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Wine Description
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.
Wine Information
We came very close to making a great vintage. It was a question of a few showers at the beginning of the harvest... From the beginning, the wines, whether Merlot or Cabernet, had astonishing concentration, recalling the 1995 and 1996 vintages. At first, they tended to be a little firm and austere, but with barrel ageing they gained a lot of roundness and harmony. Today, Château Margaux 1998 displays aromas of great freshness in which fruit, particularly red berry fruit, is to the fore and in which lingering hints of vanilla and roasted coffee beans mingle slowly into the wine. The impression on the palate is of great power with fresh, firm but fat tannins, which give this wine a very classic dimension. 1998 is undeniably a long-ageing wine and should ideally be held for several more years before drinking. (October 2018)
Vintage 1998
The dates for bud-break, flowering and colour change in the grapes correspond exactly to the averages. What distinguishes this growing season is the exceptional heat and drought during the month of August : the grapes acquired an excellent level of concentration early on. The heavy rain at the end of September came too late to cause significant dilution. (The picking began on 24th September)
Recommended glass shape
Average Bottle Price
| 2024 | 2020 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|
| 530€ +8.2% | 490€ +19.2% | 411€ |
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.