Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A stunning red with currants, blackberries, roses and violets. Medium to full body, ultra-fine tannins and polish and finesse to the powerful tannins. A real stunner. Better than 2015. Take a serious look at it, beginning 2024.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The ruby/plum-colored 2016 Château Malescot Saint-Exupéry comes from vines in the heart of the Margaux appellation and is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, and the balance Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It’s a total rock star of wine and has fabulous notes of crème de cassis, barbecue smoke, graphite, and sandalwood that build beautifully with time in the glass. Medium to full-bodied, concentrated, layered, and seamless, it’s incredibly impressive and I’d wager up with the finest vintages ever from this estate. Give it a few years and enjoy over the following 20-25. Bravo!
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Malescot St. Exupery sings of cassis, fragrant earth, tobacco and lilacs with a compelling waft of mocha. Medium to full-bodied and strutting loads of expressive fruit layers at this youthful stage, it's framed by ripe, grainy tannins and oodles freshness, finishing with great length and depth.
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Decanter
This has forward oak edging and attractively smoky fireside notes of ash and grilled sarments. The tannins are monolithic at this stage, and there's a lot to be impressed about in this wine, although it has closed down pretty severely, emphasising austerity rather than seduction. There's no question that all the elements for ageing are present and correct - it's a confident expression of the vintage and one with huge potential. Matured in 70% new oak. From a high yield of 51hl/ha.
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Wine Enthusiast
This estate is really improving. The wine in this vintage is full of fragrant fruit, with the tannins making a fine backdrop to the juiciness. It's going to be a fine medium-term wine.
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Wine Spectator
This opens slowly, showing a slight woodsy bent, with alder and mesquite notes leading off, but as it does the core of red currant, blackberry and plum fruit flavor fleshes out nicely, soaking up the woodsy element while adding in light savory detail and black tea and violet notes. A long mineral echo chimes through the finish. Best from 2022 through 2036.
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.