Chateau Margaux dinner

Free flow Margaux, all ex-Chateau, good company in the form or Ray and Marcus. Very decent food too - probably the best meal I have ever had at Au Jardin, with all the courses being masterfully paired. What more could one ask for?

Some really lovely items here, like smoke duck in wanton skin, chorizo and smoke salmon tarts, some lovely bruschetta and, or crouse, the bubbly

• NV Bruno Paillard Champagne Brut 92 Points

  France, Champagne

  This was a very nice NV Champer indeed. Really fine and very persistent bead. Nose was super clean and defined, if just a little lean in its yeast and mineral tones with subtle white fruit notes. Much the same on the palate, defined, clean, with pear flavours laced with good minerality. Very lithe, yet there was a sense of creamy richness to it, especially as the wine moved into its long and sappy finish which was suitably mouthwatering.

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• 1999 Château Margaux Pavillon Blanc 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux

  We drank this from a magnum, but there was clearly a touch of premature oxidation on the nose, which had gone rather soy saucy and mushroomy. Paul Pontallier agreed when we pointed this out. Not a bad wine nevertheless. Beyond the soy and mushrooms along with a little bit of funky earth, we got a touch of kerosene, some cream, beeswax and waffles in maple syrup. The palate was much cleaner and clearer than the nose - sappy white fruit, lemon custard, creme brulee tones, some churned butter, a whiff of smoke - very rich and round and all put together in a very nicely balanced package. Finish was rich, but also long, crisp and smoky.

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• 2006 Château Margaux Pavillon Blanc 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux

  This is by far the best Sauvignon Blanc that I have ever had. Beautiful, fresh nose, with a touch of graass, lots of perfumy floral notes and an absolute explosion of peaches and cream along with a light layering of honey and oak - a glorious, singing nose. The palate was super-rich and creamy, almost a little oily in texture, with some smoke and mineral tones winding their way through explosive, mouthfilling white fruit tones that just unfolded in layer after layer of creamy richness. It was a big wine at 15%, and it would have almost been fat if not for good acidity and minerality that gave the wine a nice focus. Finish was long, long, long - ever so sappy and weighty as it clung onto the palate, but with superb freshness, integration and cleaness in the melony flavours. An ultra-hedonistic wine.

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• 2004 Château Margaux Pavillon Rouge 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  This was better on the night than the last bottle I tried some months back. Red core with a clear rim. Nice, clear nose of sweet berries along with some undergrowthm, a touch of meat, a little dry wood, a touch of fragrant flowers and very 2004 minerality with a touch of green stems. The palate showed touches of earth and cassis and just the slightest bit of greeness and more minerals wrapped up in rather firmish tannins along with bright acidity. This had good body for a 2004 and rather decent length on the finish, but nothing to get excited about.

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• 1999 Château Margaux Pavillon Rouge 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  I preffered this to the 2004 that we drank alongside. Almost similar in colour in the red core and clear pink rim. The nose on this wine was a lot more mature though, wuth fragrant dried flowers along with earth and leather notes and a touch of soy and mushrooms. Pretty nice. More dried earth on the palate, which I found to be beautifully resolved, along with blackcurrants and stewed tea leaves laced through with a clean minerality. As with the 2004, there was just the smallest touch of greeness, maybe less so here. Finish was long and lingering.

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• 1999 Château Margaux 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Absolutely beautiful on the night, just shaded by the ultra-elegant 1989 as my favourite wine. Same red core and pink rim as the Pavilion Rouge of the same vintage, but this was in a completely, completely different plane from the second wine. This wine had one of the most beautiful bouquets of any wine that I have drunk this year. Just layers and layers of smells - earth, funk and undergrowth, followed by sandlewood, cloves and dried flowers, and then some leather, after that sweet underlying tones of red cranberry-like fruit and blackcurrant, then a touch of green bell pepper and finally a coffee, mocha tone and a streak of mineral. The palate did not let down. Very cleanly defined, with superb balance and integration - almost laser-like in its focus, with a mouthfilling beam of blackcurrant and earth running from the attack into the super-long, lingering finish, which showed cloves, spice, sandlewood and musky dried flowers that just clung and clung and clung on the mouth. I do not think this will be one of the longer-lived Margaux, but this was so very flamboyant and just drinking so seductively at the moment. Beautiful.

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• 1995 Château Margaux 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  This wine had a great sense of terroir, on one hand clearly Margaux and on the other clearly 1995. I thought it was outperformed by the 1989 and the 1999 on the night, but this will probably go on to best the other two in another decade or so. Nose was really feminine, with fresh cut flowers, green bell peppers, earth and a hint of leather and meat. All rather bright and high-toned, and absolutely hedonistic. More of the same headiness on the palate as well, almost like drinking perfume, with rich cherry and sweet berry flavours, sandlewood, flowers, a super sense of minerality and the lightest touch of cheese and a sprinkling of pepper, all swaddled in a rather tight package of super fresh acid and nicely coiled tannins. The finish was long, as would be expected, and a lot fresher than the 1999, but I found it the shortest of the three vintages of the grand vin that we had. A beautiful wine no doubt, but with a bit of 1995 harshness and angularity at the moment. This will need some time to really blossom.

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• 1989 Château Margaux 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Spectacular. Ray aptly described it as a Grace Kelly wine - supremely elegant, yet full of body and personality. The wine kicked off with a beautiful nose with plush leather and earth, lots of fresh flowers, fragrant cloves and clean minerality. It was richly layered, yet wonderfully defined. Super seductive. Great clarity on the palate as well, which was clean but showed a real sense of power along with super definition in its pure blackcurrant and cherry flavours which filled the mouth along with slightly bittersweet minerals, flowers and a touch of pepper. Classic Margaux. The finish was ultra long, powerful and clinging, with a hint of mocha, more round fruit, a sprinkle of mineral and a whiff of leather. As clean as the 1995, yet as lushly seductive as the 1999. My WOTN.

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• 2001 Château Doisy-Védrines 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  We were a bit wined out by the time we got to dessert, but decided to order a half bottle of this just to round the night off. Pretty good and suitably interesting, but having been spoilt by some incredible Sauterenes in the past few months, really nothing to shout about. Nose had a very fresh, irony, mineral strain to it, and it took a little while to get past that to get to the fresh apricot scents. The palate was a lot sweeter than the nose would have led one to expect, almost syrupy in texture, it showed dried apricots, some soap bubbly flavours and a touch of orange peel and marmalade. Finish was decent.

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