Château Margaux, one of Bordeaux’s 1855 First Growths, stands as an icon of elegance and refinement in the Médoc. The estate is renowned for producing wines that combine aromatic complexity, silky texture, and a distinctive sense of finesse, often described as the most floral and perfumed of the Médoc First Growths. Compared to the power of Château Latour, the fragrance of Château Lafite Rothschild, or the richness of Château Mouton Rothschild, Margaux excels in grace and harmony, with a softer tannic profile that makes it approachable yet profoundly age-worthy. Under the stewardship of the late Paul Pontallier, who served as managing director from 1983 until his passing in 2016, Château Margaux achieved new heights of precision, blending traditional craftsmanship with modern innovation. Pontallier’s vision solidified the estate’s reputation for producing wines that epitomize balance and beauty, standing as benchmarks of Bordeaux excellence.
Also in our tasting, the quality of Chateau Margaux transcended through the vintages with exceptional complexity and precision and a soft- and roundness not many left bank wines show in their youth. Many off-vintages delivered great pleasure (06, 08, 12) but of course the best wines were from the top vintages. Winner again was the 2009 (already won in a top 50 wines from 2009 retrospective last June) thanks to an unbelievable depth and sexiness. The 2015 (hyper pure and singular) and the 2010 (the definition of finesse) are just a tad behind, with the 2005 (like so many 2005s) showing promising but not ready.
Tasting Notes
Flight 1
2003 Château Margaux, 92 Points
At first rather muted nose which opened up with a bit of air showing dark red and dark fruit, some salt and minty accents. On the palate, the very hot vintage shows with a high degree of ripeness and more floral aromas. The structure is good with very soft tannins and a good amount of acidity to keep it fresh. Nevertheless, this was one of the weakest vintages missing the balance, harmony and complexity of many others wines that night. Not one to chase BUT JM Quarin, the French wine critic present, said that this was an off bottle. So maybe other bottles perform better.
2004 Château Margaux, 94 Points
This wine was one of the positive surprises for me as 2004. Very expressive nose with a lot of the charms coming from the elevage with sexy oak-derived aromas along dark fruit, crushed stone on the nose. Quite a good weight on the palate with lots of red and dark fruits, first teritary aromas with some leather. Good density, soft tannins and well-integrated acidity. Of course not the depth, precision and length of the best vintages but nevertheless a positive surprise for a 2004. Highlight here is definitely the nose.
2005 Château Margaux, 96 Points
A beautiful expressive nose with precise aromas of dark fruits, graphite, coffee and burnt sugar. Intriguing. A high degree of ripeness on the palate, the wine seems a bit more liquory than most other vintages. The complexity on the palate is high with a broad array of fruit from red to blue to black, nice minerality and again some coffee scents. Not as expressive as the nose and with a rather unspectacular finish. The structure is great with superbly fine tannins and an elevated freshness. I’ve get the feeling that this is still quite closed and only shows hints of what it has in store in the future. You can sense all the complexity but it is all a bit masked at this moment.
2006 Château Margaux, 95 Points
Another off-vintage which shows great today (in the bunch of these positive surprises, this 2006 was slightly superior to the 2004 and 2008). The highlight here is the killer 96/97 points nose with coffee, smoke, toast, burnt sugar, cedar, dark and blue fruit. Expressive and with very good precision. On the palate less exciting with some green hints which are not a big problem, fresh dark and blue fruit, floral aromas, pebble stones all embedded in a fine and fresh structure, with a medium+ length. Given the high price, I wouldn’t buy this vintage, despite the high rating but I would never reject a glass of it.
2007 Château Margaux, 91 Points
One of the weaker vintages. At first the nose lures you in with sexy burnt sugar aromas along some fresh dark fruit. But while the nose is quite nice, the palate is hollow and the wine is very short. Gone in one second. Not enough weight and expression. Without any faults but nothing to get too excited about. The 91 points are mainly attributable to the sexy nose.
