Chateau Kirwan 2009
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James
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Robert
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Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 13.5% Cabernet Franc, 13.5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is a wine that seduces you, with its crushed blackberries and hints of dark chocolate that follow through to a full body and ultra-fine tannins with a tangy, fresh finish. Solid as a rock. Best ever from here. Try in 2019.
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Wine Enthusiast
While it has weight and richness, this is also seriously structured, a wine packed with dry tannins. The potential is all there—the sweet fruit of the vintage along with a solid texture and final acidity.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A big, powerful Margaux that should age for 20+ years, this inky purple-colored wine exhibits notes of spring flowers intermixed with blackberries, raspberries and cassis. Some lead pencil shavings and toasty oak are also present in this powerful yet at the same time very pure, textured, full-throttle Kirwan. It needs about 5-7 years of cellaring and will be among the longest-lived wines of the vintage.
Rating: 92+ -
Wine Spectator
Ripe and mouthfilling, but with fresh acidity harnessing the core nicely, keeping the dark plum, blackberry and sage notes wound up, while lilac, sandalwood and black tea fill in on the finish. Shows lovely mouthfeel. Drink now through 2024. 7,000 cases made.
Other Vintages
2022-
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Wilfred
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James
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Connoisseurs'
Guide
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The vines are thinned out in order to encourage maximum concentration and ripeness in the grapes. These are hand-picked and carefully sorted before being crushed. The wine is fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel vats and then aged in oak barrels (35% of which are renewed every year) for 18 months.
Chateau Kirwan takes its name from the Irishman, Mark Kirwan, who owned the estate in the mid 18th century. The Schyler family has owned Kirwan since 1925.
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.