x
  • Country ranking ?

    954
  • Producer ranking ?

    46
  • Decanting time

    3h
  • When to drink

    now to 2035
  • Food Pairing

    Oregano Lamb Cutlets

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.

Close

Of exceptional quality, the Château Margaux 1985offers aromas of fruit, along with finesse and plenty of elegance. It reveals sophisticated and complex notes. Chateau Margaux 1985 is delicateon the palate, offering tannins full of charm, which are round and silky. Its concentration is remarkable, and the wine displays a great lengthand a beautiful aromatic persistence. Its exceptional ageing potential allows it to be kept for many years to come.

The organoleptic qualities described here are only valid for the year in which this wine was tasted. Naturally, the wine is subject to evolution in the bottle throughout its life, and certain characteristics described in this commentary will no longer apply.

Close

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.

 

 

 

 

Close

Wine Information

1985 is an outstanding vintage, as much in terms of quality as in quantity. It has always been very pleasant to drink, almost right from the end of the fermentation. The nose is still astonishingly fruity, fine and elegant and has become more developed and very complex. On the palate, we are first struck by the delicacy and charm of particularly round and silky tannins, but the length and finish also display a great concentration. 1985 today is one of our most appealing vintages. We can therefore drink it without any problem, but there is no rush, as it undoubtedly has the potential to get even better.(January 2011)

Weather
After a quite cool and late start to the growing season, this vintage was influenced by very advantageous ripening and harvesting conditions, especially during the months of September and October, which were very hot and dry. The leaves on the vines refused to fall until late into November. This Indian summer will be remembered a long time. (The picking began on 26th September)

Close

Average Bottle Price

2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2005
376€ -0.5% 378€ +24.8% 303€ -22.1% 389€ +9.3% 356€ +59.6% 223€

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

19 tasting notes

Tasting note

Be the first one to make a 20s tasting note!

Written Notes

A great year and a superb Bordeaux. This was absolutely brilliant. Margaux was well into its transformation from the below par wines (in First Growth terms, at least) that they made from the mid-'60s to the late '70s. They have never looked back. 1978 was glorious, '79 surely one of the wines of a fair to middling vintage, ditto the next few through to the brilliant 1982. and was there a better 1983? And so on... This wine offered a wonderful array of flavours, moving through cassis, cigar box, coffee bean, spice and dry hay. It was all based around a sweet core of fruit. This is supple and balanced. The balance is absolutely impeccable. It is not hard to see why Margaux has such a lofty reputation when one looks at wines like this. A really wonderful wine that has many years ahead of it. 97
  • 97p

Ruby, brick rim. In neck fill. Dates, fruit driven, anise, spices, liquorice, leather, tobacco, nuanced, detailed, layered and intense nose. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, dark fruits, spices, liquorice, detailed and layered, juicy but still texture, long finish. Impressive bottle, my best to date of this! 96

  • 96p

1985 is an outstanding vintage, as much in terms of quality as in quantity. It has always been very pleasant to drink, almost right from the end of the fermentation. The nose is still astonishingly fruity, fine and elegant and has become more developed and very complex. On the palate, we are first struck by the delicacy and charm of particularly round and silky tannins, but the length and finish also display a great concentration. 1985 today is one of our most appealing vintages. We can therefore drink it without any problem, but there is no rush, as it undoubtedly has the potential to get even better.

Margaux – already tasted twice in 2015 with same impression. I don’t think this wine offers tasters really much in terms of aroma, depth, structure and sweetness. It’s light but also round and charming. 90p.

  • 90p

The nose here is very elevated maybe even a bit fresher than the 1996 today. Lots of classic cedar and almond notes. This is fresh again on the palate, lots of spice on the finish. The texture is extraordinary, and the vigour true to the colour, impressive. Super length. Great poise, an excellent bottle for sure and no hurry to drink up on this showing. 97/100

  • 97p
Load more notes

Information

Origin

Margaux, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Excellent

Value For Money

Very good

Investment potential

Good

Fake factory

Be Cautious

Glass time

2h

Inside Information

Bordeaux Book, 4th Edition 
Jan 2003
Robert M. Parker, Jr. 95 Drink: 2003 - 2015 $428-$890
Approaching full maturity, this beautifully sweet Chateau Margaux has a dense plum/purple color and a huge, sweet nose of black currants intermixed with licorice, toast, underbrush, and flowers. Medium to full-bodied with supple tannin and a fleshy, juicy, very succulent and multi-layered mid-palate, this expansive, velvety wine has entered its plateau of maturity, where it should remain (assuming good storage) for at least another 10-15 years. A very delicious, seductive, and opulent Chateau Margaux to drink over the next two decades. Anticipated maturity: Now-2015. Last tasted, 10/02.

 

Read more
Incorrect Information
If you found some information that is wrong, let us know
Are you sure you want do delete this wine? All information will be lost.
Are you sure you want to recommend this wine?
Are you sure you want hide this written note ?
Are you sure you want show this written note ?
UPGRADE MEMBER PLAN
Upgrade your membership now, it's quick and easy. We use PayPal, the world's largest payment system, it accepts all credit cards. Once you've chosen your membership level, you'll go directly to PayPal. You can cancel your membership at any time.
Thank you for your support!
 

Pro Member

 

Winemerchant Member

 

Winery Member

 

User

 

HOW TO USE TASTINGBOOK?

We recommend you to share few minutes for watching the following video instructions of how to use the Tastingbook. This can provide you a comprehensive understanding of all the features you can find from this unique service platform.

This video will help you get started



Taste wines with the Tastingbook


Create Your wine cellar on 'My Wines'



Explore Your tasted wines library



Administrate Your wine world in Your Profile



Type a message ...
Register to Tastingbook
Sign up now, it's quick and easy.
We use PayPal, the world's largest payment system, it accepts all credit cards.
Once you've chosen your membership level, you'll go directly to PayPal, where you can sign up for a free 7-day trial period. You can cancel your membership at any time. We wish you a rewarding journey to the world of Fine Wines.

Free 7 days Member trial

 

Member

 

Pro Member

 

Winemerchant Member

 

Winery Member

 

User

  Register