Chateau Margaux 2003

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Just a gorgeous wine that's a pleasure to drink. Opulent, flamboyant and showy, there is good concentration, length, lush textures and silky tannins. There is no touch of heat or overripeness. It's in a good spot today and there is plenty left in the tank for improvement."

JAMES SUCKLING: "A wine with spices, meat, and very ripe fruit on the nose, with hints of dried flowers. Full bodied, and deeply layered, with loads of fruit and spices. Long and decadent, very complex. Pull the cork after 2013. Find the wine"

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "This may be from the exceptional vintage of 2003, but Château Margaux remains true to form. First and foremost, it is a refined, elegant wine, with complex layers of flavors. But, yes, the hot summer is there the dense, dry tannins, but somehow they seem to float through the wine rather than sitting heavily in the middle. Acidity and freshness come to finish, giving the wine a delicious lift."

WINE SPECTATOR: "Shows a note of torréfaction typical of the vintage, but uses it to its advantage, coupling it with accents of ganache and dark tobacco leaf along with rich plum, currant and fig compote flavors. The finish is slightly firm, with alder and plum skin details, but this has pretty impressive composure considering the vintage.—Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Drink now through 2035. 10,833 cases made."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "Tasted blind as a vintage comparison at the Valandraud vertical, the 2003 Margaux is fully mature on the nose. There is ample fruit here, well defined for the vintage with blackberry and cedar, this bottle demonstrating a subtle fungal character that I have not discerned in previous bottles. There are faint scents of rust iron piping that develop with further aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly dry tannin, offering more fruit than the 2003 Valandraud it was paired with: feisty black pepper and allspice finish with a decent aftertaste. There might be better bottles than this, even so, there is probably not another Margaux that touches this First Growth. I see no harm in broaching bottles now and over the next ten years. Tasted December 2016."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Mid crimson. Lightish nose with a whiff of very fine oak. Sweet start but pretty drying on the end. A hint of rusty nails on the end. Finishes a bit dry. But it got better in the glass and by the end of dinner was both sweet and delicate. There was some Margaux fragrance but it needed quite a time to open out. Far from a blockbuster. It's possible that this will eventually blossom into something much more special and expressive."