Community Tasting Note
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englishman's claret wrote: 95 points
December 12, 2020 - Why is it that Chateau Margaux is so often heralded as a superlatively elegant wine? Because it often has a gentle floral note? true, but it’s always big and structured. Because it was really elegant in the pre-Ginestet era? perhaps, but lots of chateaux were more elegant renditions of their current selves prior to the 70s. Because “elegance” is sometimes the positive spin on the bevy of light-ish Margaux commune wines that underperformed for so long (many of which are admirably striving to better themselves) and that attribute must be epitomized by the king of the commune? I’m not entirely sure, but since Margaux’s rejuvenation in the 1980s I have admittedly not found it a particularly elegant wine.
So why the long preamble? Well, I’m not sure it’s helpful to cling to that notion that success at Chateau Margaux *should* be linked to this notion of a diaphanous, ephemeral wine. If you insist on that, the 96 Margaux might fall short - but if you don’t, it’s really quite nice. Best after about 4 hours of air, the 96 Margaux shows what I think of as a typical Ch Margaux nose, full of sweet raspberries, pencil, cedar, a touch of acacia, Ethiopian coffee. The palate is quite concentrated with almost painfully intense pencil shavings. The loads of tannin here can distract a bit from the long, pencilly finish but time should rectify that and while I readily agree this is muscular I wouldn’t call to corpulent. I do admire its integrated alcohol and good acidity. Ideally, forget about these for another 5-10 years.7 people found this helpful 7,008 views
4 Comments
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Cailles commented:
6/9/21, 9:37 AM - Thx for that great note and all the insights. My guess would be that a big part of the „iron fist in a velvet glove“ story is the relative ready- and openness of Chateau Margaux early on compared to Lafite, Latour or Haut Brion (same is true for the appellation vs Pauillac, St. Julien, St. Estéphe or Pessac-Léognan). A too broad generalization? Sure, but with a grain of truth.
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Lostboy commented:
10/17/21, 9:35 AM - Great note. Keep the preamble coming. What is the best ch. Margaux to drink now that is highly rated?
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englishman's claret commented:
10/17/21, 10:48 AM - Lostboy, thank you. There are several that are great at the moment - 1982, 1983, and 1990 foremost among them. I’ve not been a big fan of the 85, 88, or 89 and the 86 may not be ready yet. It’s been a few years since I’ve tasted the 86.
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Lostboy commented:
10/17/21, 5:06 PM - Thank you so much Englishman. Loved the 2000 and 05