x
  • Country ranking ?

    1 299
  • Producer ranking ?

    75
  • Decanting time

    45min
  • When to drink

    1960-70
  • Food Pairing

    enjoy without food

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

This vintage was, and still is, considered to have benefited from the most extraordinary weather of the last two (now three) centuries. The harvest had never up till then begun so early in the year (17th August), and it has never done so since ! 1893 was also the biggest ever crop recorded at Château Margaux ! Even during the 1980s, we never harvested such a huge volume. As the cellar master mentioned, the picking had to be interrupted for six days because there were not enough vats.
Weather
Let's quote the cellar master's notes, "Hot weather lasting from 1st March until the harvest. An excessively hot summer. Without rain. Vines flowered 20th April. Grapes changed colour 21st June. An extremely early and very abundant crop." (Picking began 17th August, finishing 12th September)



 

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Average Bottle Price

9860 8760 2015 2013 2010 2005 2000 1995
2 023€ +0.1% 2 020€ -70.1% 6 745€ -9.1% 7 422€ +30.8% 5 673€ +45.8% 3 890€ +58.4% 2 456€ +179.4% 879€

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.

Tasting note

color

Deep, Brick red and Clear

ending

Long and Acidic

flavors

Earthy, Toasty, Smoky and Cigar-box

nose

Mature, Complex and Ripe

recommend

Yes

taste

High in Acidity, High tannin, Balanced, Well-structured, Complex, Medium-bodied, Vigor and Dry

Written Notes

Château Margaux 1893 / This decade brought relief to the vine growers of Gironde who had made almost fatal financial and other sacrifices during the 1880s. The 1893 was the first good vintage since the unfortunate years of phylloxera and mildew. A wonderful summer with early flowering. Harvest began August 18th – the earliest on record. The crop was almost as large as the great 1875 – 547 544 tonneaux. The wines were very appealing from the start. With age, the lack of natural acidity and grape sugar made some of them a bit sharp and bitter when old, but not all. Prices were also so ridiculously low that by Christmas all the classified growth wines had been sold.


This bottle of Château Margaux came from New York without label and capsule. Otherwise, it looked fine – ullage was top shoulder! Decanted one hour. Mature red colour with good depth. Earthy, mature but surprisingly open nose with complexity. Full-flavoured, feminine, and delicate on the palate. Sweet, gentle but at the same time as classy as an old claret can be. Excellent wine. 

  • 96p

Château Margaux 1893 is a remarkable wine, which was considered to be the best of the century (of the 19th, of course). Still today, this wine displays quite amazing power and freshness. How did they manage to do that ? Producing such a huge quantity and making such fine quality is a great mystery, and we do not have enough information to explain it.

The wine still shows a healthy colour. A wonderful complex nose, touch of melted butter. Lovely sweet fruit. Long finish. A wine that is still not only alive but one offering a sensational experience. Needs careful decanting shortly before drinking.
  • 93p
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Information

Origin

Margaux, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Above Average

Value For Money

Satisfactory

Investment potential

Good

Fake factory

Serious

Glass time

30min
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