Chateau Margaux 2012

96 POINTS

Robert Parker - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Tasted blind at the 2012 Southwold tasting, the 2012 Château Margaux has a taut, linear, pencil lead-infused bouquet with pure blackberry and boysenberry scents, an undercurrent of tobacco that surfaces after five minutes in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, crisp acidity, a life-affirming sense of balance with well-integrated new oak towards the finish. I concur with Robert Parker that his has become more structured and masculine in bottle, yet there is pedigree here from start to finish, a sense of effortlessness that is seductive. This is a top-class wine from the late Paul Pontallier and his team. Tasted January 2016.

95 POINTS

Wine Spectator

Bay leaf and menthol hints lift a core of crushed plum and warm cherry confiture notes while the background fills steadily with black tea, singed alder and iron elements. Turns a little darker on the finish, with a coating of bittersweet cocoa powder and roasted vanilla bean accents, while the minerality stays buried for now. Remarkably dense and packed, yet refined. Needs some time to unwind. Best from 2018 through 2030. 10,833 cases made.

94 POINTS

Neal Martin - Vinous

The 2012 Château Margaux is a wine that, based on this showing, is a little closed at the moment and needs the most coaxing from the glass. Plenty of black fruit in situ, although it does not really blossom. It is very well-balanced, quite deep and powerful, but it needs time to develop refinement on the finish. Cellar for another few years. Tasted blind in Bordeaux.

94 POINTS

James Suckling

Wonderful aromas of flowers such as roses, violets, strawberries and a hints of wet earth. Wet stones as well. Full to medium body, very firm tannins and a long, racy finish. Minerals and chalk on the aftertaste. Needs three to five years to soften. Better in 2020.

94 POINTS

Antonio Galloni MW - Vinous

The 2012 Margaux is beautifully polished and suave in the glass, with pliant fruit and plenty of finesse, all in a classic, mid-weight Margaux style. Inward and tightly wound, the 2012 is clearly holding back much of its potential. The 2012 has a stony, mineral-infused energy that is going to require at least a few more years in bottle to fully unwind, while the 100% new oak is a bit pronounced at this early stage. Grilled herbs, smoke, graphite and sage add further nuances on the savory, delineated finish.

91 POINTS

Ian D'Agata - Vinous

(87% cabernet sauvignon, 10% merlot, 2% cabernet franc and 1% petit verdot; 34% of the total crop): Dark ruby-red. Refined aromas of fresh blackcurrant, spices, dry herbs and cedar on the very classic nose. Enters fresh and lively, showing spicy black fruit, green coffee bean and herb flavors. The long finish features smooth tannins but somewhat edgy acidity, with a repeating leafy nuance. While this wine's tannins are much finer than they were in Bordeaux wines of decades past, this vintage Margaux seems like a throwback to the more herbal wines of the 1970s. Managing director Paul Pontaillier told me he included 17% press wine this year, because he thought it was of outstanding quality, but that seems like a bit too much to me. The yield was 40 hectoliters per hectare, vs. 29 h/h in 2011, the lowest production at Margaux since 1981. Pontailler told me the estate made a large quantity of a fourth wine this year, in order to make a better third wine, recently named Margaux du Chateau Margaux. The new third wine will go on sale for the first time this year, beginning in four traditional markets: France, the U.S., the U.K. and Japan.