1997 Pavillon Rouge
$134 (2012)
France
Margaux, Médoc
Bordeaux
Red
64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, 5% Cabernet Franc (2022 vintage)
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1997
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All early tasters I've spoken with to date agree that Chateau Margaux has done about as well as any Medoc chateau under the tricky conditions of the '97 harvest. "Our standards for quality have become even higher after the '96 and '95 vintages," points out manager Paul Pontallier. "In 1997 we had merlot up to 13.5% and we had terrific cabernet sauvignon at 11.5%," he noted. "But we had cabernet vats with similar grape sugars that were clearly less successful. For example, some of our cabernet on clay-rich chalky soil, which normally contributes to the structure of our wine, lacked its typical tannic density and did not make it into the final blend." There were actually three levels of selection in '97, with a very low 40% surviving the cut for the grand vin, 50% used for the Pavillon Rouge, and 10% declassified into a third wine. My retasting of '96 and '95 confirms that this is a stunning pair of vintages for Margaux.
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2022
2028 - 2042
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2022
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2021
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“We had some frost issues, but not a lot of mildew pressure,” explained Managing Director Philippe Bascaules. “Dry extract numbers were pretty much in line with 2019, although the chemistry of the wines is different. We saigneed some lots and chaptalized others lightly, as needed.” One of the more pragmatic administrators in the Médoc, Bascaules is quite adamant about a flexible farming regime that allows the vineyard team to intervene as needed. As for the wines, they are absolutely gorgeous.
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2021
2025 - 2040
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It was a gorgeous sunny day when I called in at Château Margaux, where I tasted with Philippe Bascaules, Corinne Mentzelopoulos and her son Alexis Leven-Mentzelopoulos, who appears to be taking a much more prominent role in the running of the First Growth. “We had some frost, so we had to work many nights spraying water on some blocks and also using wind machines,” Bascaules explained. “We lost around 1.5-hectares on the white, more than 10%, and five-hectares of the red, fortunately not the best blocks. So, it did not really affect the Grand Vin or either Pavillons. Spring was rainy with a difficult May and June, so we had to treat many times using copper and sulphur (18 times) including weekends and Bank holiday. It was not a late vintage. Flowering was 1 to 6 June, and véraison was around the beginning of August. Fortunately, it was quite dry in the summer. After the picking of the white, we had 45mm of rain, so we started to pick the Merlot on 24 September and finished the Cabernet Sauvignon on 14 October. More vigorous blocks showed a bit of rot, but we were able to wait and were happy to pick when we wanted. Fermentations were less complicated than recent years because of alcohol levels, the yeast was able to finish the fermentation easier. Also, the extraction was slower and could be controlled. We stopped doing some remontage two or three years ago with respect to the Petit Verdot and Cabernet, so it was about the same, but we did a little more saignée to compensate for the size of the berry. The surprise is the concentration of the wines in terms of tannins, which is at the same level as the 2019 vintage. The yield is 36hL/ha, which is pretty good for the region; 36% is in Château Margaux and 30% in Pavillon Rouge, so volumes are the same as last year.”
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2020
2024 - 2038
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2020
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2020
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2019
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2019
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2019
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2019
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2018
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2018
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2018
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2018
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"We try to work as sustainably as possible," explained Managing Director Philippe Bascaules at Château Margaux. We started with natural copper and sulfur treatments. Disease pressure was extremely high in early July. Our owner, Corinne Mentzelopoulos, told us she was not prepared to lose half the harvest, so we intervened with synthetic products, and that ultimately saved our crop. Yields are still down about 30%, which is to say 30 hectoliters per hectare as opposed to the 40-45 we prefer to see." Readers will get a good sense of the style of the year by tasting the Pavillon Rouge, which is quite a bit richer and racier than it usually is. The Grand Vin carries plenty of intensity, but it does so with the inimitable style that makes Château Margaux so unique.
