98
Jeb Dunnuck Tasting Note
Showing consistently and from a bottle purchased locally and drunk over multiple days, the 2016 Château Margaux is a magical wine that tastes like the essence of Margaux. Red and black currants, blueberries, spring flowers, sandalwood, and crushed violet notes all define the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a pure, elegant, seamless profile, gorgeous concentration, and a great finish. The level of freshness, purity, and precision paired with concentration and intensity is truly something to behold. It has some accessibility even today, yet it's going to take another decade for this to come close to the early stages of its prime drinking window. It's going to be a 50-75+ year wine.
97
Wine Spectator Tasting Note
Beautifully rendered, with a lush and seamless flow of cassis, steeped cherry, warmed raspberry and gently mulled blackberry fruit flavors gliding through. Light lilac, savory, mesquite and mineral accents underline the finish, adding additional texture and length. Deep and long, with sublime definition and gorgeous fruit. JM
99
Vinous Tasting Note
A gorgeous, captivating bouquet gives the 2016 Margaux an irresistible allure. Weightless and yet wonderfully persistent, in the way only the château's wines can be, the 2016 Grand Vin is a wine of exceptional breeding and pedigree. So many wines in this vintage are obvious, but Margaux is a wine that takes time to discover, like a great book or piece of music. Shades of tobacco, cedar, mint, licorice and bright, red-toned fruit reveal themselves over time. And yet it is a sense of total harmony and seductiveness that elevates Margaux into the stratosphere in 2016.
100
James Suckling Tasting Note
Aromas of graphite, earth and black currants. It is really elegant, nuanced and delicate, with precise, subtle fruit and an almost ethereal palate. The tannins are tender, yet with enough focus and precision to be cohesive and fully integrated. Elegance at its best. Drinkable now, but it will evolve toward an even more delicate and beautiful expression with time. Drink or hold. 10 Years On retrospective.
99
Wine Advocate Tasting Note
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Château Margaux (blended of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot) sashays out of the glass with glamorous red currants, candied violets, kirsch and crushed blackcurrants scents followed by notions of tilled black soil, forest floor, cast iron pan and cigar box with subtle wafts of lavender and oolong tea. Medium-bodied, mineral laced accents hover over the palate with an ethereal sensation of weightlessness, yet it is super intense with layers of red and black flavors supported by a firm texture of silt-fine tannins, finishing wonderfully fragrant and incredibly long.
