Margaux 2009 (750ML)

98 Points, Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "The 2009 Château Margaux is deep garnet in color and features wonderfully fragrant minted cassis, lilacs, Black Forest cake and oolong tea scents with touches of pencil shavings and dusty soil. Medium to full-bodied, it has a firm, grainy frame with lovely freshness lifting the perfumed fruit to a very long, mineral-laced finish." 03/19

99 Points, James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com: "This marathon runner is currently in the no-man's land between youthful vitality and mellow maturity. There's a very serious tannin structure here, but it needs a lot longer to fully resolve. Very tight and closed. A perfect wine usually. But not today. Try in 2020. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019)" 10/19

100 Points, Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux: “Power and enveloping aromatics from the first moment, this is bursting with pleasure, and so signature Margaux. Impossible not to love the depth and the spice that comes through from the first moment, with spirals of sandalwood, violets, crushed raspberries and cassis. Enticing and generous, and totally delicous. Still young, very much in it primary fruit phase, but you can begin to drink this now, such is the vibrancy of the tannins, but it will deliver for many decades to come. Torreified, smoked coffee bean and campfire notes overtake after half an hour in the glass. 100% new oak. 31% of production win the 1st wine, with the same high level of Cabernet Sauvignon as in 2005. Paul Pontallier director in these years, and this continues to set out a benchmark for the property, as it has every time I have tasted it.” 07/22

97 Points, Neal Martin, Vinous: "The 2009 Château Margaux is intense and powerful on the nose with blackberry, forest floor, graphite and rose petals that unfurls with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannin, impressive density and plenty of freshness, perhaps more than the 2009 Mouton-Rothschild. There is a genuine Pauillac-like drive to this Château Margaux thanks to the Cabernet Sauvignon, clearly a First Growth destined for long-term ageing. 13.1% alcohol. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting." 02/19

100 Points, Georgina Hindle, Decanter: "(Château Margaux, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaux, Bordeaux, France, Red) A winning combination of power and elegance here, showcasing the concentration of the year in the full, ripe and muscular fruit and tannins balanced by racy acidity and supreme tension making this a wonderful wine to taste and drink. It's ample and generous, giving tons of flavour nuance - black berry fruits, subtle sweet spice, cocoa powder and graphite as well as textural interest. It also has excellent markers of terroir in the mineral salinity that lingers on the finish. You get a sense of hidden strength here too, there's depth and layering but also a grace to the overall frame with a juiciness that is so joyful. Energetic, lively and expressive and all very harmonious. What a wine. 1.5% Cabernet Franc completes the blend. (Drink between 2022-2055)" 06/22

99 Points, Robert M. Parker, Jr., The Wine Advocate: "A brilliant offering from the Mentzelopoulos family, once again their gifted manager, Paul Pontallier, has produced an uncommonly concentrated, powerful 2009 Chateau Margaux made from 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest primarily Merlot with small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. As with most Medocs, the alcohol here is actually lower (a modest 13.3%) than most of its siblings-. Abundant blueberry, cassis and acacia flower as well as hints of charcoal and forest floor aromas that are almost Burgundian in their complexity are followed by a wine displaying sweet, well-integrated tannins as well as a certain ethereal lightness despite the wine's overall size. Rich, round, generous and unusually approachable for such a young Margaux, this 2009 should drink well for 30-35+ years." 12/11

97 Points, James Molesworth, Wine Spectator: "This offers gorgeously caressing fruit, with steeped plum, blackberry and red currant notes, finely embroidered with accents of rooibos and black tea, tobacco leaf, alder and sandalwood. Delivers loads of fruit, with the structure already melded into the core of fruit—but that's the vintage style. A stunner, though I still find the '10 a full step ahead.—Non-blind Château Margaux vertical (December 2013). Best from 2018 through 2035." 11/14