2010 Château Margaux, Margaux, Bordeaux

This was phenomenal from barrel and remains so. The aromas are spellbinding. It smells like a bouquet of pink roses and then goes to currants, berries and citrus. Full body, with wonderfully refined tannins. It starts discretely and then grows to different levels and dimensions like a slow but big high tide. The texture is so beautiful. 

Try it in 2020 or beyond.

Possibly the greatest wine this illustrious château has ever produced, and that’s saying a lot. The grand vin contains the highest-ever percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon, reflecting Paul Pontallier’s belief in the grape’s outstanding quality in 2010 and vindicating his decision to introduce a third tier red wine to allow even greater selection. An even better wine than the impressive 2009, this is very dense for a Margaux, with sweet plum, bramble and blackcurrant fruit, serious, yet silky tannins and a fine, refreshing, tapering finish.

Drink 20+ years

The 2010 Ch Margaux is amazingly dark purple. Very, very strongly Cabernet Sauvignon 90% of the blend - only 2006 matched it) with some light vegetation at first which opened out and mellowed to something utterly seductive in the glass. Dry and intense. Very rich on the front and amazingly supple – it smells as though it may be going to be a bit of brute but on the palate it is still so intense and polished initially but then it is clear that there are masses and masses of tannins. There is noble, fine, perfectly confident, minerally fruit that opens out on the palate. It is thinkable to drink this already!

Drink 2020 - 2050

Saturated ruby-red. Deep aromas of blackberry, liquorice and bitter chocolate, complicated by nuances of loam and coffee extract. Dense, thick and sweet, but with harmonious acidity giving shape and lift to the pungent cassis, spice and tobacco flavors. Youthfully chewy wine with terrific underlying structure and a very long, sappy finish featuring broad tannins and a hint of licorice. This has improved considerably since the Primeurs, but I still think the 2009 Margaux is the superior wine.

Superfocused and superracy, with torrents of cherry, raspberry and plum fruit. Offering terrific mouthfeel, this glides by effortlessly, with a fantastic perfume developing on the finish. Long and iron-tinged. Really, really fine-grained. Other than 2006, this is the only vintage since 2000 with as much Cabernet Sauvignon 90%).

The 2010 Château Margaux performed far better at this horizontal than at Farr's blind tasting a few days later. It has a beguiling bouquet, highly perfumed with crushed violets infusing the blackberry and crushed strawberry scented, hints of pencil box and cedar emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins and a fine bead of acidity. There is a wonderful sense of symmetry here with a silky elegant finish that is amazingly persistent. It is one of the best wines that Paul Pontallier ever made.

Drink 2025 - 2060

Deep garnet in colour, the 2010 Château Margaux features notions of minted blackcurrants, new leather and Black Forest cake with nuances of sautéed herbs, tar, underbrush and wild fungi plus a waft of cedar. Full-bodied, the palate has a rock-solid structure of firm, grainy tannins and bold freshness supporting the taut, muscular fruit, finishing long and earthy.

Drink 2023 - 2060

The wine is a blend of 90% Cabernet and 7% Merlot; picking began with the latter on 22 September.

Fresh and youthful aromas of understated curranty fruit with cedar, smoke, and spice accents lead to a silky, archetypical Margaux texture with silky tannins, perfect weight, balance, and impressive length. The edges of this wine - so evident en primeur - are now pleasantly rounded and supple, but there is no mistaking the power and age-ability of this triumphant vintage.

Drink 2030 - 2070

Reminding me slightly of the 1996 and maybe the 2019) with its purity and precision, the 2010 Château Margaux offers a classic bouquet of red and black currants, green tobacco, sandalwood, spring flowers, and lead pencil shavings. Rich, full-bodied, and beautifully concentrated on the palate, with ripe tannin and integrated yet notable acidity, this is as classic and regal as Margaux gets, and while it has a terrific sweetness of fruit and ripeness to its tannins, it needs another 4-5 years to hit true prime time and is going to evolve for another 30 years or more.

Drink 2026 - 2057

As we head out of Pauillac, you feel the register change. It takes a heartbeat to adjust, but then you start to see the beauty of a different style of 2010, a little more elegant, a little more sculpted, with concentration that sits deep in the body of the wine but builds more slowly through the palate. This shows the beauty of the appellation of Margaux in the way that you always want and hope the First Growths will - a signpost towards the rest, showing why they should be celebrated. Here are violet aromatics, soft black truffle flavours and silky, elongated tannins. Extremely good quality; fairly savoury berry fruits. As with all of these, there's a long long life ahead of it, and best to be put away for another five years at least.

Drink 2025 - 2050

The 2010 is a brilliant Chateau Margaux, as one might expect in this vintage. The percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the final blend hit 90%, the balance Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and only 38% of the crop made it into the Chateau Margaux. Paul Pontallier, the administrator, told me that this wine has even higher levels of tannin than some other extraordinary vintages such as 2005, 2000, 1996, etc. 

Deep purple, pure and intense, with floral notes, tremendous opulence and palate presence, this is a wine of considerable nobility. With loads of blueberry, black currant and violet-infused fruit and a heady alcohol level above 13.5% although that looks modest compared to several other first growths, particularly Chateau Latour and Chateau Haut-Brion), its beautifully sweet texture, ripe tannin, abundant depth and profound finish all make for another near-perfect wine that should age effortlessly for 30-40 years.

Drink 2013 - 2053