Full-bodied, rich, opulent, elegant, vibrant and concentrated, the wine kicks off with violets, tobacco leaf, wet earth, currants, blackberries, forest leaf and a touch of spice. If that wasn't enough to seal the deal, the velvet-textured, multiple layers of silky-textured fruits that stick with you will own your palate. This is one of those stunning wines that sticks with you long after the night is over. Tasted Oct 2021

Quality 965 | Brand 998 | Economics 990 | buzz brand
Quality: The highest Quality score in its peer group for the 1990 vintage, at 965 compared to a peer group average of 630 Brand: Strong restaurant presence, featuring on 44 of the world's top wine lists, including Lung King Heen Economics: More traded at auction than its peers, its top 5 vintages having seen 4,675 75cl equivalent bottles traded in the past year Production: Higher production than its peer group average of 112,956 bottles

- www.wine-lister.com June 2017

A brilliant wine, still star bright in colour, and full of flesh and fruit. Opens with smoky cigar notes, touches of figs, blackberries, cedar, fine tannins, violet and peony aromatics even at 30-plus years old, and it certainly stays with you long after the glass is finished. Owner Corinne Mentzelopoulos was celebrating 10 years at the helm at this point, with (the late) Paul Pontallier just promoted to MD after arriving at the property in 1983. Drinking Window: 2021 - 2040
Tasted by: Jane Anson (at Bordeaux, 01 May 2021)
Part of Bordeaux 1990s: the complete guide

Full ruby-red. Wonderfully perfumed nose combines redcurrant, plum, mocha, minerals and rose petal. Plush, fat and rich, with great sweetness and class. This has utterly compelling mouthfilling richness. Finishes smooth and endless, with great breadth. This wine showed fabulous potential from barrel, but this is the first truly outstanding bottle I've had. Drink 2005 through 2035. July 2002

A stunner, with a glorious aromatic display of mulled plum, blackberry and cherry notes seamlessly melded with rooibos tea, singed balsa wood and ground vanilla bean accents. The structure is so fine-grained that it's almost hard to find, but the marathonesque length shows it's there. As gorgeous as it is, this remains a hair behind the modern greats in terms of concentration. Still, it should hold at this peak for some time. Awfully close to the '89, but sometimes we have to split hairs. -- Non-blind Château Margaux vertical (December 2013). JM

I had this wine both in Seoul, Korea in February, and from my cellar in December, 2008, and it was remarkable how identical the wines smelled and tasted. It offers an extraordinary aromatic display of spring flowers, camphor, sweet red and black fruits, a hint of licorice, and no evidence of its 100% new oak cask aging. Round and generous with low acidity, but an opulent, full-bodied richness that is fresh with laser-like precision, this stunning wine is just beginning to reach its plateau of full maturity, where it should remain for another three decades. A sensational effort, it is one of the legendary wines made at Chateau Margaux.

Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #183, Jun 2009)

The 1990 Chateau Margaux has turned into a sensational wine that eclipses both the 1988 and 1989...and then some. It has a gorgeous, ethereal bouquet with sumptuous red berry fruit, leather, camphor and licorice—it is the kind of nose in which you just immerse yourself. Is there a hint of brettanomyces here? If there is, I don't really care. The palate is soft and sensual with incredible depth. Fleshy and corpulent for Chateau Margaux, and yet surfeit with breeding and finesse, there are layers or red fruit, kirsch, sage and fig, later tobacco and cloves. I feel that this 1990 Château Margaux is at its peak and yet the harmony, the sheer swagger of this wine just wins you over. Magnificent. Tasted May 2016.