Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is soft and pretty with currant and berry character and hints of wet earth. Full body, with fine tannins and a fresh and lively finish. Refined and beautiful. Juicy and long. Sweet fruit in the center palate.
Barrel Sample: 92-93 Points -
Wine Spectator
This is distinctive, with a roasted alder streak running through an enticing core of crushed plum, blackberry and black currant confiture flavors. Long and velvety on the finish, with bay, tobacco and black tea accents checking in. This is suave, with fruit and terroir in spades, particularly for the vintage. Best from 2017 through 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This wine offers attractive floral notes intermixed with notions of lavender, black currants, black cherries, smoke and earth. It is another successful effort from an estate that has been consistently producing exceptional wines in all the finest vintages over the last 15-20 years. An attractive, seductive, dense ruby/purple-hued, medium-bodied 2012, it finishes with some shortness, but everything leading up to the finish is impressive. Like most of these 2012s that possess a certain forward appeal, it should drink well for 12-15 years.
Barrel Sample: 89-92 Points -
Wine Enthusiast
This concentrated wine brings out all the qualities of 2012 vintage—fruitiness, juicy black fruit and great swathes of fresh acidity. It's a finely balanced wine.
Barrel Sample: 90-92 Points -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
So very impressive and so affordable for its high-grade quality, the 2012 Château Malescot St. Exupery is by far one of the top wines from Bordeaux. Deep ruby color; enticing aroma of black fruits, licorice and anise, earth in the background, full depth; medium to full bodied, built on the palate; dry, medium acidity, well balanced; bold, black fruit and sweet earth, yes and a dose of sweet oak for added complexity; long finish, some youthful tannins in the aftertaste. (Tasted: September 14, 2015, San Francisco, CA)
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.