Winemaker Notes
Blend: 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The first-growth 2005 Château Margaux (85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot), a lavish fragrance of blackcurrants, velvety new saddle leather, spring flowers and spice soars from the glass. The wood is already totally concealed beneath the cascade of fruit in this medium to full-bodied, pure and majestic wine. This concentrated, dense, but nevertheless strikingly elegant, multi-layered wine has a finish of 45+ seconds. It builds incrementally to a crescendo and finale. This is a stunner that can be approached already, but promises to be better in another 5-10 years and last at least 25 or more years.
Rating: 98+ -
Wine Enthusiast
For a Château Margaux, this is an especially rich wine. The dense fruit, superripe but not overpowering, and the blackberry jam flavors show the richness of the year. There is wood alongside the juiciness and sweet tannins. Of course, it will age, but it’s so delicious to drink now.
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Wine Spectator
Interesting, this is starting to deliver some fireworks aromatically, with singed alder, sandalwood and smoldering charcoal notes peeking out, though the core is still tightly coiled, with a wall of grip shrouding the plum, red currant and bitter cherry fruit. Iron and chalk elements drive the finish today, with a grainier edge than the '09 or '10, but no less length or cut. This shows the extra élevage (two years) as it's built more on grip, but the aromas that are starting to emerge suggest that this will be a worthy rival to the '10.
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Wine & Spirits
An extravagantly ripe vintage of Margaux, this has the first-growth scent of a wine at home in its new oak. The texture is succulent and generous, the aromas bright with floral tones and sweet fruit, a taste of fresh strawberries and blackberries macerated in liqueur. This is a beautiful wine, and it may reveal more of its structural power with time.
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Decanter
Silky textured, full of sweet tobacco, fleshy raspberry and red cherry notes,. A little more open than its Pauillac siblings at this point, with the finely-boned structure and multi-layered aromatics that you look for in the wines of Château Margaux. A high percentage of Merlot in this vintage because the late-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon performed so well that it was given precedence in the main estate wine. One of the richest in alcohol and tannins produced at the property to date, and ready to go at 15 years old. Drinking Window 2020 - 2032
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.