Wine Advisor
Chateau Margaux 1996
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
A very deep garnet core. It has a crystalline nose with incredible purity with blackberry, cedar, red cherries, limestone and even a hint of Chinese tea in the background. The palate is full-bodied with brilliant focus, supreme harmony and surfeit with ebullience. Very precise towards the silky finish with blueberry, black plum, graphite and a touch of sous-bois. Very feminine and lingering seductively on the finish. It is a wine with perfection in mind. Drink 2010-2035+. Tasted July 2008.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 1996 Chateau Margaux, which was bottled in September, 1998, is undoubtedly one of the great classics produced under the Mentzelopoulos regime. In many respects, it is the quintessential Chateau Margaux, as well as the paradigm for this estate, combining measured power, extraordinary elegance, and admirable complexity. I tasted the wine on three separate occasions in January, and in short, it's a beauty! The color is opaque purple. The wine offers extraordinarily pure notes of blackberries, cassis, pain grille, and flowers, gorgeous sweetness, a seamless personality, and full body, with nothing out of place. The final blend (85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc) contains a high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon. It tastes complete and long, although backward. My instincts suggest this wine will shut down, but at present it is open-knit, tasting like a recently bottled wine. The fruit is exceptionally sweet and pure, and there are layers of flavor in the mouth. I do believe this wine will develop an extraordinary perfume, and possess a high level of richness. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2040.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
A touch of brick on the rim. The nose is supremely well focused and delineated, extremely pure with scents of blackberry, limestone, a touch of plum and cassis. Powerful yet suffused with finesse. The palate is medium-bodied, beautifully balanced with silky smooth tannins, brilliant focus with a sweet, poised finish of blackberry, dark cherry and cassis. The Cabernet Sauvignon is running the show (87-88% of the blend.)- So elegant, so incredibly focused, so Chateau Margaux at its very best. Drink 2015-2035+ Tasted March 2008.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 1996 Chateau Margaux, a blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc, must be a strong contender for wine of the vintage. It offers everything you desire from this First Growth. It is blessed with breathtaking delineation and freshness on the nose, understated at first and then blossoming with mineral-infused black fruit, hints of blueberry, crushed stone and violet. The palate is perfectly balanced with filigree tannin, perfect acidity, a wine where everything seems to be in its right place. Blackberry, crushed stone at the front of the mouth, just a touch of spice towards the finish that shows supreme control. This is a Margaux that seems to light up the senses. It was outstanding in its youth...something that has not changed one bit over the intervening two decades. This may well turn out to be the Left Bank pinnacle of the 1990s. Tasted July 2016.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
First tasted at Mouton's La Fete de la Fleur in June 2003. One of the best Margaux wines I have tasted. The nose is very elegant: violets, pencil-lead and blackberry. The Cabernet is quite pronounced on the nose and the palate. Very backward, tannic but with incredible poise and sophistication. Not as brusque as some of the Pauillac 1996`s but more feminine and understated. Perfect acidity. Needs another 10 years to approach its drinking plateau, but what a wine it will be. Then at the Farr horizontal in September 2005. A breathtaking Margaux, possibly the best claret of the 1990's. A spell-binding nose of pure blackberry, violets and cassis with astounding definition. The palate has exquisite balance, perfect acidity and amazing focus. Cedar and tobacco infused into the black fruits. Its just the clarity the sets it apart from the rest. Brilliant.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 1996 is a modern day legend. I reported in detail on the prodigious quality of the 1996 Margaux in issue #110. This wine, a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot, achieved a natural alcohol of nearly 13%. The wine's acidity is low, largely because the estate harvested the Cabernet Sauvignon extremely late, not completing the harvest until mid-October. The wine, which was the single greatest wine I tasted from the 1996 vintage in spring, 1997, continues to give every indication of being one of the all-time great clarets from this renowned wine region. The dense opaque purple color possesses a thick, unctuous texture. The nose offers celestial aromas of cassis, vanillin, and intriguing blackberry and floral scents in the background. Despite aging in 100% new oak, the fruit dominates the wine, with the oak offering a minor background nuance. In the mouth, the wine is massive, but not heavy, with extraordinary richness, perfect precision and equilibrium, an opulent texture, and remarkably well-integrated tannin, acidity, and alcohol. Revealing dazzling sweetness at present, the 1996 may be the finest Chateau Margaux I have tasted in the two decades I have been visiting this property. Can it surpass the quality of the 1990, 1986, 1983, and 1982, not to mention the fabulous 1995? Time will tell, but this is one of the most compelling wines I have tasted. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2040.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Chateau Margaux, along with Leoville-Las Cases in St.