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| Community Tasting Notes (average 92.1 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 126 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Vinnut on 12/30/2023 & rated 94 points: From a 1.5 ltr. format. Dark ruby in color, with some clearing at the edges. Full, forward & fragrant nose of mature, ripe dark fruit aromas of cherries, blackcurrant, cassis & figs with overtones of herbal notes of sage & cigar box notes of cedar & tobacco, floral notes of violets, spices, leather, truffles, coffee & earthy/dusty notes in the background. Medium-full bodied with good concentration of balanced & silky-smooth textured, mature, ripe dark fruit flavors of cherries, blueberries & cassis with spices, mushrooms, cocoa, herbs & minerals. Long lingering smooth finish. Drinks quite well at present with decanting & airing but at 44 years of age, it is close to or at its peak of development. Although it may hold at this plateau for several more years if cellared properly, I doubt it will get much better than this. Fill was below neck at the topmost portion of the shoulder; cork was saturated but intact. An absolutely exquisite wine from an otherwise unheralded vintage! (785 views) | | | Tasted by floribo on 12/26/2023 & rated 93 points: Decanted 1.5 hours before drinking. Dark red color, medium nose. Nice cab taste with dark berries. But very strong, not well integrated acids. Medium bodied, medium finish. No signs of age. Overall a nice Margaux, and will still age well, but not a strong vintage. We compared to the 1981 Margaux, which was of much better quality. (609 views) | | | Tasted by dcwino on 12/7/2023 & rated 96 points: Holiday Dinner - Mostly Bordeaux (Taberna del Alabardero, Washington D.C.): Perfectly mature nose displaying generous black and red fruit, crème de cassis, plum, dusty floral note which I get from Cabernet, ash, a hint of leather, lead pencil and mineral. Beautifully integrated palate, layers upon layers of generous red and black fruit, silky and fluid, perfect amount of acidity and mineral, still showing a bit of fine tannins, and a seamless long generous red and black fruit driven finish with a hint of ash and lead pencil at the end. Super enjoyable, a pleasant surprise. This is a classic claret. (908 views) | | | Tasted by MC2 Wines on 2/28/2023: Birthday Bonanza (Ai Fiori (Langham Hotel on 5th Ave)): One of the top wines of the night for sure. This was open and ready from the get-go and really overwhelmed a lot of the other reds (except for the Diamond Creek which really impressed me). Soft and velvety and dark red fruits and while it’s not perhaps the best Margaux it is one of the better wines of 1979. (2247 views) | | | Tasted by Vinum Deorum on 12/31/2022 & rated 92 points: Opened this bottle to share with one of my sisters who was born in 1979. I was not expecting much from this bottle, as it is a poor vintage and comes from a supposedly bad era for the chateau but it actually turned out to be very good for the vintage. Subtle, elegant, with aromas of red fruits, spices, clove, a velvety and elegant texture and a rather decent finish. Not very complex, but nonethelss very pleasant. (1931 views) | | | Tasted by mflesh on 11/5/2022 & rated 94 points: Oooooo-kkkk!
It's not everyday that someone tells you (@shay_aldriedge ), 'hey, we opened up a 1979 Margaux from 3L yesterday, and had so much left over that I double decanted a whole 750 back to a bottle and want you to get a glass!' (wine friends are amazing friends indeed!). BTW, the pic is with my UNOPENED 750 of 79 Margaux (obviously not the 3L). So I get to compare to this experience (and it's a birthday wine to boot!).
This wine poured dark with violet overtones and very pretty to the edges. The nose was pencil shavings, violets, figs, and dates with a hint of dried cranberry and raisin. Thinking the palate was going to be quite a bit more to the raisin side of things (it has to, right??), I took my first of this and...dang....it was quite youthful. A little more fig up front, and pretty much an echo of the nose but was vibrant, medium+ dense mouthfeel. As it sat on the palate, blackberries, tobacco started trickling in, great fusion and amazingly interlaced and complex. A really awesome experience for a 43 year old first growth birth year bottle, and I get to experience it again in the future from 750! (1986 views) | | | Tasted by 559Cheers on 9/18/2022 & rated 92 points: 2nd night open. Opened up for the better. Older vintage. Nose old schoolhouse and noticed some green elements. Beautiful color. Drinking and palette noticed the green elements but otherwise a nice refined bottle that is just drinking good and nothing striking any wow sparks. See how this develops during the next week. (1947 views) | | | Tasted by Maphill01 on 5/3/2022: Decanted for sediment. Drank over a couple of hours. Cork in good condition. Needed 15-20 min to blow off. On the nose and palate, forest floor, sois bois, red fruit. Cigar box and sweet, silky tannins. (2497 views) | | | Tasted by Sundbyberg on 3/24/2022 & rated 94 points: Another try of the 79 and this confirms my previous note: This wine is in its prime drinking window and it just a great bottle of wine. Consumed a glass over 3 hours and this wine improved the whole time.
