Ratings & Tasting Notes:

99 points — Jeb Dunnuck (March 2019)
Dunnuck calls it glorious stuff — Margaux in all its finesse and elegance, paired to serious richness, power and depth. Blackcurrants, smoked earth, lead pencil, truffles and hints of dried flowers emerge from a full-bodied, seamless wine loaded with fruit and texture. With a thrilling sweetness of fruit, perfect balance and a magical sense of opulence set against classic Bordeaux elegance, he describes it as haute couture at its finest. Fully mature, though sound bottles should easily keep for another two decades.

98 points — Decanter (May 2023)
Vibrant, elegant and characterful, with a complex nose full of floral scents, baked blackcurrants and cherries — beguiling yet delicate and graceful. The palate is smoky, with charred toast, caramelised fruit, cigar smoke and truffles, its tannins fleshy and almost chewy, the acidity bright and alive. Sharp, smooth and deep, offering an interplay of power and grace and a long finish still carrying a menthol and liquorice tang, a reminder that there is much more to come.

98 points — Jane Anson (October 2023)
A cloud of peonies and gunsmoke strikes immediately, and the wine stands out for its finesse and charm. The tannins continue to cradle the fruit in a richly nuanced wine of pencil lead, strawberry purée, truffles, ash, cocoa, rose petals and saffron. Anson notes that Corinne Mentzelopoulos had succeeded her late father at the head of the estate in 1981, working with director Philippe Barré, and that while Paul Pontallier’s arrival the following year helped cement the reputation of the 1983, the 1982 is clearly rivalling it on recent tastings.

98 points — Wine Advocate (William Kelley, December 2022)
Drinking beautifully today, bursting from the glass with blackcurrants, blackberries, burning embers, loamy soil, dried flowers and subtle hints of cedar. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and complete, deep and concentrated, with beautifully refined tannins and an elegant, harmonious profile. Kelley observes that of all the 1982 First Growths, Château Margaux is arguably the least defined by the vintage and the most marked by site and style.

Cult Wines International Notes:

Château Margaux is the largest of the First Growths and, by long consensus, the most elegant — the reference point for a style built on perfume and finesse rather than power. The estate lies east of the village of Margaux in the Médoc, on the thinnest gravel soils of the region, which roots penetrate to remarkable depth in search of water. Ranked a First Growth in 1855, the property entered its modern era after the Mentzelopoulos family acquired it in 1977, and this wine comes from the first vintages of Corinne Mentzelopoulos’s tenure, made with estate director Philippe Barré before Paul Pontallier’s arrival the following year.

1982 is the most celebrated Bordeaux vintage of the modern era, a hot and abundant year whose wines have defined collecting for four decades. Margaux’s contribution stands slightly apart from its peers: several critics note this is the First Growth of the vintage least defined by the year and most marked by its own site and style. The wine shows blackcurrant, blackberry, cherry and strawberry purée over peonies, rose petals, dried flowers, pencil lead, truffles, cocoa, saffron, cedar, burning embers and gunsmoke. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and harmonious, its tannins fleshy but refined, the acidity still bright, and the long finish carrying a menthol and liquorice tang. Fully mature and drinking beautifully, with reviewers agreeing sound bottles have a decade or two still ahead.

Bottle Size:

750 mL

Storage History:

Always stored on its side in a climate-controlled cellar.

Condition:

Please note: The bottle shown is the exact bottle being sold.

Top shoulder fill level. Som capsule corrosion as shown. Overall excellent condition for its age.