Chateau Margaux 2000

Absolutely compelling in two tastings of this vintage, the 2000 Margaux is composed of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot. The extraordinary seductiveness, complex aromatics, and purity it exhibits lead me to believe it has reached its window of full maturity. Medium-bodied, with layers of concentration, stunning blue, red, and black fruits intermixed with spring flowers, a subtle dosage of new oak, and a distinctive personality that is elegant while at the same time powerful and substantial, this is a multi-dimensional wine that was extremely approachable and drinkable in both tastings I had of it. The color remains a healthy, even opaque bluish/purple, but there is no reason to hesitate to drink it. It should evolve for another 30-40 years, so there is no hurry either.

This thrilling wine from a textbook year is dark in colour and shows pronounced aromas of ripe mulberry and black plum fruit, with hints of spice and smoke – the aromas are youthful and still show some influence from cask ageing. The texture is lush and dense, with fairly firm tannins, a plump feel and a warm, approachable character. It has the substance to age for decades to come. The results in the glass are in every way a fulfilment of the promise of the millennial year.

Full ruby-red. Penetrating, highly perfumed aromas of sappy dark berries, violet and minerals; seems less oaky today than the '01. Offers compelling mouthfilling concentration and perfume. A wine of great power and consistency, with a pungent minerality lingering on the palate-staining finish. This somehow doesn't flag or grow narrower even after one swallows or spits. Makes the 2002 seem almost dry in comparison. Wine-of-the-vintage material.

Now, you are talking. This is a heart-stopping vintage of Margaux. The perfume, with its lavender, lilacs, currants, plums, cedar and tobacco, hits you. But it is the rich, opulent, silky, sensuous, multi-layered palate presence with its seamless finish that steals the show. Drink this now, or age it for 2-3-4 decades!

Strong ruby, faint brightening on the rim. Perfect nose, exotic hints, fine roasted aromas, juicy dark berry fruit, sweet cherry, delicate tangerine zest. Intense, finely savoury, silky tannins, great chocolate touch, wonderful length, mineral, black cherry on the finish, conveys a brilliant lightness and finesse, seems almost a little playful, great length, sure potential. Pure Margaux drinking pleasure. (2010).

Tasted from magnum, the 2000 Château Margaux is a prodigious, flawless wine that shows the elegance and seductive hallmark of the estate paired with incredible density, depth, and richness. Its still-ruby/purple color is followed by sensational notes of crème de cassis, spring flowers, lead pencil, and sandalwood that develop beautifully with time in the glass. Medium to full-bodied, opulent, and seamless, with a multi-dimensional, layered texture, it has a massive mid-palate, sweet tannins, and a finish that won’t quit. It’s drinking brilliantly today, and there’s certainly no need to delay gratification, but it’s going to continue evolving for another 3-4 decades. Bordeaux (or red wine, for that matter) doesn’t get any better. The 2000 is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot brought up new barrels.

Deep, dense ruby with only slightly lightening rims. Full, alluring bouquet with immensely youthful fruit, multifaceted spice and a delicate roasted nuance. Broadly layered complexity where cassis, blue berries and a distinctive mint note set the tone. On the palate, it scores with delicate juiciness and superb balance; the subtly creamy texture enhances the hedonistic flow, making it feel very accessible right now—pure drinking pleasure, a great wine. 19+/20