-Julien, was among the handful of properties that did not finish their Cabernet Sauvignon harvest until October 12. Whether that was a factor or not, both of these estates undoubtedly produced compellingly great wines in 1996. At Chateau Margaux, the Cabernet Sauvignon was picked between October 1 and October 12. The final blend produced a wine with nearly 13% natural alcohol, and relatively low acidity. I have tasted some extraordinary Margauxs over the last 18 years, but I have never tasted a Chateau Margaux as rich and Cabernet-dominated as the 1996. Certainly the 1986 came close to this level of quality at the same stage of development, but the 1996, which is a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot, and 10% Merlot, contains 10% less Merlot than the 1986. Unequivocally, the 1996 Margaux is a candidate for perfection. The Mentzelopoulos family has made a number of spectacular wines since they took over this estate in 1977, but the 1996 is so extraordinary that it may prove to be more prodigious than the legendary wines they fashioned in 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, and 1990. Paul Pontallier and Corinne Mentzelopoulos confirmed that they had never before picked Cabernet Sauvignon with such high sugars. The 1996 Margaux boasts an opaque black/blue/purple color that resembles ink. The nose offers extraordinarily sweet, jammy, blackcurrant fruit that has totally absorbed the effects of four months in 100% new oak barrels. I noticed this phenomenon with most of the top 1996s, and I consider it to be indicative of just how rich in extract the finest wines of this vintage are. I cannot recall a young vintage absorbing and masking the new oak as well as the finest 1996s have done. The wine hits the palate with extraordinary purity, richness, and equilibrium. Every component in this seamless, velvety as well as voluptuously-textured wine is stunning. As I was slushing the wine around on my palate, chills suddenly ran down my back as I realized I was in the presence of one of the greatest young wines I had ever tasted. Given the high Cabernet Sauvignon content, I expected the tannins to be more obvious, but this wine is so rich that the high tannin level is buried beneath the wine's extraordinary levels of glycerin, extract, and fruit. It is difficult to imagine when this wine might reach full maturity. I suspect it will exhibit more tannin in 1-2 years than it does at present, but the wine possesses such amazing sweetness and richness, that I suspect it will be approachable when young. It will not hit its peak for 15 or more years. It will be a fascinating wine to follow over the next 3-4 decades. Kudos to Corinne Mentzeloupolos and her mother, as well as their talented administrator, Paul Pontallier. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2035.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted at Bordeaux Index Chateau Margaux dinner at The Square. A consistent note to the bottle poured at El Bulli. That crystalline nose, the purity, the mineralite – it is all there. The palate is razor-sharp, brilliant focused with those silky tannins that caress the mouth, lascivious blackberry, black plum and blueberry towards the finish. Stunning. Drink 2010-2035+ Tasted October 2008.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Bright full ruby. Pure, perfumed aromas of cassis and violet. Dense and tactile in the mouth; a huge, chewy wine with major extract but also considerable refinement. Almost painfully backward today, and a bit less perfumed than it was in the year or so after the bottling, but the huge tannins show no hardness. Another great expression of cabernet sauvignon from the '96 vintage. Drink 2015 through 2040.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Ruby-purple color. Knockout nose combines boysenberry, cassis, bitter chocolate, mocha and smoky oak. Like liquid velvet in the mouth: dense, rich and pure. Pure dark berry and mocha flavors show uncanny inner-mouth perfume. Extremely long and fine on the finish. The refined, thoroughly buffered tannins spread over the entire mouth. Essence of ripe Margaux cabernet: there's just 9% merlot in this wine.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Deep, saturated ruby. Vibrant, sweet aromas of cassis and boysenberry complicated by floral and tarry nuances. Velvety, dense and highly concentrated, with extraordinary inner-mouth perfume. Between the substantial but thoroughly buffered tannins and powerful back-end fruit, this wine really stains the palate.
About the Producer
Chateau Margaux is located in the village of Margaux, in the Medoc appellation on the left bank of Bordeaux, and was awarded a First Growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Medoc classification, alongside Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Latour and Château Haut-Brion. It is also known as Chateau Haut-Brion. Château Margaux currently covers a total of 262 hectares, including 99 hectares of vineyards. The red vineyard has an appellation of 87 hectares, of which 82 hectares are planted, while the white vineyard is planted with 12 hectares. The red varieties are mainly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc; the white varieties are Sauvignon Blanc and the vines are on average 45 years old. Since the end of the 1990s, the estate has refused to use pesticides in the vineyards. In addition, only organic fertilisers are used in the vineyard, and deep fertilisation is carried out at regular intervals to improve the soil structure and rejuvenate the soil. During the harvest season, the winery team selects the right time to harvest the grapes by testing and analysing all the indicators and by tasting the grapes themselves. Once the grapes have reached their ideal state of ripeness, they are harvested by a team of over 200 trained harvesters. Once in the winery, the grapes undergo a rigorous selection process before being de-stemmed. Both oak barrels and stainless steel tanks are used to ferment the red grapes, while the white grapes are fermented entirely in oak barrels. After the alcoholic fermentation, the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation. The red wines are then left to mature in oak barrels for 18-24 months and the whites for 6-8 months. The main wine of the estate, Château Margaux's red wine, is rich and complex, with an elegant and powerful ballet on the tongue, rich and smooth tannins, good balance and a long, fresh finish with excellent ageing potential. It successfully conquered Napoleon Bonaparte, the founder of the First French Empire, and won the hearts of Thomas Jefferson, the founding father of the United States, and Margaret Thatcher, the "Iron Lady" of England. In the world of wine criticism, Château Margaux's red wines have also been recognised, with four perfect scores from Robert Parker and many more from other critics with 95 points or more. In recent years, the quality of Château Margaux's red wines has been steady and has maintained a high level of interest in the market.
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