2000 Margaux

This thrilling wine from a textbook year is dark in colour and shows pronounced aromas of ripe mulberry and black plum fruit, with hints of spice and smoke – the aromas are youthful, and still show some influence from the cask ageing. The texture is lush and dense, with firmish tannins, a plump feel and a warm, approachable texture. Has the substance to age for decades to come. The results in the glass are in every way a fulfillment of the promise of the millennial year.

The 2000 Château Margaux remains one of the standouts of the millennial year. This bottle is consistent with the previous example. It's deep in color. The aromatics are intense and backward, opening with blackberry, crushed violet and pencil box scents with time, but there remains a sense of beguiling aloofness, as if you are so lucky to be in its presence, which you are. The palate has a large structure for this First Growth, yet there is a sense of pliancy with a multi-layered, very persistent, satin-textured finish. Divine. Tasted at the château.

Now, you are talking. This is a heat-stopping vintage of Margaux. The perfume, with its lavender, lilacs, currants, plums, cedar and tobacco hits you. But it is the rich, opulent, silky, sensuous, multi-layered palate presence with its seamless finish that steals the show. Drink this now, or age it for 2-3-4 decades!