1986 | Chateau Margaux | Margaux 5L

Details

Red Wine: 1986 | Chateau Margaux | Margaux 5L

This was really tannic when it was young and is still tannic and hard. Full yet lacks some fruit. Mushroom.

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Producer: Chateau Margaux

Ratings: WA | 98 JS | 95

Vintage: 1986

Size: 750ml

ABV: 12.5%

Varietal: Bordeaux Blend Red

Country/Region: France, Bordeaux

This was really tannic when it was young and is still tannic and hard. Full yet lacks some fruit. Mushroom.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: 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.

• James Suckling: This is about as alluring as it gets aromatically, with singed alder, juniper, bay and charcoal notes out front, hinting at power but turning beguiling as they flow into the core of steeped red currant, dried currant and black tea. The charcoal note makes an encore, with a lovely twinge of old-school character holding the finish. Always a great debate vis–vis the ’90, but the slightly darker profile here gives this wine a lovely bit of extra drama.

Producer Information

Chteau Margaux is one of Bordeaux’s most famous wine estates, located just east of Margaux itself in the Mdoc. Along with Lafite, Latour and Haut-Brion, it was rated as a first growth in the original 1855 Bordeaux Classification of the Mdoc. Generally, Margaux is considered as the most elegant of the first growths, and is consistently one of the most expensive wines in the world. The Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant blend is complimented with small portions of Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Chteau Margaux’s vineyards have a complex combination of soils that are unique to the area. These consist of chalky clay under a top layer of coarse and fine gravels, which is well-suited to Cabernet Sauvignon, which accounts for around 75 percent of plantings. Merlot makes up a further 20 percent, with the rest planted to Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. As is typical for top Bordeaux estates, the vineyard is densely planted at 10,000 vines per hectare. There are also 12 hectares (30 acres) of Sauvignon Blanc to make Margaux’s white offering, Pavillon Blanc, which must be sold as Bordeaux AOP, not Margaux. This compliments the Pavillon Rouge the second wine of which production dates back to the beginning of the 16th Century.