2002 Château Margaux

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.

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.

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."