This bottle was perfectly stored since release. (1875 views) | | | Tasted by Sundbyberg on 7/9/2021 & rated 95 points: My sixth vintage of chateau Margaux: 1979, 1989, 2002, 2006, 2013 and 2014.
This was a very good wine: All the tannins were resolved and the fruit was great. On the fuller side, I would say.
Balance, depth and length - everything was there.
Better than the hailed 1989, which had less fruit.
Drink now, and do not forget to decant 1 hour. (3014 views) | | | Tasted by Boone's Farm on 7/4/2021 & rated 93 points: Beautiful, balanced, elegant wine. Flavors of violet, cassis, cedar, wet earth, and forest floor. Long on the palate and utterly charming. (2668 views) | | | Tasted by jbs712 on 12/17/2020 & rated 95 points: Was a little concerned about this bottle— capsule appeared a tad corroded and it took a decent amount of effort to remove a fairly moist cork. But not to worry—as soon as it hit the decanter the aromas and the color told me it was in good shape. Gave it a taste and then a one hour decant, but it was hardly necessary—it drank silky smooth with great balance and structure right out of the gate, and only got better over the evening. The fruit was exquisite—with great notes of plum, cassis, leather and the distinctive terroir of a well-aged first growth. I’m becoming a huge fan of the ‘79s—drank a ‘79 Lafite last month and it was equally terrific—it’s a way underrated vintage in my view. (3457 views) | | | Tasted by bobbyhawks on 8/28/2020 & rated 88 points: It's great to taste old bottles like this, but this one was way past its prime (the 88 rating is mostly due to the fact the wine hasn't turned and that it was fun to try a first growth). My wife and I guess the last quality drinkable era for this was 15-20 years ago, but that is a guess with little previous frame of reference. Others who tasted it and have had many previous first growth Bordeaux experiences were just impressed the bottle was in good shape and not turned, but admitted it was not a very good example of what old Bordeaux can be. You get the typical musty, old world, old wine notes, but little to distinguish it from other older wines (other than it wasn't off-putting).
It seems our assessment is in line with the quality of the vintage in that these weren't expected to last this long. I've had a 1980 Latour (stored in the same basement cellar), which was supposedly a worse year, but that wine had slightly more substance left to it. One day, I'll get to try a first growth from a decent year (or within a decent drinking window) so I can reframe these experiences. (3449 views) | | | Tasted by Verb on 5/9/2020 & rated 93 points: dark red, brick rim with tinges of orange - mature cassis nose with plenty of old Bordeaux aromas (eather, graphite and tobacco) - nicely balanced mouth with acidity predominating over fruit and fully resolved tannins - fruit has clearly dried out over the years, but still a nicely balanced wine that is very enjoyable at 40+ years of age (3827 views) | | | Tasted by LTTC on 9/30/2019 & rated 93 points: (SYP) Pnp. One glass. Tobacco, earth, dark plum, spice and a touch of wood. Silky tannins and lingering finish. Delicate and fully mature. Drink up (4050 views) | | | Tasted by MC2 Wines on 9/27/2019: Another opened and decanted for sediment and rebottled '79. I thought this was probably showing some of the best from the start. It's that very delicate, red fruit, red flower, almost velvety Margaux style. Not the best year of it (fruit more faded), but still quite enjoyable. A nice celebration of 40. (3917 views) | | | Tasted by rralls on 8/15/2019 & rated 94 points: Even better than the last bottle. (3395 views) | | | Tasted by Bourolo on 7/24/2019 & rated 96 points: Wow, this wine still lives.. Mineral and floral perfume, and mature cassis liquor nose, and still a nice ruby purple color, the 1979 Margaux is outstanding. The wine is fermented elegance, pure refinement, and classy. A hedonistic experience when preserved well. (3246 views) | | | Tasted by wineappreciation on 7/11/2019 & rated 93 points: Gravel, cigar box, notes still of strawberry, raspberry, blackberry
Smooth, long, elegant, silky, refined; reasonable fruit remaining but thinning; not an overwhelming presence or experience, but certainly excellent; fully mature and definitely time to drink
