Chateau Margaux Premier Cru Classe, Margaux 2023

The Grand Vin 2023 Château Margaux is based on 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, and 2% Cabernet Franc and was aged 21 months in 100% new French oak. Deep purple-hued and opaque, it offers sensational aromatics of crème de cassis, mulberries, flowery incense, blue fruits, graphite, and smoky tobacco on the nose. It's full-bodied on the palate and has a broad, layered, seamless mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and a gorgeous finish. It's not far off the style of the 2020 and is shockingly good! Will it shut down? Time will tell, but this is a sensational effort that deserves a solid decade of bottle age. Drink 2035-2073.

The aromas in this young Margaux are so primary, reminding me of grape must fermenting in the vat, then turning to perfumes and flowers. Violets and roses. Full-bodied but it comes across as so agile and bright, with vivid acidity that makes the wine crunchy and linear. As Alexis, one of the owners of Margaux said, this really shows the DNA of the estate. Weightless. One of the wines of the vintage. 3.6 pH. Blend of 89% cabernet sauvignon, 5% merlot, 4% cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot.

Quite a herbal nose, full of blackcurrant leaf and bramble fruit, dark chocolate, violets - subtle, not shouting, but interesting. Round and ripe, a nice weight in the mouth, silky, but also like crushed velvet, mouthwatering acidity, so juicy and clean, a lovely texture in the mouth. Not chewy at all, but there’s depth here, a cushioning to the palate with incredible juiciness. Charming, gentle yet lively. It's is just so appealing but this will benefit from oak ageing too. Carefully made, tannins are wonderful and the acidity doesn’t stick out. You also don’t sense the heat, but the fruit is ripe, with freshness all the way through. A wonderful wine in 2023. 2% Petit Verdot completes the blend with 4% Cabernet Franc, the highest percentage ever in the blend. 41% grand vin production. 3.6pH, 15% press. Officially certified organic as of 2023. Ageing 100% new oak, 18 months.

Vibrant peony and ruby red colour, this hums with movement and energy through the palate, a complex bloom of lavendar and white rose flowers, fresh and dense at the same time. Classical Margaux, with the savoury quality of the best wines of the year, a ton of fine tannins with a reserved sculpted architecture. The drinkability of this vintage is such a welcome return, and this is exceptionally good quality, and a real pleasure to taste. Superb winemaking from Philippe Bascaules. 41hl/h yield (compared to 25hl/h last year), 41% of the production in this 1st wine.

The 2023 Château Margaux is fabulous. Sensual, silky and exceptionally polished, the 2023 Château Margaux is shaping up to be a classic. Seamless, silky tannins wrap around a core of dark red/purplish fruit. Hints of spice, new leather, menthol, licorice and rose petal fill out the glass. There's a bit of new oak peeking through today, but that won't be an issue in a few years' time. Only Bordeaux can produce wines that offer so much flavor intensity at a low alcohols. Margaux is the least showy of the First Growths, but it is often the most refined. The 2023 is sublime.

The 2023 Chateau Margaux, accounting for 41% of this year's crop, is deep garnet-purple in color. A little shy to begin, it needs some swirling before notes of black cherries, blackcurrant pastilles, and anise emerge from the glass, leading to suggestions of fragrant soil, lilacs, and cardamom with a touch of iron ore. The medium-bodied palate is elegantly crafted, with fabulous tension creating an exhilarating sense of energy in the mouth, offset by firm fine-grained tannins to support the vibrant red and black berry layers, finishing long and perfumed. So fragrant and graceful, this could only be Chateau Margaux! The blend is 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot, with pH 3.60. "There is a little more Cabernet Franc this year. More and more has been making it into the First Wine. We have been grafting over some vines to Cabernet Franc and planting more."

The 2023 Château Margaux, which contains 15% vin de presse, is quintessential Château Margaux. It immediately blossoms in the glass with irresistible crushed violets on the nose, instantly demanding attention—you will gladly give it. Exquisitely defined and very focused with supremely well integrated oak, this is blessed with laser-like precision. The palate is silky smooth on the entry, perhaps a little feistier than expected thanks to a liberal sprinkling of black pepper. Quite structured (like the Pavillon Rouge) and gentle, you can almost overlook its grip. It finishes with a concentrated, graphite-tinged finish that lingers long in the mouth. This First Growth will require ten years in bottle to really show what it is capable of.

The 2023 Château Margaux unwinds in the glass with notes of sweet red and black fruits mingled with hints of violets, orange zest and petals, lavishly framed by spicy, toasty oak that is quite prominent out of the gates. Medium- to full-bodied, with a deep core of primary fruit built around bright acids and chalky structuring tannins, it's youthful and vibrant and will require a bit of patience. It's a blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot that attained 13% alcohol, with the Cabernet Sauvignon seeing somewhat shorter than usual macerations and the inverse for Merlot.