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Château Margaux 1970

Château Margaux, Bordeaux, France

Château Margaux
Bordeaux France
  • 91
    Points
  • The 1 652 best
    of 3 290 954
    wines globally
  • 15 Pros of
    20 recommend
    this wine
969 91
  • Taste
  • Moment

  • Country ranking ?

    1 441

  • Producer ranking ?

    92

  • Decanting time

    1h

  • When to drink

    now to 2030

  • Food Pairing

    Roquefort madeleines

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 tan...

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Wine Information

1970 Vintage by Château Margaux: We find it hard to imagine today the excitement caused by this vintage, whose abundance and generosity appear all the more remarkable when you consider the complete disasters of the two previous vintages (1968 and 1969). Most of the wines produced in the Médoc stayed closed and quite hard for a long time. As with the 1975 vintage, it could have been a question of the Cabernet Sauvignon not being ripe enough whe...

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Average Bottle Price

2024 2020 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2005 2000
366€ +26.6% 289€ +8.6% 266€ +13.7% 234€ +10.9% 211€ +45.5% 145€ -18.5% 178€ +31.9% 135€ +51.7% 89€ +97.8% 45€

This data comes from the FINE Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions in 20 countries. The average prices from each year have been collected since 1990. This chart plots the index value of the average price of the wines.

Latest Pro-tasting notes

23 tasting notes

Tasting note

color

Medium, Brick red and Bright

ending

Long, Spicy and Harsh

flavors

Mushrooms, Earthy, Mineral, Herbs and Spice

nose

Complex, Opulent, Generous and Intense

recommend

Yes

taste

Average in Acidity, High tannin, Complex, Concentrated, Unbalanced, Mature, Medium-bodied, Elegant and Silky tannins

Verdict

Fine

Written Notes

This quite large crop (though a much smaller one than 1893) was of really extraordinary quality. Today, it is still one of the greatest bottles of Margaux we have ever had the chance to taste. This wine displays a quite amazing freshness and remarkable length and smoothness. Never would we imagine that this wine is 150 years old !

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Information

Origin

Margaux, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Excellent

Value For Money

Very good

Investment potential

No Potential

Fake factory

None

Inside Information

It was 1977, and young, 24-year-old Corinne Mentzelopoulos was very impressed as she stepped out to the bright white stairway of the palace that was built in the 19th century. They had just finished lunch that had taken place in a dark, ramshackle dining room. She could not yet foresee that as a result of the handshake between the two gentlemen on the stairs, her life would soon change. Her father, André Mentzelopoulos, became the first Greek winegrower in Bordeaux, as he bought the Château Margaux from Pierre Ginestet for 75 million francs. The historic estate had changed hands once again.


The estate has been occupied since at least the 12th century, but it was only with the arrival of the Lestonnac family in the 16th century that wine production became of particular importance, and in the 1570s Pierre de Lestonnac cleared many of the grain fields to make way for grapes. By 1700 the estate covered its present area of 265 hectares, and the 78 hectares devoted to vines has remained essentially unchanged since then.
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…
Today Corinne Mentzelopoulos, supported by her team led by Paul Pontallier, and following in her father André Mentzelopoulos' footsteps, devotes her time and energy to radiating her enthusiasm for this wine, whose name is synonymous with greatness, balance and harmony.


Pontallier drew most of his learning and production philosophy from Peynaud. Respect for the unique terroir of Margaux and applying this philosophy to wine in every unique year without the label of the wine maker represents Peynaud’s view that Pontallier has kept on honourably since Peynaud stepped aside from wine production in 1990.
The active and close co-operation between Pontallier and Mentzelopoulos has produced magnificent vintages: 1983, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2003, and 2005. It remains to be seen how well the new generation can continue Corinne’s success in the history of the estate. It is certain that she is not stepping aside for a long time, but when she looks 50 years to the future, she says:
– Who knows what the world will be like then? I just hope my children are still around and are here managing the estate. But can things get much better for Margaux, when it already is in the minds of all wine lovers of the world? Should I keep my fingers crossed?

Soil: gravelly, clay-limestone
Production area: 82ha
Grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon (at least 75%), Merlot (between 10 and 15%) and finally Petit Verdot (around 5%) and a little Cabernet Franc
Average age of vines: 36 years
Harvest method: hand picked
Winemaking: The wine is fermented in oak vats
Ageing: over 18-24 months in new French oak barrels


Château Margaux
33460 Margaux
Tél. : +33 (0) 5 57 88 83 83
Fax. : +33 (0) 5 57 88 31 32
www.chateau-margaux.com

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