Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
With marked acidity as well as black fruits, this is a wine with weight and richness. It has a dark core of firm tannins, although the aftertaste maintains the juiciness.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 Points -
Decanter
An excellent second bottle, showing that this wine needs time to bed down further. It remains extremely well knitted together, showing excellent structure and spice, full of carefully placed, controlled cassis fruits joined by touches of cigar box and grilled almonds. The tannins are still gripping tightly around the fruit, so give it another three or four years.
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Wine Spectator
This offers beguiling aromas of bergamot, roasted sandalwood and black tea, before giving way to a core of plum, blackberry and raspberry reduction notes. Best from 2017 through 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A beauty from Henri Lurton, the 2012 Brane Cantenac exhibits classic notes of spring flowers intermixed with black raspberries, black currants and damp forest floor. This medium-bodied, sweet, ripe, quintessentially elegant, medium-bodied Margaux is nicely concentrated as well as sexy. Enjoy it over the next 10-12 years.
Barrel Sample: 90-92 Points -
James Suckling
A wine with currant and berry character. Full body, with chewy tannins that are polished and juicy. Solid core of fruit yet harmonious for the vintage. Like it better than 2011.
Barrel Sample: 90-91 Points
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Silky, seductive and polished are the words that characterize the best wines from Margaux, the most inland appellation of the Médoc on the Left Bank of Bordeaux.
Margaux’s gravel soils are the thinnest of the Médoc, making them most penetrable by vine roots—some reaching down over 23 feet for water. The best sites are said to be on gentle outcrops, or croupes, where more gravel facilitates good drainage.
The Left Bank of Bordeaux subscribes to an arguably outdated method of classification but it is nonetheless important in regards to history of the area. In 1855 the finest chateaux were deemed on the basis of reputation and trading price—at that time. In 1855, Chateau Margaux achieved first growth status, yet it has been Chateau Palmer (officially third growth from the 1855 classification) that has consistently outperformed others throughout the 20th century.
Chateau Margaux in top vintages is capable of producing red Cabernet Sauvignon based wines described as pure, intense, spell-binding, refined and profound with flavors and aromas of black currant, violets, roses, orange peel, black tea and incense.
Other top producers worthy of noting include Chateau Rauzan-Ségla, Lascombes, Brane-Cantenac, and d’Issan, among others.
The best wines of Margaux combine a deep ruby color with a polished structure, concentration and an unrivaled elegance.