Chateau Margaux 2008

DECANTER: "This stood out immediately among the five first growth wines for its floral hit right off the first nose. The epitome of elegance, as I found at the 10-year point, but it is now also starting to deepen and layer, with concentrated black fruits balanced by linen-textured tannins, slowing the progress of the fruit through the palate, stretching out the flavours. First suggestions of tobacco and curling woodsmoke, with a mouthwatering finish - so moreish. 1.5% Petit Verdot completes the blend. Just 36% of overall production. Drinking Window 2021 - 2042"

JEB DUNNUCK: "One of the wines of the vintage, the 2008 Château Margaux is a beauty and has everything you could want from a wine. A huge nose of cassis, Asian spices, dried flowers, and incense all soar from the glass, and on the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied and pure, with ripe tannins and a great finish. A blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot made from an incredibly strict selection (only 36% of the production made it into the top wine), this elegant, regal, incredibly classic Chateau Margaux is thrilling today, but will drink well for another 20-30 years."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "2008 Margaux opens with a complex perfume of fresh flowers, minerals, cassis, earth, forest floor, cedar and coffee scents. Full bodied and concentrated with round tannins, opulent textures and ripe fruit, this stylish wine ends with a long, polished sexy wave of rich textures."

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "Definite richness alongside classic elegance. It's a stylish wine, the fruit integrated into a beautiful structure. It's not all refinement, because there is also a weight to the black plum skin and dark berry character. A wine that will age over many decades."

THE 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."

JAMES SUCKLING: "This is so subtle and refined on the nose with amazing perfumes of rose petal, blueberries and blackberries. Full but very tight and fresh with a lovely length that goes on and on. Starts off slowly with a solid core of fruit, then grows denser and denser. This is shy at first, needs at leat five years of bottle age."

WEINWISSER: "36 % Grand Vin. 87 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 10 % Merlot, 1,5 % Cabernet Franc, 1,5 % Petit Verdot. Das Bouquet zeigt Tiefe, wirkt kühl, duftet nach dunklen Rosen, Rosenholz und zeigt eine deutliche Cabernet-Expression, Terroir-Anzeige durch kalte Rauchnuancen. Fester Gaumen, viel griffige, grobkörnige Adstringenz, muskulös, vielleicht gar in diesem Stadium etwas hart anmutend, brachialer Wein, in diesem Zustand eher das Gegenteil dessen, was man sich bis vor kurzem unter einem Château Margaux vorstellte. Ein Kraftakt mit viel Muskeln und Fleisch, aber vielleicht (noch) zu wenig Fett. Hoffen wir auf den kommenden Ausbau in den Barriques. Zweifellos besitzt dieser Margaux jedoch grosses Potenzial."

FALSTAFF: "Kräftiges Rubingranat, violette Reflexe, dezente Randaufhellung. Dunkle Beerenfrucht, unterlegt mit Nuancen von Nougat und Karamell, tabakigen Nuancen und Orangenzesten. Straff, ausgewogen, zeigt seidige Tannine, feiner Schokotouch, ein eleganter Speisenbegleiter, würzige Holznuancen im Nachhall."

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)."