Château Margaux

Château Margaux, 1er Cru Classé, Margaux, 1996

Name: Château Margaux, 1er Cru Classé, Margaux
Brand: Château Margaux
Price: 7119.88 GBP

100/100

Inside Bordeaux

98/100

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

98/100

The Wine Independent

98/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

all 1989 1995 1996 2002 2003 2009 2013 2015 2016 2017 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024

delivery

in bond

Broking

1996
12x75cl
DP
£7,119.88

delivery information

GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of utmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

100/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

Château Margaux in 1855 was owned by the Aguado family, bought in 1835 by Spanish banker Alejandro María Aguado. This was my wine of the night at the Bern's tasting, just utterly delicious and at a perfect moment to drink but will clearly keep delivering. I love this vintage on the Left Bank generally, and Margaux captures exactly why it is so special. Still so fresh, focused, long draw out, crushed roses, tobacco, violet, dried flowers, blackberry, saffron, fine tannins. 100% new oak, Paul Pontallier director for this vintage.

drinking window 2025 - 2050

date of review 06/2025

98/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

Medium garnet in color with a touch of brick, the 1996 Chateau Margaux prances out with the most gorgeous perfume of violets and rose bud tea, leading to a core of red currant jelly, raspberry preserves, tar, and fragrant soil, with a touch of cinnamon stick. The light to medium-bodied palate has an enticing silkiness to the texture with great tension framing the delicate red berry flavors, finishing long and perfumed. The blend is 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 4%Petit Verdot, and 2% Cabernet Franc.

drinking window 2024 - 2049

date of review 11/2024

98/100

William Kelley,

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

When I used to drink this wine as a student, it generally left me a bit cold, but several recent bottles of the 1996 Chateau Margaux lead me to think that I must have had bad luck with a poorly stored batch of bottles. Along with Haut-Brion, Margaux is the most forward of the 1996 first growths, offering up an expressive bouquet of creamy cassis fruit mingled with cigar wrapper, sweet spices, espresso roast and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, suave and fleshy, with melting tannins and a long, expansive finish, it's in a beautiful place today.

drinking window 2016 - 2040

date of review 12/2023

98/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 1996 Château Margaux stands as one of the pinnacles during Paul Pontallier's illustrious tenure. I remember it dazzling out of barrel, perhaps my first memory of tasting wine at that prenatal stage. It has retained the fabulous tension and freshness on the nose, every atom infused with mineralité, subtle pressed flower/violet scents unfurling with aeration. The palate has unerring symmetry, perfectly balanced with filigree tannin and lovely acidity. It's a wine where everything seems to be in its right place. Blackberry, crushed stone at the front of the mouth and a touch of spice toward the finish show 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.

drinking window 2023 - 2030

date of review 09/2023

product details

Specifications

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abv:

12.5%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.