when he made his smoked steak. It's been a while since we had beef for dinner! This was the perfect accompaniment for his delicious meal of steak, baked potatoes and a side salad.
On the bottle, it mentioned that it was classified as a Troisièmes Crus (Third Growth) in the 1855 Bordeaux Wine Official Classification.
I'm always curious about the wines that my husband has purchased and stored so I found more information about Chateau Malescot here: Chateau Malescot St. Exupery Margaux Bordeaux Wine, Complete Guide.
The 2000 Malescot according to this site, is one of the best vintages. With 25 years of ageing, this wine was still holding on to rich black and red berry flavors with a long, smooth finish.
This site also went into some of the history of Chateau Malescot and I found that to be very interesting. Chateau Malescot St. Exupery can be traced all the way back to 1616 when the Margaux estate was owned by the Escousses family. The Escousses were best known as notaries for the King. In 1697, the chateau was sold to Simon Malescot who was the attorney-general to King Louis XIV. The property remained in the Malescot family until the French Revolution.
Over the next several years, the formerly robust Bordeaux vineyard of Chateau Malescot was split and split again. In 1813, Francois Benoit Dunogues purchased the chateau, reselling it in 1825 to Louis Pierlot. The Pierlot family resold the property to Comte Saint-Exupery, who added his name to the estate.
In 1853, the chateau was sold to Mr. Fourcade. Mr. Fourcade died in 1866 and Chateau Malescot St. Exupery was sold to a group of owners, the most notable being Mr. Boissac in 1870. During World war I, the French government confiscated the estate.
In 1955, the Zugar family bought the chateau and spent 10 years bringing the vineyard back to it's current incarnation. In 1994 Jean Luc-Zugar took over the reins of Chateau Malescot St. Eupery with Michel Rolland as consultant.
The 30-hectare vineyard of Chateau Malescot St. Exupery is planted to 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. The terroir is gravel, chalk, and clay soils with iron deposits on gentle, slopes.
Vinification takes place in a combination of 22, temperature-controlled, concrete vats and stainless steel tanks. Malolactic fermentation takes place in either tank, vat, barrel, or a combination of any of those vessels. They can use concentrators or reverse osmosis machines, as well as bleeding of the vats to increase the concentration of the wine. Those decisions are left up to the vintage according to Jean Luc Zuger. The wine of Chateau Malescot St. Exupery is then aged in between 80% new and 100% new, French oak barrels for between 14 to 16 months before bottling.
Knowing the history and the vinification of this Bordeaux wine made me appreciate it even more. I asked my husband if we have anymore of this wine and he said we have 2 more!