Over the first two hours: gradually opening up further but then thereafter somewhat disintegrating on palate towards tobacco and leather (2771 views) | | | Tasted by MC2 Wines on 3/15/2019: The big 4-0 (Ristorante Morini): This is Bordeaux more in the tertiary style so you either like that or you don't really. I happen to be in the former camp. There's some saddle oil and a bit of vegetal notes (but more in a way that adds interest than something feeling unripe). Bit more herbal. Lots of saddle leather. No real fruit to speak of, but this combination was pretty compelling. Interesting as it was poured side by side with the 71 HB which still had some fruit but perhaps wasn't as overall complex. (2846 views) | | | Tasted by Paul S on 1/9/2019 & rated 91 points: NDG: 9/1/19 dinner with Magnums of 9 to celebrate the start of 2019 (Imperial Treasure Teochew, Ion): En Magnum. A bit dusty, with just a suggestion of TCA. Still enjoyable enough, but way behind the 1979 Latour that we had alongside. The nose was smoky and dusty, with a tiny bit of cardboard drifting in and out, and then nicer notes of plums and cassis and a drift of those typical Margaux florals somewhere in there. The palate had a nice juiciness, with ripe, powdery tannins and a decent bit of acidity framing notes of dark cherry, plums and cassis seasoned with a touch of tobacco smoke and spice. Enjoyable enough, but lacking a bit of first growth oomph. Finish felt a bit truncated as well. A decently enjoyable wine, but not a great Margaux. (3611 views) | | | Tasted by CornDoggyDogg on 5/24/2018 & rated 95 points: What a fun wine! Past it's prime I would imagine, but still plenty of life left. Reminded me of walking through a wet, muddy forest. Leather, cherry, fig, soy sauce, some herbs that I can't quite place. Very smooth with some tanins still on the upper lip, and a decent finish (maybe 45 seconds). It's certainly not the best wine I've ever had, but I can't imagine why someone wouldn't like this wine. (4417 views) | | | Tasted by Sharmajd on 5/5/2018 & rated 94 points: This one of the best bottles of the 79 Margaux I’ve had. Hadn’t tried one in a few years and the last time, about 3 years ago was very average. This one was singing. Incredible Margaux nose that jumps out of the glass with vanillin and floral scents. Light to medium bodied with a silky long finish. (4115 views) | | | Tasted by The Vines That Bind on 3/6/2018 & rated 92 points: Château Margaux Vertical (Chef's Club NYC): [Magnum] Nose is showing tertiary development with pine and some green vegetal aromas over dark red fruit and leather. There’s actually a big waft of black truffles on this. Palate is more classic with a dose of blackberry fruit and some bouldery minerality. Drying cranberry. Nose has many details while the palate is classic but unyielding. Reminiscent of a '79 Haut-Brion from Magnum somewhat recently in terms of spice. (5309 views) | | | Tasted by MC2 Wines on 10/5/2017: Hard to argue with a night of two old Margauxs (drank next to the '85). This one was more open for business from the get-go. My drinking companion called them both 'classic Margaux' but I don't think I have enough experience to opine. I found some of the differences interesting. This one was more leather and almost an oily quality to it. More intense than the '85 out of the gate and a bit more compelling. Very enjoyable. (5017 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Château Margaux Producer website - Read more about Chateau Margaux
Their second wine is Pavillon Rouge du Château MargauxRed Bordeaux BlendRed Bordeaux is generally made from a blend of grapes. Permitted grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and rarely Carménère.Today Carménère is rarely used, with Château Clerc Milon, a fifth growth Bordeaux, being one of the few to still retain Carménère vines. As of July 2019, Bordeaux wineries authorized the use of four new red grapes to combat temperature increases in Bordeaux. These newly approved grapes are Marselan, Touriga Nacional, Castets, and Arinarnoa.
Wineries all over the world aspire to making wines in a Bordeaux style. In 1988, a group of American vintners formed The Meritage Association to identify wines made in this way. Although most Meritage wines come from California, there are members of the Meritage Association in 18 states and five other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Israel, and Mexico.France Vins de France (Office National Interprofessionnel des Vins ) | Pages Vins, Directory of French Winegrowers | French Wine (Wikipedia)
Wine Scholar Guild vintage ratings
2018 vintage: "marked by a wet spring, a superb summer and a good harvest"
2019 vintage reports
2021: "From a general standpoint, whether for white, rosé or red wines, 2021 is a year marked by quality in the Rhône Valley Vineyards. Structured, elegant, fresh and fruity will be the main keywords for this new vintage."
