PAVILLON ROUGE
2017 du Château Margaux
The 2017 Pavillon Rouge is soft, luscious and very pretty. Sweet red cherry, red plum, mint, spice, blood orange, cedar and tobacco contribute lovely touches of freshness. There is some firmness in the tannin that needs time in bottle to soften; otherwise, the 2017 is very nicely done. This is a very pretty, classy wine built on aromatic depth and persistence more than anything else. Drinking range: 2022 - 2037 Rating: 91 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Mar 2020)
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The 2017 Pavillon Rouge represents 22% of the harvest. It has an attractive bouquet with brambly red and black fruit, pressed roses, orange rind and a touch of incense, very comely and welcoming in style. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins on the entry and more black than red fruit. The sappy finish comes crisp and slightly brittle but fresh with blackcurrant lingering on the aftertaste. Very fine. Drinking range: 2021 - 2035 Rating: 92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Feb 2020)
76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot. 13.5% 'Just below the quality of 2015', says technical director Sébastien Vergne. Bright healthy crimson. Rich, pure-fruited and generous. Smooth, velvety tannins, deep and long. Deep and rich and even. Drinking range: 2025 - 2037 Rating: 17 Julia Harding MW, www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2018)
Blended of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot, the deep garnet-purple colored 2017 Pavillon Rouge du Chateau Margaux has a lovely open and expressive spicy nose of cinnamon and cloves with a core of red currant jelly, kirsch and crushed blackberries plus touches of tobacco and new leather. The palate is medium-bodied with great mid-palate intensity and plenty of red and black fruit layers, finishing on an uplifting perfumed note. Rating: 91-93 Lisa Perrotti-Brown, RobertParker.com (Apr 2018)
This has great concentration, with carefully balanced black fruits that are fleshy and inviting but unfussy. The berry size was a little bigger than last year after the September rains (70mm in 20 days) so there is a feeling of juice and mouthwatering seduction once you give it some time to work through the initial austerity. There's no dilution through the mid-palate, and it's one of the few second wines that really gets your attention in 2017. They lost 10% of the crop to frost, giving a yield of 35hl/ha, with no secondary fruits used in Pavillon or Margaux (not even the first generation buds from any affected plots). 22% of total production is the lowest ever for Pavillon, and combined with the low yield means there will be 40% fewer bottles. The vineyards were entirely organically farmed in 2017, although there are still no plans to go for certification. Harvested 18-26 September. 3.7pH. IPT 73 - as high as last year. 4% Cabernet Franc also in the blend. Will be 60% new oak. Drinking range: 2024 - 2038 Rating: 92 Jane Anson, Decanter (Apr 2018)
A wine that might be the best second wine in the vintage, the 2017 Pavillon Rouge offers a beautiful, classic Margaux perfume of cherries, cassis, flowers, and spice box. Possessing medium to full-bodied richness, again, an incredible floral character, ripe tannin, and incredible elegance, enjoy it anytime over the coming two decades. Rating: 92-94 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (Apr 2018)
There is very pretty purity of fruit to this with lots of currant, strawberry and plum character. Lots of chocolate and hazelnut too. Full body, velvety tannins and a chewy finish. Excellent for the vintage. About half the normal production. This is the same level of quality as 2016. Rating: 94-95 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2018)
The picking dates here were the same as for the grand vin. The blend is 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 4% Cabernet Franc. Unusually, at 73 the IPT matches that of the first wine. With a surprising conviction for a second wine, this starts with a very fine nose, with very tightly drawn dark-cherry fruits held in a lightly creamed substance, and lifted by a vanilla flower fragrance. This purity and focus continues on the palate, with a little chalky and cherry-stone frame to the fruit, with a more relaxed, open and expressive midpalate. The tannins build through the middle, showing a chalky substance, along with a bright acid freshness. There is a broad tannic energy flourishing in the finish. This wipes the floor with the majority of the grands vins in the rest of the appellation in this vintage. It has charm, composure and elegance, and it exhibits lovely potential. It is long, too. Rating: 92-94 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2018)
Château Margaux
1855 classification - Premier Grand Cru Classé
Margaux, originally La Mothe de Margaux, has a long history dating back to at least the 12th Century. By the 17th Century, Château Margaux was widely recognised for the quality of its wines - in 1771 it was the first wine sold by Christies, and Thomas Jefferson bought some Margaux when he was Ambassador to France. The French Revolution was a turbulent time for Margaux but, by the turn of the 19th Century, the estate was in the hands of the Basque Marquis de la Colonilla whose singular contribution was to build the château that we see today. Margaux's reputation was recognised by the 1855 classification which placed it among the elite group of Premier Grand Cru Classés.
By the 1960s, however, Margaux was trading as much on reputation as anything else and a run of poor vintages in the 1970's led Margaux to be sold. This was its salvation, for the purchaser was André Mentzelopoulos who, despite some rumblings of discontent locally at such a grand property falling into 'foreign' hands, poured in investment, replanting the vineyards, building a new underground cellar and renovating the château. Also more than renovated was Margaux's reputation as one of Bordeaux's leading estates, a reputation it now richly deserves, still under the benevolent eye of the Mentzelopoulos family. André's daughter Corinne ran the property for an astonishing 43 years, but in 2023 handed over to her son Alexis Leven-Mentzelopoulos. Corinne's daughter Alexandra Petit-Mentzelopoulos will work alongside her brother. Alexis is firmly committed to continuing the family objective of making Château Margaux one of the greatest wines in the world. The managing director is Philippe Bascaules, who took over from the much-missed Paul Pontallier in 2016.
Château Margaux is a large estate, running to 262ha, although under vine there are only 87 hectares of red and 12 hectares of white. For red wines the vines are Cabernet Sauvignon 75%, Cabernet Franc 3%, Petit Verdot 3%, Merlot 20%. Barrels are made in the château's own cooperage, the reds spending eighteen months to two years in new wood. In recent vintages the proportion of Cabernet in the Grand Vin has increased significantly.
The second wine of the estate is Pavillon Rouge de Château Margaux which has been produced since the 19th Century, making it among the longest established of such wines, and there's now a third (since 2013) and even a fourth wine.
Château Margaux also produce a very successful white wine - Pavillon Blanc de Château Margaux - 100% Sauvignon Blanc, aged in wood for six months. This is classified as AOC Bordeaux as there is no appellation for white Margaux.
Aprroximate annual production is:
Château Margaux: 120,000 bottles
Pavillon Rouge du Château Margaux: 100 000 bottles.
Margaux du Château Margaux: 60 000 bottles.
Pavillon Blanc du Château Margaux: 10 000 bottles.