2008 Margaux

96 POINTS

Jane Anson - Decanter

A generous, subtle, cassis-led wines with floral edging, the epitome of elegance. It manages to achieve persistency and length in a vintage where this wasn't a given. This is what you are paying the money for; the ability to still deliver a combination of concentration and freshness, year on year. The layers here are more subtle than in some vintages perhaps, but they still perform that rather clever trick of slowly but surely building up over the course of the palate, one extra sleight of hand at a time, until you are fully enveloped.

94 POINTS

Robert Parker - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

This is a stunning Chateau Margaux, made in a sexy, up-front, elegant style, with deep creme de cassis fruit intermixed with spring flowers, a solid inner core of richness and depth, but again, very sweet tannins as well as striking minerality and elegance. One of the most seductive Chateau Margauxs given its recent bottling, this blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, and the rest tiny quantities of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot should drink beautifully for the next 25-30 years. Remarkably, a mere 36% of the entire production was selected for the 2008 Chateau Margaux.

94 POINTS

Neal Martin - Vinous

The 2008 Château Margaux has an attractive bouquet of mulberry, red plum, briary, a hint of rose petal rather than its signature note of violets. It gains intensity with aeration, but to my surprise it feels quite forward for a 10-year old First Growth. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, quite Pauillac in style thanks to that graphite seam that surfaces towards the finish. It is a precise, classic Château Margaux that really delivers its intensity in the final quarter. I came away with the impression that it just does not quite slip from fourth to fifth gear. (Tasted at BI Wine & Spirit’s annual 10-Year On tasting.)

93 POINTS

Stephen Tanzer - Vinous

Deep ruby. Complex nose melds blackberry, minerals, bitter chocolate, graphite and violet. Suave and deep on entry, then fresh and alive in the middle palate, with compelling sweetness and intensity to the black cherry, smoky mineral and tobacco flavors. The smooth finish is long, intense and irresistible. At once serious and sexy.

91 POINTS

Wine Spectator

Shows a lightly sinewy edge, with coiled notes of damson plum, red currant preserves, rooibos tea, singed balsa wood and iron, lacking the vintage's typical crisp edge. The fine-grained finish is approachable already, but this will age gracefully and should develop a more perfumed than rich profile.--Non-blind Château Margaux vertical (December 2013). Drink now through 2020.

Richard Hemming MW - JancisRobinson.com

Potent oak giving smoke and charred-meat aromas, as well as plush, polished black fruit and loads of savoury liquorice character. Long and smooth and persistent, with a great sense of intensity without excess volume. Score: 18/20

Jancis Robinson

Tasted blind. Sweet, rather oaky and simple. Loose texture. Could be Lafite but it does not have much conviction. Hint of seaweed. Not that intense. Score: 16.5/20

Jancis Robinson

Relatively pale ruby. Intensely Cabernet on the nose. Very grown up. Not overtly sweet nor green. Very sophisticated. Just a bit chewy and light on the end. Score: 17/20