Bordeaux 2025: Chateau Margaux

SAVING THE BEST `TIL (NEARLY) LAST

Chateau Margaux is widely regarded as one of the wines of the vintage. Philippe Bascaules and his team made all the right decisions, perhaps most importantly, not to rush the harvest and wait for perfect maturity. His experience both at Margaux and in California and the learnings from the extensive R&D program at Margaux informed these choices. The results are spectacular, a Margaux with extraordinary refinement, purity and class. It will rank amongst the greatest wines ever produced at this legendary First Growth. As ever, selection is severe with only 37% of the production qualifying for the Grand Vin. Consequently, the Pavillon Rouge is also off the charts. Representing just 28% of the harvest, this astonishing second label is more sophisticated and attractive than ever.

As ever, the Pavillon Blanc is also stunning, but alas, there is almost no wine. If you would like an allocation, please speak to your account manager.

CRITICS' NOTES

Chateau Margaux

“A blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, the 2025 Château Margaux is a deep, authoritative wine that represents some 37% of the estate's production this year. Unwinding in the glass with notes of dark berries, violets, lilac and pencil shavings, framed by a deft touch of new oak, it's medium- to full-bodied, dense and layered, with a concentrated core of fruit framed by sweet, powdery tannins and lively acids. This will certainly require some patience, but it is a prodigious Château Margaux in the making. It checks in at 13.8% alcohol and a pH of 3.72.” 97-100/100 William Kelley, The Wine Advocate

“The 2025 Château Margaux was picked at 22 hl/ha between 10 and 29 September. This year it represents 37% of the total crop, a little down on recent vintages, and was matured in 100% new oak as usual. The first thing that you notice on this Château Margaux is the purity of fruit, a signature of the First Growth but taken to its maximum in this vintage. Perfumed blueberry, crushed violet and iris flower, a touch of iodine and a distant trace of the estuary. Wonderful delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with velvety tannins, fine delineation and poise. There is backbone to this Margaux but it is disguised under the layers of pure blackberry and blueberry fruit, dovetailing into a lightly spiced but very persistent finish. It fans out wonderfully, completing a very alluring wine in the making. This vintage contains 13.8% alcohol. Drink 2035-2065.” 96-98/100 Neal Martin, vinous.com

Pavillon Rouge

“Flavoursome, this is luscious and juicy, with the concentration and ripeness that I was expecting in more of the wines this year. Rose petals, damson, slate, crayon, cocoa bean, mint, DNA of the Margaux appellation on display. Just 2018 and 2022 were higher numbers in terms of phenolic compounds, and the 3.68ph is still low, but the perception is far less intense than in many properties. 22hl/ha yield across the vineyard, harvest September 8 for young Merlot, then Cabernet Sauvignon began September 19 and finished September 29. IPT 78. 28% of the overall production. 2032-2040.” 96 Jane Anson, Janeanson.com