2022 harvest: idealwine.info | wine-searcher.comBordeaux Bordeaux Wine Guide
Vins Bordeaux (Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux)
History of Bordeaux
History of 1855 Bordeaux Classification
"2009 is all about ripeness, with wines impressively packed with ripe fruit and high alcohol levels. They are showy, in-your-face, and full of pleasure. The 2010s have the fruit and alcohol levels of the 2009s, but with a compelling freshness on the finish that balances the fruit and provides a perfect sense of structure." - Ben Nelson
"2016 is a landmark vintage in certain spots of Bordeaux and it should be remembered as one of the most inspired campaigns of the last 40-50+ years." -Jon Rimmerman
"The quality of red Bordeaux in 2016 was universally lauded – although the response to the en primeur campaign was muted. Quantity was high too, with the equivalent of 770 million bottles of wine produced. An exceptionally dry summer with cool nights eventually, thanks to mid September rain, resulted in small, thick-skinned, ripe grapes, and the wines are marked by high tannin and acidity, with superb aromatic fragrance." - Jancis Robinson
"2017 was complicated, but there are some excellent wines. Expect plenty of freshness and drinkability from wines that will offer excellent value, and others that will rival 2016 in terms of ripeness and ageability. But they are likely to be the exception not the rule, making careful selection key." - Jane Anson
"In the past, a vintage such as 2022 may have been overripe, raisined and low in acidity but 2022 had a sneaky little reservoir in its back pocket - a near perfect marriage of cool/cold/rain the previous winter and the previous vintage that literally soaked the soils (a key to why 2022 is not 2003...or 1893)." - Jon RimmermanMédoc Vins du Médoc (Conseil des Vins du Médoc) - Read More about the Medoc
VdB
The eight precisely defined appellations of the whole of the Médoc (from Blanquefort Brook to the north of the Bordeaux built-up area, almost to the Pointe de Grave) may claim the Médoc appellation. But there is also a specific territory in the north of the peninsula which produces exclusively wines with this appellation. In the great majority, the Médocs come from the north of the peninsula. The great individuality of this region is that the number of vines has increased more recently here than elsewhere, apart from a few isolated spots where vines have grown for many years. Today, the size of the small estate has brought about the development of a powerful co-operative movement. Four co-operatives out of five belong to the group called Unimédoc which ensures aging, bottling and marketing a large proportion of their wines.Margaux Read more about Margaux and its wines As with a large part of the Bordeaux vineyards, vines first appeared in Margaux during the Gallo-Roman period.
In 1705 a text mentions Château Margaux . But we have to wait for the end of the eighteenth century and the coming of the earliest techniques in aging for the concept of wines of high quality to develop. The confirmation of this was the famous 1855 classification which recognized 21 Crus Classés in the Margaux appellation. One hundred years later, the Viticultural Federation and the Margaux appellation of controlled origin were born. The appellation, which stretches out over five communes, is actually unique in the Médoc in that it is the only one to contain all the range of wines, as rich as they are vast, from First Great Cru Classé to the Fifths, not forgetting its famous Crus Bourgeois and its Crus Artisans.
In Margaux there is a predominance of Garonne gravel on a central plateau of about 4 miles in length and one and a quarter wide. To the east-south-east, it overlooks the low lying land by the estuary. Its east side is marked by gentle, dry valleys and a succession of ridges.The layer of gravel in Margaux was spread out by a former Garonne in the early Quaternary. Rather large in size, it is mingled with shingle of average dimension and represents the finest ensemble of Günz gravel in the Haut-Médoc. It is on this ancient layer on a Tertiary terrace of limestone or clayey marl that the best Médoc crus lie. All the conditions for successful wine are present : a large amount of gravel and pebbles, poor soil which cannot retain water and deep rooted vines.
It is customary to say that Margaux wines are the "most feminine" in the Médoc, thus stressing their delicacy, suppleness and their fruity, elegant aromas. This does not affect their great propensity for aging; just the opposite, for the relatively thin terroir imparts tannins which give them long life. The other characteristic of these wines which combine an elegant vitality, subtlety and consistency, is their diversity and personality. Over and above the flavour which is their "common denominator", they present an exceptional palette of bouquets, fruity flavours which show up differently from one château to another.
Production conditions (Decree dated August 10 1954)
In order to have the right to the Margaux appellation of controlled origin, red wines must:
- come from the commune of Margaux, Cantenac, Soussans, Arsac and Labarde, "excluding the land which by the nature of its soil or because of its situation, is unfit to produce wine of this appellation".
- satisfy precise production conditions: grape-varieties (Cabernet-Sauvignon, Cabernet-Franc, Carmenère, Merlot Noir, Petit Verdot, Cot or Malbec), minimum of sugar (178 grammes - 6.27 oz. - per litre of must) degree (an acquired 10°5) base yield (45 hectolitres per hectare).
Vins de Bordeaux:
Grape Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Merlot
Soil: Gravel and silt plateau on a layer of limestone or silt on clay
Surface Area: 1,530 ha |
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