Grand Vin de Château Margaux (2000)

About this wine

This legendary wine from the superb 2000 vintage shows a deep ruby colour and an intensely perfumed nose of blackcurrant, blackberry, raspberry and violets with subtle notes of cedar, graphite and delicate spice. On the palate it is medium to full bodied, combining dense dark fruit with hints of tobacco, cocoa and a touch of mint, all wrapped in very fine grained tannins. The blend is dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon with smaller amounts of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, and it spent over two years maturing in new French oak barrels, which adds gentle notes of toast and sandalwood without overwhelming the fruit. The texture is both powerful and graceful, with great concentration, fresh acidity and a finish that lingers for many seconds. Now showing the first hints of savoury complexity while still very youthful, it is a benchmark example of why Château Margaux was classified as the sole first growth of the Margaux appellation in 1855 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest wines of this celebrated vintage.

About the grape

In this vintage Cabernet Sauvignon makes up the great majority of the Grand Vin, reflecting its long history as the dominant grape of Margaux, where it thrives on deep gravel soils that are planted at high density and trained in the classic Guyot style. Merlot has been part of the estate blend for centuries and is planted on slightly cooler and more clay rich parcels, where it gives rounder fruit and helps balance the firm structure of Cabernet Sauvignon in the final cuvée. Cabernet Franc, an older parent of both Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, appears in a small proportion from selected plots, contributing its aromatic lift and playing a traditional supporting role in the first wine. Petit Verdot, a very old local variety of the Médoc that ripens late, is used in tiny amounts from the warmest gravel sites to deepen color and add subtle structure without dominating the character of Château Margaux.

Quick facts

• 🍇 In the celebrated 2000 vintage only about forty percent of the harvest became Grand Vin du Château Margaux so most of the crop was sacrificed to pack this single wine with rare concentration and intensity
• 🕰️ Château Margaux 2000 was raised in barrel for a little over two full years and only bottled in November 2002 an unusually long wait that the estate reserved for what it considered a dream vintage built to age for decades
• ⭐ The 2000 Grand Vin du Château Margaux earned a perfect score from leading critics and is famous for a finish said to linger for about a minute turning each sip into a long slow performance rather than a quick taste
• 🔐 Because Château Margaux began laser etching its bottles to fight fakes years before the millennium the 2000 Grand Vin is one of the earliest blue chip Bordeaux vintages whose authenticity can be checked directly on the glass
• 🎬 When you open Château Margaux 2000 you are drinking a wine from an estate nicknamed the Versailles of the Médoc that once charmed Thomas Jefferson and even inspired actress Margaux Hemingway to adopt its name for her own

Palate profile

Producer

Chateau Margaux traces its origins to a fortified estate known as La Mothe de Margaux that was already established by the twelfth century, with serious winegrowing developed by the Lestonnac family in the sixteenth century. By the early eighteenth century its vineyards were largely laid out as they are today and its wines had evolved into long lived clarets that attracted the attention of leading merchants. In 1771 a parcel of its wine became the first claret ever sold at Christies in London, and in 1787 Thomas Jefferson listed Chateau Margaux among the four vineyards of first quality that he most admired. The estate was officially ranked as a Premier Cru in the Bordeaux Classification of 1855, confirming a reputation that had been built over centuries. After a period of decline in the twentieth century, it was revitalized from the late nineteen seventies under the Mentzelopoulos family, who remain at the head of the estate today with a new generation taking on leadership roles.