x
  • Country ranking ?

    1 028
  • Producer ranking ?

    50
  • Decanting time

    2h
  • When to drink

    Now
  • Food Pairing

    Beef

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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The Story

Since the 17th Century, the first wine of Château Margaux has been recognised as being one of the greatest wines in the entire world. It owes its unique qualities to the genius of its terroir as well as to the passionate work of a succession of generations. It’s a remarkable wine that comes from a combination of characteristics that are only rarely found: finesse, elegance, complexity, density, intensity, length and freshness. Although its tannic concentration may be exceptional, it’s rare to detect astringency.  

The great vintages are distinguished by their formidable ability to move us. The lesser vintages give pleasure to wise enthusiasts. They offer the advantage of evolving very rapidly and, reveal, after a few years, instead of power, this subtlety that is the prerogative of great terroirs.  Château Margaux has an extraordinary ability to evolve. Over the years, it has developed a finesse, an aromatic complexity and a remarkable presence on the palate.

 

Château Margaux has sought to achieve excellence in its wines for over 400 years now through painstaking and necessarily long studies of its terroir, through a constant desire to learn and innovate, by remaining sensitive to demanding markets, and above all through a passionate commitment that has been shared by the families that have succeeded each other at the estate. At the end of the 17th century, it became part of the nascent elite “First Growths” – long before being established officially by the Classification of 1855. Since then, Château Margaux has known fame and fortune, seeing by experience how ephemeral both are.

The estate has 200 acres under vine. Each plot and each variety are treated differently from pruning throughout the growing season. Chateau Margaux’ goal is to nurture and maintain vines for as long as possible, as they believe vines need to reach 20 years of age to produce great wine. The estate is constantly trying to understand through experimentation how to improve soil health and fruit quality. Today, no insecticides are used, there is an important balance of healthy insects to counter pests, and any number of experiments with ploughing, organic farming, and biodynamic applications are ongoing. A final key point to note, Margaux has for the last 30+ years had among the lowest yields in the Medoc.

The wine was aged for 15 months, in 10% new oak and 90% second use barrels. Because of the particularities of the vintage, Cabernet Sauvignon made up an extremely high 88% of the blend, with Merlot only 12% of the blend. Importantly, the wine is held in bottle until ready to drink, which may not mean that vintages are released sequentially.

 

 

 

 

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Wine Information

Weather
After a rainy start to the growing season, August and especially September were hot and dry. September in particular was exceptionally hot, which allowed the grapes to ripen in excellent conditions. (The picking began 20th September)

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Vintage 1966

1966 was an exceptional year in Bordeaux for very classic and delicate wines. However, the year started off as anything but promising. The main rainfall that began in late June continued into July, but the hot start to August dried out the soil and the weather gradually improved towards autumn, until it is almost perfect for harvest.

These wines share a truly classic, graceful and high quality character so typical of Bordeaux wines, making them elegant and balanced. Today, many of them are still good. If carefully stored, many of the best wines can still mature, but the following rule of thumb should be observed: drink them or sell them immediately. In our opinion, this is one of the finest vintages you can buy today. Almost all AOC wines are still in excellent condition, and the best examples, such as Palmer, Latour, Haut-Brion, Lafleur and Pétrus, are excellent. There is a wide selection of well-priced first, second and third growth wines on the market. For example, Cos d’Estournel, Calon-Ségur and Lynch-Bages offer exceptional value for money. As a general rule, decanting for one hour is sufficient.

The price development of this vintage no longer shows any significant upward movement – the price increase over the last ten years has been around 55%. Rising prices will continue as the best wines mature, perhaps until 2020, when any surviving wines should be removed from the cellar and sold or drunk immediately.

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Tasting note

color

Deep, Ruby red and Evolved

ending

Long, Gentle and Flavorful

flavors

Vanilla, Perfumed and Tropical fruits

nose

Intense, Generous and Refined

recommend

Yes

taste

Average in Acidity, Balanced, Concentrated, Multi-dimensional, Medium-bodied, Fragrant, Refined and Medium-Dry

Verdict

Excellent

Written Notes

A vintage chosen to celebrate the year our friend arrived in Australia but whatever the reason, a wonderful drink. Great concentration here. Offers a core of sweet fruit. Really was in great nick. Very fine tannins. Serious length. Maturity and complexity in abundance. And yet still with sweet fruit. A wine still very much alive at fifty years and it is hard to ask for much more. Flavours flowed beautifully and the aromas just leapt out of the glass, even after considerable time.
  • 96p

A rich wine with a very fine tannic structure, which has now developed with lots of finesse. It is ready to drink now, but it can be kept longer without any risk.

A typical 66 with dark garnet red colour and brick red hue. The nose is very expressive with spicy character, balmy components, initially slightly dusty the wine develops extremely well displaying hints of prunes and dried fruits, discreet hints of blackberries, mild spices and vanilla. On the palate very elegant with a very fresh character, firm but balanced tannins and an excellent length.

  • 96p
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Information

Origin

Margaux, Bordeaux
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