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2017
2022 - 2037
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2017
2021 - 2035
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2017
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2017
2021 - 2032
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In 2017 the vines at Château Margaux were not spared. “Frost affected eight hectares,” estate manager Philippe Bascaules told me. “At the end of June there was more than 100mm of rain that helped with the drought. Summer was very dry in July and August. There was around 70mm of rain in September that changed the view of the vintage, then there was a bit of rain over the following days. Therefore we saw some botrytis in mid-September and we decided to wait a little, during a sunny period. We began picking the Merlot on 18 September but we stopped the harvest on 22 September and started again on 25 September with the Cabernet Sauvignon, each picker sorting in the vineyard. We were surprised by the concentration. The Grand Vin represents 37% of the total production this year, the Pavillon Rouge 22%.” Those last figures demonstrate the draconian selection at Château Margaux these days, a majority of the fruit now ending in either the second or recently introduced third wine.
Whereas in some years I feel that the Pavillon Rouge pushes closer to the Grand Vin, in 2017 there is a distinct difference between the two and it is outshone by the superior Pavillon Blanc that relished the favorable growing season for the whites.
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2016
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2016
2021 - 2036
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2016
2022 - 2036
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2016
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This is a stunning set of wines from Château Margaux. I must admit, it's a bit strange to see newly arrived managing director Philippe Bascaules at Margaux. The first time I met Bascaules was in October 2011, when he had just arrived at Inglenook, and here we were tasting again together just as he had returned to Margaux. But the 2016s are the work of technical director Sébastien Vergne and the Margaux team headed by deputy managing director Aurélien Valance. In 2016, the harvest stretched over four weeks, the longest on record at the château. The quality and sheer purity of the vintage is evident from the Pavillon Rouge, but all three wines are absolutely stellar. I tasted the 2016s twice, at opposite ends of my spring trip to Bordeaux.
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2015
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2015
2020 - 2035
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2015
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I was not at all looking forward to my appointment at Château Margaux this year. The news of Paul Pontallier's passing at just 59 a few days before the en primeur tastings were about to get started shocked the wine community. I had seen Pontallier just a few months before, and, then, suddenly he was gone. As it turns out, I tasted the 1983, Pontallier's first vintage at Margaux, a few days before this visit. The 2015s will turn out to make a fabulous bookend to a legendary career that was tragically cut short, but not before Pontallier succeeded in elevating the quality of the wines here in a meaningful way. Château Margaux remains arguably the First Growth with the deepest family values. One the day I tasted, proprietor Corinne Mentzelopoulos stood next to her team as she welcomed all of her visitors with her inimitable blend of charm and wit.
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2014
2019 - 2035
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2014
2017 - 2024
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I confess that I still have a hard time visiting Château Margaux. The untimely passing of Paul Pontallier is impossible to ignore when walking through the property. Later this year Philippe Bascaules will return to Margaux from his stint at Inglenook, which will at least ensure some measure of continuity. As for the 2014s, they are gracious and polished, pretty much as they were from barrel.
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2014
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You have to pay attention when Paul Pontallier speaks, as his understated demeanor and wry sense of humor can sometimes hide what are very pointed observations. "Anyone who describes 2014 as a 'miracle' simply speaks from inexperience," says Pontallier, who describes 2014 as a "classic" vintage similar in style to 1978, 1979, 1983, 2004, 2006 and 2008. "People say that 2014 is better for Cabernet Sauvignon than Merlot in the Médoc, but that is often because the best parcels are planted with Cabernet, as is the case here." The Grand Vin accounts for 36% of the red wine production, while 28% was used for the Pavillon Rouge and the rest for the entry-level appellation wine. As for the 2014s, they are super-polished. When all is said and done, the Pavillon Blanc could turn out to be the best of these three 2014s.
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2013
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Paul Pontallier told me he has never seen a vintage like 2013, but adds emphatically that drawing parallels to the past is a waste of time because everything has changed in Bordeaux, from viticulture to winemaking. The fruit was brought in at 12.5% natural alcohols and chaptalized a half degree up to 13%. About 38% of the production was used for the Grand Vin, while 21% was used for Pavillon Rouge. The 2013 reds at Margaux are some of the most impeccable and polished wines of the year.
