x
  • Country ranking ?

    636
  • Producer ranking ?

    24
  • Decanting time

    4h
  • When to drink

    now to 2040
  • Food Pairing

    Lamb Meatball Sliders

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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Wine Advocate-Parker :
The 1986 Chateau Margaux is one of the dark horses of the vintage. It has an exquisite bouquet that is now fully mature, with a mixture of red and black fruit, violets, pastilles and hints of cold stone. It blossoms in the glass, gaining intensity all the time. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, a more robust Margaux as you would expect given the vintage, clearly with firm backbone, more straight-laced than the 1985 or 1989. Yet there is wonderful delineation and focus here. If you seek strictness and classicism in a wine, then this is the place to come, plus there is superb mineralité and tension on the ferrous finish. Perhaps a little overlooked in recent years, the 1986 Margaux comes highly recommended for those who love the property. This is a wine finally coming of age.

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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

At tasting, the Château Margaux 1986 shows off power and concentration at first. On the nose, the bouquet opens slowly as it grows older. The wine is both rich and balanced, similar to the 1961 vintage. It also boasts impressive breadth and richesse. The palate reveals tight, dense tannins, which slowly soften with time. This explains the incredible ageing potential of the Château Margaux 1986.

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.

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Average Bottle Price

2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2005
512€ +8.5% 472€ +9.3% 432€ +6.9% 404€ -17.4% 489€ +10.4% 443€ +116.1% 205€

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

ending

Long

flavors

Blackcurrant, Pepper, Cedar, Meaty, Leather and Tobacco

nose

Intense, Opulent, Seductive and Rich

recommend

Yes

taste

Average in Acidity, Warming, Round, Ripe, Full and Silky tannins

Verdict

Impressive

Written Notes

The 1986 Margaux was about as open as this wine has ever been for me, possessing dense plum and cassis fruit, forward in its personality and more forgiving than most ‘86s I have had of late. The wine also had some noticeable oak in the nose, not offensive, yet noticeable, which is never something I would call a good thing, either. In time, the oak integrated well, however, and this was a perfumed ’86, actually charming and seductive. Make no mistake about it, there was still a very sturdy backbone of tannins and acidity behind it, but in a good posture kind of way, in that you don’t notice it until you see someone/thing without it. Mr. Margaux noted ‘flowers and earth.’ The palate was spicy, with vanilla and oak flavors most noticeable, a bit shy overall, yet its big acidity and dry tannins made their presence more known in the mouth than in the nose. Its long finish had earthy flavors, and its fruit was a bit dormant in the mouth, typical for most ‘86s at the moment. Mr. Margaux noted the ‘tannins and acid are most noticeable in ’86; it is a long-term vintage and relatively a bargain accordingly.’ He also admired the ‘elegance of the earth’ and the terroir of Margaux. The 1986 Margaux was a spiny wine, still unyielding in the mouth despite signs of charm and finishing school in the nose; it was definitely an iron fist, without the velvet glove just yet 

  • 95p

Und direkt danach kam noch so ein perfektes Highlight in unsere Gläser. Ein gewaltiger Wein mit Kraft und Fülle, mit reifer dunkler und roter Frucht, so saftig und geradezu opulent wirkend, aber auch sehr elegant mit seidiger Textur, dazu präzise mit großartiger Struktur und immer noch massivem Rückgrat inzwischen reiferer Tannine. Blind serviert waren wir uns einig, dass dies ein sehr beeindruckender WT100 Wein war. Dieser 1986 Margaux war zusammen mit Mouton mein Favorit bei den 86er Arrival Proben 1989. Parkers 100 Punkte konnte ich damals gut nachvollziehen. Aber in den folgenden 30+ Jahren hat mich dieser Wein mit seiner eigensinnigen Art und den massiven, bissigen Tanninen teilweise zum Wahnsinn getrieben. René Gabriel, den mit diesem Wein eine innige Abneigung verband hat dazu vor 11 Jahren mal einen Verriss geschrieben (https://weingabriel.ch/archiv-20101.shtml), der mit den Worten endete „Am meisten Lustgewinn kann man hier nur erzielen, wenn man ihn auf einer Auktion verkauft.“ Was ich gottseidank nicht getan habe. Total verschlossen und unnahbar blitzte zwar manchmal das gewaltige Potential auf, aber wann würde sich dieser Wein öffnen? Ich gab die Hoffnung nicht auf und jetzt mit dieser Flasche hier war es soweit. Die berühmte Eisenfaust im Samthandschuh hatte nach 35 Jahren zu ihrer Traumform gefunden, in der dieser Wein sicherlich die nächsten 20+ Jahre brillieren wird. Klare WT100 und große Glücksgefühle bei mir, auch, weil ich davon noch seinerzeit für kleines Geld OHKs kaufen konnte, die noch unberührt bei bester Lagerung im Keller schlummern.Unglaublich. Ich weiß zwar nicht wo und wann unser Freund diese Flasche hier gekauft hatte. Möglich, dass es bei meinen Subskriptionskisten noch etwas länger dauert. Aber dieser Margaux wird jetzt oder bald seinem Status als einer der besten Margaux des letzten Jahrhunderts gerecht.

  • 100p

Black red colour. Cabernet Sauvignon in full blossom here, this wine is dense, strong, intense and revealing incredibly big potential! Wait and see!

  • 98p
Ruby, perfection on the nose, Mr.Pontallier stated that this vintage was so tightknit and tannic that it is only in the recent year or so that it has really opened up and started to shine. It is probably my favorite vintage in the 80's, I find so many of them with a stunning fruit, still very youthfull expression with a fantastic texture, this one no different. Youthfull, elegant, floral, so complex and layered I'm lost for words. Nothing jumps out again, red and darker berries, some tobacco and fine leather, ripe tannins, pure, and gorgeous length.
  • 97p
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Information

Origin

Margaux, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Excellent

Value For Money

Very good

Investment potential

Average

Fake factory

None

Inside Information

Bordeaux Book, 4th Edition 
Jan 2003
Robert M. Parker, Jr. 98 Drink: 2003 - 2050 $548-$1043
A magnificent example of Chateau Margaux and one of the most tannic, backward Margauxs of the last 50 years, the 1986 continues to evolve at a glacial pace. The color is still a dense ruby/purple with just a hint of lightening at the rim. With several hours of aeration, the aromatics become striking, with notes of smoke, toast, creme de cassis, mineral, and white flowers. Very full-bodied, with high but sweet tannin, great purity, and a very masculine, full-bodied style, this wine should prove nearly immortal in terms of its aging potential. It is beginning to budge from its infantile stage and approach adolescence. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2050. Last tasted, 12/02.
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