100
Jeb Dunnuck Tasting Note
The grand vin is the 2015 Château Margaux and it’s as good a wine as I’ve ever tasted. Coming from just over one-third of the total production and a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and the balance Petit Verdot, brought up in 100% new French oak, its deep ruby/purple-tinged color is followed by a thrilling bouquet of crème de cassis, toasted spice, hints of toasty oak, and cedar wood. Incredibly elegant and finesse-driven, yet packed with fruit, depth, richness, and structure, it has as much class as you can fit inside a glass. While the vintage provides plenty of upfront charm, this is a wine to cellar for at least a decade, and enjoy over the following 40+ years.
99
Wine Spectator Tasting Note
Sublime, with captivating sandalwood, black tea and mesquite aromas that infuse the core of gently steeped red and black currant and raspberry fruit. The structure is seamless and thoroughly embedded throughout, letting warm tar, lilac, juniper and iron notes display themselves at will through the finish. The finish is about as long as it gets, with echoes of fruit and warm earth that should prove haunting when this reaches full maturity. Best from 2030 through 2050.
98
Vinous Tasting Note
The 2015 Château Margaux, which comes in a quite stunning engraved bottle, has an equally stunning bouquet with blackberry, pencil box and light sous-bois scents, less minty than I noticed a few years ago. The palate has exquisite balance and poise, fresh red and black fruit commingling, curry leaf and light tobacco notes emerging toward the poised, almost understated finish. Utter class. Tasted at the 2015 Ten-Year-On tasting at Bordeaux Index.
100
James Suckling Tasting Note
This is a haunting young wine that shows you a subtle and hidden strength on the nose with rose petals, currants, currant leaves, stones and plums. Wonderful ripeness yet brightness, too. Takes your breath away with the intensity and structure. Full-bodied, powerful and muscular, yet there's an agile undertone to the whole thing. Compact and condensed. A new legend for Margaux. The 1961 that didnââ¬â¢t happen. Try in 2024.
100
Wine Advocate Tasting Note
The 2015 Château Margaux is a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, together representing 35% of the estate’s total production. Raised entirely in new oak, it shows a lucid garnet color. The bouquet goes straight for the senses—no dilly‑dallying—as it almost knocks you off your stool with its intense mineralité woven into an iridescent, graphite‑tinged nose. The focus and drive here rank among the finest I have tasted at this estate since I first came here in 1997. The palate is astonishingly well balanced, perfectly poised, with super‑fine tannins wrapped around pure blackberry, bilberry, graphite and cedar fruit. Like Pavillon Rouge this year, there’s a Pauillac‑like sense of authority and aristocracy, leavened by Margaux‑inspired femininity that completes this standout 2015 on the Left Bank. Beg for a bottle and worry about the cost later. Postscript: I wrote this tasting note five days before the passing of Paul Pontallier. It is a final gift from a gifted winemaker.
