Chateau Margaux 1995

Chteau Margaux is one of Bordeaux’s most famous wine estates, located just east of Margaux itself in the Mdoc. Along with Lafite, Latour and Haut-Brion, it was rated as a first growth in the original 1855 Bordeaux Classification of the Mdoc.

Generally, Margaux is considered as the most elegant of the first growths, and is consistently one of the most expensive wines in the world. The Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant blend is complimented with small portions of Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.

Critical Acclaim

100 James Suckling

Dark color. Black licorice, coffee, currants and black olives. Complex nose. A full-bodied, chewy blockbuster of a wine that is not giving anything at all away. It is like buried treasure still; you have to search for the gold. And it’s there. Fabulous. Please give this time.–’95/’96 Bordeaux retrospective. Best after 2014. 18,000 cases made.

97 Wine Spectator

This still broods seriously, with dark plum, currant and blackberry fruit, studded with charcoal, singed tobacco and cedar notes and backed by a serious grip of roasted earth. The gorgeously long finish is driven by old-school tannins, with the smoldering edge going on and on. A brick house of a Margaux, with more charcoal than graphite, more austerity than elegance and more power than refinement.

95 Vionus

The 1995 Chteau Margaux is a vintage perhaps unfairly over-shadowed by the imperious 1996. That is unfair because the late Paul Pontallier crafted a great First Growth this year. It has a very impressive, quintessential Margaux bouquet that is undimmed after 23 years: black fruit, graphite, crushed violets and a touch of tobacco. If anything it becomes more and more pure with aeration and demonstrates exquisite delineation. The palate is very finely balanced. No, it does not have the intensity, the crystalline nature of the 1996 and yet there is a femininity and a finesse here that sweeps you off your feet. It is entertaining the possibility of secondary flavours but it remains focused on the red and black fruit, tensile on the almost balletic finish. Bon vin! Tasted blind at Philip’s February Christmas Party. 2018 – 2035

95 Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 1995 has continued to flesh out, developing into one of the great classics made under the Mentzelopoulos regime. The colour is opaque ruby/purple. The nose offers aromas of licorice and sweet smoky new oak intermixed with jammy black fruits, licorice, and minerals. The wine is medium to full-bodied, with extraordinary richness, fabulous equilibrium, and hefty tannin in the finish. In spite of its large size and youthfulness, this wine is user-friendly and accessible. This is a thrilling Margaux that will always be softer and more evolved than its broader shouldered sibling, the 1996. How fascinating it will be to follow the evolution of both of these vintages over the next half century. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2040