01: Barrel sample (19/20): 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc. Dark, saturated purple with violet highlights. Ripe, complex mulberry bouquet, very closed and hard to approach at first, but on a second pass it shows focused, dense aromatics: noble oak, Dominican tobacco, tar notes, walnut aromas, yet above all hovers that very ripe fruit of small red and black berries. Silky, exalted palate with the finest tannins that, at this density, accumulate into a palate-encompassing astringency. At first glance this Margaux seems simply refined and brilliant. If you come closer and more subtly to this Premier and sip carefully to tease out the perfume of this essence-like wine, there hides beneath a class of Margaux that will likely only truly emerge when the wine reaches its first real drinking maturity in ten, perhaps fifteen years. Everything is so perfect that you don’t need to be a fortune-teller to know that a potential wine of the century slumbers here. It still lacks a touch of expression and aromatics to prove it right now (19/20). In March 2001, it had not yet been decided whether to bottle already in August right after Pavillon, or possibly wait until November—given the wine’s potential: the bouquet is immense, showing intoxicating sweetness with dried bananas, mulberries and Amarena cherries, delicately underpinned by coffee, noble and extremely multi-layered. On the palate, despite its volume, the wine remains delicate and almost playful, wonderfully sweet berriness in the gently malty extract, perfectly balanced, accompanied by noble oak, caramel and certain sandalwood notes; curiously, the finish shows a certain Barbera affinity due to the glorious Amarena tones, which is not to be viewed negatively but rather as an additional attempt at aromatic description; the typically slightly dominant acidity over the extract shows the typicity of the 2000 vintage and gives it sensational length. A great, impressive Margaux (ultimately it stayed 24 months in barrel). 03: Absolutely seductive bouquet, multi-layered, warm, complex with a bound, even subtly buttery wax note above, beneath cassis, blackberries, plums, hints of mint, candied orange peel or other candied fruits and caramel. On the palate, juicy, fine, delicate and already an enormously quaffable wine dream; femininely tender, creamy and superbly balanced, perfectly integrated oak that lends freshness and energy. A legendary, great wine capable of beguiling tasters en masse and that carries its immense potential without any arrogance (19/20). 04: The first wine at the big blind tasting at the Ritz-Carlton in Berlin. I kept coming back to it, but the other wines towered over this one, which came across as quite fine and almost a bit superficial: dark ruby-garnet. Slim bouquet, touch of lingonberry, delicate roast notes, very multi-layered but still a bit timid. Delicate, dancing palate, again red currants here. Somehow, despite the indicated class, it lacks drive and radiance. Could it be that the very long barrel aging has killed the aromatics a bit? The barrel sample convinces me more than the subsequent tastings and thus I drop it by one point in the current rating (18/20). In another blind tasting again rated 18/20. Either it is very closed, which re-dimensions its basic aromatics, or it could not bring the promises of the first barrel impressions into the bottle. Since the aging potential is still huge, it will likely move up again in 5, if not 10 years. Anyone opening it now drinks expensively but not sensationally. Potential score: 19/20. 15: Dark purple, little evolved. Brilliant, very multi-layered bouquet, many sweet notes, raisins, light leather, the fruit is slowly fading and the great terroir takes over. On the palate creamy, juicy and very dense, again showing an intoxicating yet delicate sweetness, focused finish. This will be a fine, elegant Château Margaux. What does “will be” mean? It is already moving and offers an indisputable first great pleasure (19/20). 16: Very dark garnet-purple, still showing almost black highlights in the middle. Already the very first nasal contact seems dramatically deep, smoky nuances signaling its depth, truffle traces, thus presenting an extreme foundation. Despite the reduction on the nose, one can make a solid prognosis for a very long life. On the palate massive, marked, meaty and yet with rounded tannins that develop positively, then in the finish almost only black-berried, dark malt, coffee. A Margaux mammoth. It could be that 20 points beckon as it evolves (19/20). 16: Beautiful ruby-purple, lightening rim, still very clear in color. The bouquet still shows a lot of primary fruit, raspberries, lingonberries, mulberries, all accompanied by a very delicate sweetness and a lightly peppery note. On the palate textured, quite a substantial concentration, the tannins are dreamily shaped and thus let the full great Margaux elegance shine. It is still so fruity that I assume it will close down again and that its true drinking window is only to be expected in about 10 years (19/20). 17: Intense with many layers. And already quite accessible. Drunk on Melchsee-Frutt at Ruedi Bewert. (19/20). 17: Extremely dark color, still violet with almost black highlights in the middle. Ethereal, heady bouquet, powerful on attack and with a wide-spread aromatic profile. The fruit ranges from red to black berries. It shows overwhelming olfactory power. On the palate a bundle of concentration, showing a berry essence in the extract, with on the finish dark fine woods, café au lait and lots of almost overwhelming power in the finale. A truly great 2000 with a solid future base (19/20).

Concentrated, profound, mineral, and complex bouquet: black berries, flint, currants, truffle, mulberries. Concentrated, multi-layered, powerful yet elegant palate with plenty of fine tannins, concentrated dark aromatics, very long, dense finish. 20/20 drink - 2050

The 2000 Chateau Margaux is deep garnet in color, with a touch of brick. It leaps from the glass with evocative scents of plum preserves, blackberry pie, and redcurrant jelly, leading to wafts of dried lavender, powdered cinnamon, and tobacco leaf, with a hint of crushed rocks. The medium-bodied palate is filled with black fruits and savory accents, with a velvety texture and seamless freshness, leading to a perfectly balanced, lingering perfume of a finish. Graceful, flawless perfection.

A complete vintage, with great substance perfectly refined by the vinification, carrying all the elegance of the terroir. Very noble tannin.

The most refined of Margaux. Stunningly precise, it has a highly complex, profound bouquet. On the palate, it unfurls waves of fruit flavors with incredible brilliance, followed by an endless finish on wonderfully silky tannins. It seems immortal, even though it is already irresistible.

Logo on the cork: inverted T (Trescases) Dark color, intense and slightly evolved. Intense nose, very fruity, ripe and creamy. Soft on the attack, very fleshy as it develops, airy mid-palate and melting texture, lively and powerful; the wine gathers momentum on the finish, soaring, complex, without acidity, fragrant and very long. A wine you can’t spit out.