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2012
2022 - 2032
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2012
2016 - 2024
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2011
2022 - 2028
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2011
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2011
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2010
2022 - 2036
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2010
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2010
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2009
2019 - 2039
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2009
2019 - 2039
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2009
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Asked what he thought of his wonderful '09 Margaux, Paul Pontallier beamed and said, "This is the most concentrated Margaux we have ever made, but it is so smooth and balanced that I can tell from people's faces when they hear me say so that they just don't believe me." There are many reasons behind the success of the 2009 grand vin, chief among them being the small volume produced. Almost as important are the investments that have been made here in new steel temperature-controlled fermentation tanks and a more specific approach to vineyard work in which the vines within specific sections of vineyard plots are harvested separately and at different times. "For example, we have always had a parcel of merlot vines we never thought was good enough for the grand vin," Pontallier explained. "But by further dividing it up into four different sub-parcels, and by picking each one at ideal ripeness, we suddenly realized that one-quarter of the plot actually yields excellent grapes, the quality of which we weren't aware of previously." Readers should note that in an effort to further increase quality, Margaux declassified as much as 30% of its wine to third-level status. In fact, there's so much of this juice now that they are thinking of creating a new entry-level wine altogether.
00
2008
2018 - 2026
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2008
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2007
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"The really important things begin in August, but this year we had bad luck with the weather that month," said director Paul Pontallier. "The vines were continually wet and the foliage kept growing, so in the end we were not able to make a wine with great structure. On the other hand, we did not lose a single berry to mildew." Despite the extended growing season, which featured more than 120 days between the flowering and the harvest, the cabernet franc and petit verdot here did not reach full maturity, Pontallier added. That's the bad news. The good news is that the young 2007 Margaux may well have the purest, most perfumed aromas of the vintage. The selection for the grand vin was a very strict 32%, with another 48% going into the estate's Pavillon Rouge and the remaining 20% of the juice going into a third wine.
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2005
2021 - 2030
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2005
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Having visited Chateau Margaux after finishing in the northern Medoc, I wondered how this great first growth could be as outstanding as most early tasters were rating it. After all, most chateau owners, at least those in the north, seemed to rank their cabernet ahead of their merlot, and Chateau Margaux has a good 20% merlot planted on the estate. Part of the explanation is that the grand vin at Margaux in 2005 includes just 8% merlot. As estate manager Paul Pontallier explained, leaving out most of the merlot was not really a function of the inherent quality of this variety in 2005. Rather, he said, "when our cabernet sauvignon is outstanding, our merlot sometimes can't fit into the blend." The young 2005 Margaux is one of the greatest young Bordeaux I have yet tasted: with its dominant cabernet component, powerful backbone (15% press wine is in the blend) and record 78 IPT, it's almost Pauillac-like in its expression of cabernet. The density and structure of the wine suggest that it will outlast any adult who buys it now.
00
2004
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I don't yet find quite the density in the 2004 Margaux that estate manager Paul Pontallier does, but there's no arguing with the wine's dark color and lovely aromatic precision. Pontallier told me that 2004 was one of the estate's best vintages for merlot since 1995, but then emphasized that "only cabernet sauvignon makes great wine here." The cabernet sauvignon was harvested here between October 11 and 21. Incidentally, the 2003 Margaux has the highest-ever IPT at this estate (73); just a step behind in total polyphenols have been 2004, 2000, 1995 and 1986, all measuring about 70. Margaux's 2004 white wine is a knockout.
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2003
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Chateau Margaux has made one of the monumental wines of the vintage-particularly impressive in light of the mixed performance of this appellation in 2003. Estate manager Paul Pontallier considers the 2003 to be the most concentrated wine he's ever made. "We normally seek balance," he told me. "We don't look for overconcentration, which can throw a wine off balance. But the yield in 2003 was just 30 hectoliters per hectare, our lowest in 25 years, except for the frost year of 1991." Still, Pontallier expressed surprise with the way the 2003 is turning out. "I didn't expect the wine to be so classic. I was expecting to find at least traces of the heat, but the wine is pure and fresh." Indeed, the pH of 3.8 and the acidity between 3.2 and 3.3 grams per liter are close to the 20-year average for this great first growth. Incidentally, the index of polyphenols was 75 in 2003, in part due to the estate's ripest cabernet franc ever; the prior record here was 70, reached in 2000, 1995 and 1986.
