2009 Château Margaux, Margaux, Bordeaux

100% new oak. 31% of production won the 1st wine, with the same high level of Cabernet Sauvignon as in 2005. Paul Pontallier director in these years, and this continues to set out a benchmark for the property, as it has every time I have tasted it.Power and enveloping aromatics from the first moment, this is bursting with pleasure, and so signature Margaux. Impossible not to love the depth and the spice that comes through from the first moment, with spirals of sandalwood, violets, crushed raspberries and cassis. Enticing generous, and totally delicious. Still young, very much in its primary fruit phase, but you can begin to drink this now, such is the vibrancy of the tannins, but it will deliver for many decades to come. Torreified, smoked coffee bean and campfire notes overtake after half an hour in the glass.Drink 2022 - 2050jane_anson_mw, janeanson_com (July 2022)

Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.The 2009 Château Margaux is intense and powerful on the nose with blackberry, forest floor, graphite and rose petals that unfurl with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannin, impressive density and plenty of freshness, perhaps more than the 2009 Mouton-Rothschild. There is a genuine Pauillac-like drive to this Château Margaux thanks to the Cabernet Sauvignon, clearly a First Growth destined for long-term ageing. 13.1% alcohol.Drink 2023 - 2070Neil Martin, Vinous.com.com (March 2019)

A blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot; pH 3.79; 13.3% alcohol; represents a stringent 36% selection. Good full ruby-red. Pure, ripe aromas of cassis, graphite and cedar, lifted by floral and mineral high notes. Dense and amazingly concentrated yet light on its feet, with compelling, extremely pure flavours of spicy blackcurrant, tobacco leaf and minerals. The extremely long, slow-building and wonderfully fine-grained finish offers an exhilarating combination of power and sweetness. This comes across as quite backward today yet is anything but austere. A real essence of Margaux's great terroir, and one of my favourite wines of the vintage. As I walked to the parking lot with Pontallier after the tasting, he said to me, "If people don't think this is one of the greatest wines I have ever made, then it means I haven't really understood anything in the last 30 years spent making wine."Ian D'Agata, Vinous.com.com (May 2010)

This marathon runner is currently in the no-man's land between youthful vitality and mellow maturity. There's a very serious tannin structure here, but it needs a lot longer to fully resolve. Very tight and closed. A perfect wine usually. But not today.Try in 2020james_suckling, jamessuckling_com (October 2019)

The 2009 Chteau Margaux is deep garnet in color and features wonderfully fragrant minted cassis, lilacs, black forest cake and oolong tea scents with touches of pencil shavings and dusty soil. Medium to full-bodied, it has a firm, grainy frame with lovely freshness lifting the perfumed fruit to a very long, mineral-laced finish.Lisa Perrotti-Brown - 14/03/2019

The Cabernet was so good, it was easy to decide the blend for the grand vin –including 87% Cabernet Sauvignon. Blended early Feb. 2009 reminds Pontallier of 1990 because of its lushness. The grand vin was 36% of the crop. Very dark crimson. Sumptuous nose – just gorgeous. So fine, so ripe but with lovely freshness too. Margaux finesse. Truly a wonderful nose. The nose is really the thing already. Will it ever be difficult to drink? Breadth across the palate. Just wonderfully relaxed and fresh and beautifully balanced. Soft tannins on the finish, very very long. We debate whether the texture is cashmere or silk. jancis_robinson_mw MW - JancisRobinson.com - Apr 2010

(87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot) Fine black red, quite magical bouquet, pure quality of cashmere silkiness on the palate with a touch of fragrance from Cabernet Franc, blending softness of attack with pure density. A wine of stunning fragrance and purity, the most perfect expression imaginable of the greatest of Margaux vineyards.

The nose is so intensely fruity, but subtle and reserved at the same time. Fascinating. Full-bodied, yet superrefined, building on the palate. It's like watching a long-distance runner starting off slowly but continuing along his or her path. Fine and dense tannins. A few minutes in the glass and the massive tannins show. Muscular and subdued. james_suckling - Wine Spectator - March 2010

Tasted blind. Dark lustrous crimson. Spicy note and very ripe fruit with some leafiness. Thick and sweet – very rich and fat. Very dramatic. Group average placed this second favourite of the 2009s.Drink 2020 - 2055jancis_robinson_mw MW, JancisRobinson.com (March 2019)

A brilliant offering from the Mentzelopoulos family, once again their gifted manager, Paul Pontallier, has produced an uncommonly concentrated, powerful 2009 Chateau Margaux made from 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest primarily Merlot with small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. As with most Medocs, the alcohol here is actually lower (a modest 13.3%) than most of its siblings-. Abundant blueberry, cassis and acacia flower as well as hints of charcoal and forest floor aromas that are almost Burgundian in their complexity are followed by a wine displaying sweet, well-integrated tannins as well as a certain ethereal lightness despite the wine-s overall size. Rich, round, generous and unusually approachable for such a young Margaux, this 2009 should drink well for 30-35+ years. robert_parker - Wine Advocate - February 2012

1.5% Cabernet Franc completes the blend.A winning combination of power and elegance here, showcasing the concentration of the year in the full, ripe and muscular fruit and tannins balanced by racy acidity and supreme tension making this a wonderful wine to taste and drink. It's ample and generous, giving tons of flavour nuance - black berry fruits, subtle sweet spice, cocoa powder and graphite as well as textural interest. It also has excellent markers of terroir in the mineral salinity that lingers on the finish. You get a sense of hidden strength here too, there's depth and layering but also a grace to the overall frame with a juiciness that is so joyful. Energetic, lively and expressive and all very harmonious. What a wine.Drink 2022 - 2055Georgina Hindle, Decanter.com (June 2022)