Flight 2
2008 Château Margaux, 95 Points
Another off-vintage which performed very well tonight and just a tad behind the 2006. The particular highlight here is the wonderful creamy texture and the long, sweet, pure strawberry finish. Medium+ expressive nose, with dark fruit, crushed rocks and some floral notes. Soft, balanced and inviting. Superbly fresh and pure red and blue fruit, graphite. Very nice creamy, melting texture with some slightly angular tannins disturbing the picture a bit but not too much. Very good freshness and as described above, a wonderful finish. As said with the 2006, I wouldn’t buy the vintage given the high price but it’s still a very nice wine to drink.
2009 Château Margaux, 100 Points
This was clearly the consensus wine of the night and pure perfection. One sniff and it was clear that this must be the 2009. An absolute killer nose with coffee, toast, almonds, pure blue and black fruit, lots of floral aromas and a nice layer of minerality. Very expressive, perfectly harmonious, perfect precision, sexy and sophisticated at the same time. The complete package. Same is true for the palate with layers and layers of aromas (all the above mentioned aromas along some more floral, burnt sugar, espresso and red fruit notes) pushing all the right buttons and all embedded in a quite perfect structure with ultra-fine tannins and perfectly-integrated acidity and great length. This is perfection. No doubt. I’ve had this now twice and it twice won larger blind tastings. Can’t wait to finally open a bottle and enjoy it over an evening to truly discover what this wine has in store.
2010 Château Margaux, 99 Points
Wonderfully complex aromatics with blue and black fruits, violets, toast, coffee, cacao, cedar and hints of wet stone. Stunning precision and a perfect structure with the finest tannins and a perfect acidity. Weightless. Superb balance and harmony. This was served blind next to the perfect 2009. It was a great to compare the two bottles side by side as it nicely displayed the contrast between the two vintages. The unbelievable complexity, the high precision, the flawlessness was there in both wines but this 2010 was a tad less expressive (2010s need a bit more time and are less in your face) but showed much more finesse and weightlessness than the bold (Margaux bold, not Napa bold) 2009
2011 Château Margaux, 90 Points
This was the weakest wine of all the 13 vintages. While the nose still displayed seductive Margaux characteristics with pure fruit, some floral hints and the burnt sugar/coffee notes, the palate was light, hollow and the wine short. Totally unspectacular and nothing to remember.
Flight 3
2012 Château Margaux, 95 Points
The most floral Margaux tasted. Lots of different flavor aromas, a beautiful fresh perfume and the signature Margaux sexiness with espresso, mocha, cacao, vanilla. Very bright and red fruited. The lighter year shines through but in such a beautiful way. Very fine tannins structure and acidity, very good harmony. This will likely not live as long as many other vintages and I can hardly imagine it to get much better than it is today. Again, given the price, I wouldn‘t put that in my cellar but it‘s beautiful to drink today.
2013 Château Margaux, 92 Points
This was the only Margaux that was not instantly recognizable in the blind tasting vs the matching vintage of Sassicaia. Much lighter in style with lots of pure, well-defined red berries at the core and some grassy (or green) notes and slight earthy tones. The nose was very muted, the palate not. Not overly complex but what is there is highly precise and the length is surprisingly good too. 92/93 points easily.
2014 Château Margaux, 94 Points
Quite similar in style to the 2013. Both are dominated more be fine red fruit and floral aromas than the usual dark fruit and especially the sexy notes of mocha, coffee, burnt sugar. More than in any other Margaux, this 2014 had a strong mineral component with a lot of stoney notes, wet rocks and earthy aromas. The 2014 was like most 2014s slightly angular, not as perfectly soft and round as all other Margaux but not far off and so far certainly the softest 2014 I‘ve had. Not the most complex wine, of course, but quite enjoyable.
2015 Château Margaux, 99 Points
The number two tonight and certainly a candidate for perfection is the 2015. Wave after wave of the purest and freshet and most singular aromas with strawberries, raspberries, rosehip, a strong, strong and pure alpine herbs component, mocha, burnt sugar, minty notes. Very singular, highly expressive on the nose and palate. Not yet as layered as the 2009 or 2010 as the fruit component is more dominant as of now but that is just a matter of time. Structure, balance, length are already perfect today. Too bad the commemorative black label pushed the prices to stratospheric levels which prohibits further stocking-up of this beauty. But who knows, maybe prices will come down further (current prices are already lower than 12 and 18 months ago).
Author: Andy Schnyder
April 2020