Chateau Margaux 2005

Professional Ratings

• 98 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  The first-growth 2005 Château Margaux (85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot), a lavish fragrance of blackcurrants, velvety new saddle leather, spring flowers and spice soars from the glass. The wood is already totally concealed beneath the cascade of fruit in this medium to full-bodied, pure and majestic wine. This concentrated, dense, but nevertheless strikingly elegant, multi-layered wine has a finish of 45+ seconds. It builds incrementally to a crescendo and finale. This is a stunner that can be approached already, but promises to be better in another 5-10 years and last at least 25 or more years.
  Rating: 98+
• 98 Wine Enthusiast
  For a Château Margaux, this is an especially rich wine. The dense fruit, superripe but not overpowering, and the blackberry jam flavors show the richness of the year. There is wood alongside the juiciness and sweet tannins. Of course, it will age, but it’s so delicious to drink now.
• 97 Wine Spectator
  Interesting, this is starting to deliver some fireworks aromatically, with singed alder, sandalwood and smoldering charcoal notes peeking out, though the core is still tightly coiled, with a wall of grip shrouding the plum, red currant and bitter cherry fruit. Iron and chalk elements drive the finish today, with a grainier edge than the '09 or '10, but no less length or cut. This shows the extra élevage (two years) as it's built more on grip, but the aromas that are starting to emerge suggest that this will be a worthy rival to the '10.
• 94 Wine & Spirits
  An extravagantly ripe vintage of Margaux, this has the first-growth scent of a wine at home in its new oak. The texture is succulent and generous, the aromas bright with floral tones and sweet fruit, a taste of fresh strawberries and blackberries macerated in liqueur. This is a beautiful wine, and it may reveal more of its structural power with time.
• 92 Decanter
  Silky textured, full of sweet tobacco, fleshy raspberry and red cherry notes,. A little more open than its Pauillac siblings at this point, with the finely-boned structure and multi-layered aromatics that you look for in the wines of Château Margaux. A high percentage of Merlot in this vintage because the late-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon performed so well that it was given precedence in the main estate wine. One of the richest in alcohol and tannins produced at the property to date, and ready to go at 15 years old. Drinking Window 2020 - 2032