96-100 The 2023 Château Margaux is clearly one of the greats in the vintage, and it actually reminds me a touch of the 1996, if not better. Revealing a deep purple hue, it has an incredible bouquet of cassis and blue fruits interwoven with classic Margaux floral, sandalwood, spice, and graphite aromatics. It's hard to find a wine in 2023 that has this much density and depth, with sweet tannins and so much charm. The blend is 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot, all of which will see 20 months in new barrels. Not enough can be said about the genius of Philippe Bascaules and the Mentzelopoulos family, who continue to produce sensational wine after sensational wine.
Blackberries and red currants with baking spices and dried flowers. Full-bodied and dense, showing solid, crunchy, powdery tannins that give the wine great depth and intensity. Remains polished and integrated. Very tight and savory at the end. A blend of 89% cabernet sauvignon, 5% merlot, 4% cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot.
Roses and redcurrants on the nose, smells wild and floral, remarkable fragrance. Smooth and supple, so juicy and alive, filling but understated; soft and delicate, ripe but nothing over the top. Rippling with silky tannins, sinewy muscle and precision, but everything is consistent: great weight on the palate, tension, zing, acidity, but so balanced. Refreshing, with raspberry, cherry and strawberry fruits. Perfect, and you could drink it now.
TWI
99pts
The Wine Independent
97-99 The 2023 Chateau Margaux, accounting for 41% of this year's crop, is deep garnet-purple in color. A little shy to begin, it needs some swirling before notes of black cherries, blackcurrant pastilles, and anise emerge from the glass, leading to suggestions of fragrant soil, lilacs, and cardamom with a touch of iron ore. The medium-bodied palate is elegantly crafted, with fabulous tension creating an exhilarating sense of energy in the mouth, offset by firm fine-grained tannins to support the vibrant red and black berry layers, finishing long and perfumed. So fragrant and graceful, this could only be Chateau Margaux! The blend is 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot, with pH 3.60. "There is a little more Cabernet Franc this year. More and more has been making it into the First Wine. We have been grafting over some vines to Cabernet Franc and planting more."
95-97 The 2023 Château Margaux shows considerable promise, unfurling in the glass with aromas of cassis, violets, spring flowers and sweet tobacco, framed by a deft touch of new oak. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, it's taut, concentrated and classically structured, with sweet, refined tannins and lively acids, concluding with a long, mouthwatering finish. It's a blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot that attained 13% alcohol.
The 2023 Château Margaux, which was bottled at the beginning of July, is a supremely gifted wine for the vintage. It unfolds in the glass with precise, quite mineral-driven black cherry and blueberry fruit, the patina of new oak suggesting it will require six or seven years in bottle. The palate is medium-bodied with a satin-like texture that lends this First Growth weightlessness, yet paradoxically, there is still impressive concentration and persistence. This was so seductive in barrel and it has lost none of that in bottle.