100% Cabernet Franc. Biodynamic. Marginale is Germain’s old-vines blend, drawn from parcels on the limestone soils of Fosse de Chaintre (lieux-dits of les Dares and Clos Maurice) and from a small parcel of old vines on Turonian limestone in Les Poyeux. Made from the Estate’s oldest (apart from Les Mémoires) and lowest-yielding Cabernet Franc vines, perhaps more than any other red, Marginale encapsulates the metamorphoses of Germain’s wines from powerhouse intensity to the profound elegance that today defines the wines of this Estate. Marginale is now raised in large 25-hectolitre foudre (that had to be erected in the Roches Neuves cellars by Franz Stockinger himself) for 12 months before finishing its aging in three-year-old Burgundian barrels, purchased from a grower in Vosne-Romanée. Since 2013, Germain has also employed a shorter maceration.
The resulting wines have been more balanced with the kind of finesse and precision of fruit that is rarely found outside of Burgundy. The nose offers a beguiling cocktail of rose, graphite and sweet raspberry scents which seamlessly flow on to a bright, tangy, supremely confident palate that lingers beautifully. Such is the stylistic precision, this cuvée has never tasted better.