Chateau Margaux

2006
Blend
100% Red Bordeaux Blend
Country
France
Region
Bordeaux
Appellation
Margaux
UPC
0 15643 60761 5
Red Wine
Verified Stock
1709-06
Product Ratings
Decanter 95pt

Plenty of tannins still in play, and it is dense, powerful and reserved even at 15 years old. The tertiary notes of cedar, charcoal and crushed mint are just hints at this point, with the purity of Cabernet Sauvignon's cassis and bilberry fruits very much in the lead. First time that so little Merlot made it into the final blend, which no doubt also explains why the overall construction of the wine is so architectural and firm. Long drawn out finish, with higher acidity than the other wines in this lineup, with brilliant estate signature of precise peony and violet aromatics.

by Decanter, 2021
Wine Advocate 94pt

Tasted at Bordeaux Index's annual 10-Year On tasting in London.The 2006 Château Margaux has a sense of airiness and wonderful definition on the nose: wild strawberry, redcurrant, cedar and crushed roses soaring from the glass, but it never strives for the opulence of say the 2006 Château Palmer. The palate is very well balanced with fine and quite firm tannin in the mouth. This seems to be approaching its plateau after a decade. While not a powerful or ostentatious Château Margaux, it epitomizes understatement and refinement in a similar vein to Lafite-Rothschild. It is only after the wine has been swallowed that you appreciate its qualities and you feel urged to go back for another sip.

by Wine Advocate, 2016
Wine Enthusiast 95pt

This is not a big Chateau Margaux, its style showing more elegance and discretion. The tannins are soft, although producing a dense web that lies underneath the black currant and plum fruit flavors. It is a wine that envelops the mouth, an edge of firmness over velvet fruit textures. The wine floats away slowly on the close.

by Wine Enthusiast, 2009
Wine Spectator 92pt

On the taut, sinewy side, with cedar and sandalwood notes framing the core of red currant, bitter cherry and damson plum fruit. Offers a lovely singed feel through the finish, with a gentle perfumy edge. Despite the tannic profile of the vintage in general, this is all charm and hitting its stride now.

by Wine Spectator, 2014

Weather

After a rather cold winter (particularly during the month of February) but fortunately with more rainfall than in 2005, spring was so dry we almost started to get concerned about a possible lack of water for the vines. But that would have been forgetting just how adaptable vines are during a period of drought, and especially just how well great terroirs manage to even out such climatic extremes. On the other hand, our frost protection system was unable to prevent damage on April 11 at Virefougasse, the plot which produces the Pavillon Blanc, and resulted in a serious reduction in the potential yield. The flowering, which took place in excellent conditions, promised an average-sized crop of red at picking dates very close to those of the previous two years. The summer was then hot, even turning into a heat-wave during the last two weeks of July, the weather then cooled a little in August. It was dry, in particular: it rained less in July and August than during that same period in 2003! September brought the usual contrasting types of weather: very hot and dry for the first ten days, then mild and humid until the beginning of the harvest, then sufficiently dry to carry out the picking without any rush. This pattern of weather bears a strange resemblance to that of 1996, which had the same summer rain, the same very favourable weather at the end of August, and exactly the same rainfall from September 1st until the end of the picking. ... (The picking began on 19th September)

Vintage

For a number of years now, we have had a succession of great and very great vintages, surely proving that, at least so far, the weather conditions have particularly favoured the ripening of the Cabernet grapes. It shouldn’t be overlooked though, that this success has also been the result of more and more rigorous selection: in 2006, barely 36% of the crop went into the first wine, which will only be a third by the time it is bottled, after the unavoidable loss of the lees wine at each racking.

One single batch of Merlot, though of remarkably high quality, finally went into the blend, but it only represents 4% of the whole… It is the first time we have had so little. The Petit Verdot (4%) and the Cabernet Franc (2%) make up their usual proportions; they each bring added complexity that is difficult to define, but is most certainly a necessary contribution to the character of the wines of Chateau Margaux.

The Cabernet Sauvignon therefore takes up almost all of the place: 90%! It brings to the 2006 an extraordinary aromatic finesse, a tannic richness that is second only to the 2005; and a particularly dense and tight-knit texture. The finish is very long, fresh and lively, a little bit firm but already packed with flavour.

2006 is therefore a great Chateau Margaux vintage. Of course, it is not 2005, or 2000; those vintages are exceptional. But it does have both the grace and the purity of the 1996, the so classic freshness of the 2004 and the heady power of the 1986 or the 1995. Such balance is a brilliant expression of Chateau Margaux’s noble terroir. (February 2011)