A Margaux with beautiful depth and grace and wonderfully well-placed, refined tannins, showing presence and a soft texture. They caress your palate. Full-bodied, yet tight and extremely long. Seamless. 87% cabernet franc, 8% merlot, 3% cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot.
May 2022

In the running for the wine of the vintage, the 2021 Château Margaux is stunning in its concentration, depth, purity, and length. Pure cassis and black raspberry fruits as well as graphite, ripe tobacco, and spicy oak all define the aromatics, and it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, ultra-fine, building tannins, and a gorgeous finish. The style actually reminds me slightly of the 1996, and while it offers pleasure even today, it deserves 5-7 years of bottle age and will evolve for 20-30 years gracefully. It's a classic Château Margaux. The blend is 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, aged all in new French oak.

Lovely soft floral aromatics, pretty and perfumed with red cherries, raspberries and blackcurrants, some liquorice and toasty hints. Round and smooth, silky yet concentrated, there's a fleshy aspect to the fruit and texture while a lean core of salty minerality and high acidity keeps things straight and direct. It's a little reserved now, but this is suave, playful and sharp, full of energy and texture but not yet at the charming, graceful stage and a little atypical for the vintage. The estate picked late, bled the wine more to keep the structure and the result is mouthfilling and succulent, with Margaux charm.

The 2021 Château Margaux is clearly one of the finest wines of the vintage. Offering up a deep bouquet of raspberries, wild blueberries and plums mingled with sweet spices, violets, licorice and hints of cigar box, it's full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, with terrific depth at the core and beautifully refined, powdery tannins, concluding with a long, floral finish. Combining the vibrant flavors and moderate alcohol (13.1%) of a vintage of the last century with all the precision of the present in extraction and élevage, it is a timeless classic; and lest that be mistaken for a euphemism for a lack of concentration, note that the wine is analytically as high in polyphenols as the brilliant 2019. Representing only 36% of the estate's production, the 2021 is a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot.
William Kelley, April 2022

The 2021 Chateau Margaux is a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet-purple in color, it is a little closed and broody to start, with notions of tar, licorice, fertile loam, and truffles leading to a core of fresh blackcurrants, juicy blackberries, and black raspberries, plus a touch of iron ore. Medium-bodied, the palate has wonderful intensity with a firm, fine-grained texture and plenty of freshness to support the tightly knit black and red berry flavors, finishing with loads of energy and shimmer. The first wine represents 36% of the crop this year and it came in with a phenolic index (IPT) of 75.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, May 2022

The 2021 Château Margaux is a powerful, surprisingly brooding wine. According to Technical Director Philippe Bascaules, dry extract numbers are in line with 2019, which is hardly surprising in tasting the wine. Today, the Grand Vin is so primary. The intensity of the dark red/purplish fruit is notable, and yet the wine is positively embryonic. Bright acids and plenty of tannin abound. The 2021 is a rich, penetrating Margaux that is going to need a lot of time.
Antonio Galloni, Vinous, May 2022

Vivid fruit, raspberries and bilberries, cassis bud, saffron and graphite, full of energy and classicism, showcasing what can be achieved in the vintage. Harvest through to October 14. 36% of the overall production. 3.64ph, Tannic index of 73, the same level as in 2019 and a litttle less than 2018 and 2020. Philippe Bascaules director, Eric Boissenot consultant.
Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux, May 2022

The 2021 Château Margaux saw a traditional élevage in new barrels, with bottling in July, and as readers will remember, it's a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot that benefited from late picking, appreciable percentages of saignée, and a strict selection. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of cassis, blueberries and raspberries mingled with hints of licorice, white flowers and charcoal, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with a broad attack, lively purity and sweet structuring tannins, concluding with a long, penetrating finish. It's a classic that will richly reward bottle age.

Full of vivid flavours, colour and aromatics, chiselled, energetic and beautifully balanced. Subtle gunsmoke, grilled cassis bud and saffran alongside fleshy blackberry and pomegranate. Clear austerity on the finish, with waves of cloves and saffran as it extends through the palate. Plenty of harmony here, and potential for ageing. Harvest through to October 14. Philippe Bascaules director, showcasing what can be achieved in the vintage. Eric Boissenot consultant. 100% new oak.

The 2021 Château Margaux, aged in 100% new oak as usual, is clean and precise on the nose, much more discrete than the outgoing Pavillon Rouge and unfolds like a temptress in the glass. Intense dark cherries, hints of blueberry and trademark crushed violets then start to billow, all exquisitely defined. The palate is medium-bodied with a silky smooth veneer that does a good job disguising the structure underneath. Surprisingly plush given the growing season, the concentration is very impressive with no hard edges. It's a very Margaux-like Château Margaux insofar that it could not come from any other appéllation. Neal Martin, Vinous, May 2022

Slightly reductive nose with complex floral perfumes, red and black cherry fruit, a touch of spice and a distinctive nori and wet gravel character. Dense, stacked palate with a core of very pretty red cherry and strawberry fruit wrapped in a coating of powdery but firm tannins. Saltiness and gravelly minerals here too. There is good energy in the middle although it is not a large scaled or overly dramatic wine, even by Margaux standards. A dark horse?
April 2022

Fragrant and floral with violet and peony notes. Clean and direct on attack, mid-palate weight and drive on the finish. Low-key but refined tannic frame. Super-length and persistence. Discreet but elegant, if less substance than a wine scoring 18 or higher. (JL) 13.1%
Drink 2030 – 2050
Jancisrobinson.com, May 2022