00
2002
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The 2002 Margaux features 86% cabernet sauvignon, the highest ever for this great first growth, according to estate manager Paul Pontallier. "What about the 1986?" I asked. "In '86 the cabernet was so powerful we needed the merlot to balance it," he responded. Pontallier describes the 2002 as "classic, pure Margaux, but not extraordinary. It's more structured, with tighter-grained tannins, than the '01."
00
2001
2021 - 2032
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2001
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The huge 2000 Margaux is a wine with a tendency to erase anything tasted next to it, but until I put the 2000 in my mouth I certainly enjoyed my young sample of the 2001. Estate manager Paul Pontallier describes the 2000 as "extraordinary and flamboyant; from the start the wine exploded in the mouth." The 2001, according to Pontallier, "doesn't pretend to be extraordinary. It's in a more linear style but it may be as long as the 2000." For the first time ever, the 2001 features more petit verdot (7.4%) than merlot (7.3%), as the former grape was exceptionally ripe in 2001. The trio of outstanding reds I tasted at Margaux did not overshadow a freakishly dense and rich 2001 Pavillon Blanc, made from a yield of just 28 hectoliters per hectare.
00
2000
2021 - 2030
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2000
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Margaux did not make the wine of the vintage in 1998, but it at or near the top in 1999 and 2000. "The 2000 is our most concentrated wine ever, even more concentrated than 1986," said estate manager Paul Pontallier. "The polyphenol levels are the highest since we've started measuring them, even higher than '95 and '86. The selection was particularly severe; we've had a third wine since 1997, but 2000 was the first great vintage since then." The 2000 Margaux offers a compelling combination of power and finesse. It should be extremely long-lived, thanks to the great density and muscular structure of its 80% cabernet sauvignon component. "But it's not a hard style," noted Pontallier, "it's not a frightening wine to taste young."
00
1999
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Chateau Margaux's grand vin is an outstanding example of 1999, with power lurking behind the sweetness and roundness of the vintage. According to manager Paul Pontallier, this estate declassified a late-ripening parcel of cabernet sauvignon that's usually included in the first wine, and used saignee to reduce the volume of several of its other parcels by 10% to 12%. The result is a particularly dense '99, and a stronger-than-usual Pavillon Rouge, as concentrated as—and perhaps more expressive than—the '98 a year ago.
00
1998
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"Nineteen ninety-eight was one of the most surprising vintages I've ever witnessed," reported manager Paul Pontallier. "I was very optimistic in August but then much less optimistic at harvest time due to the rains. I expected the wine to be thinner, drier, diluted. But the grapes were ripe at fairly low alcohol levels, and I've been amazed by the concentration and density the wine shows today." Tannin levels were very high in '98, as high as in '95, says Pontallier, adding that only 1986 had more tannins. The estate did some saignee but does not use other techniques for concentrating the juice. "The potential alcohol level was too low to match the power of the wine, so chaptalization was a better approach. Using other methods of concentrating the wine would have risked concentrating the tough tannins as well, and the wine could have turned out too harsh." Pontallier describes the young '98 as between '95 and '86 in style, with gentler, rounder tannins than the '86 but more austere than the '95.
00
1995
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The anticipated final blend for '95 will contain only 14% merlot, the lowest percentage of any "normal" year in the past two decades, says régisseur Paul Pontailler. The best merlot here was simply not as good as the best cabernet in '95, according to Pontailler. Despite the stronger raw materials of '95 (more sugar, more acid, more tannins), the selection was as severe as the previous year, with about 50% of the crop being used for the grand vin. The result is a Margaux with great potential—as well as an unusually impressive Pavillon Rouge featuring about one-third merlot.
00
1990
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1982
2022 - 2032
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