Chateau Margaux 2000

One of the original four

Chateau Margaux sits in the commune of Margaux on the left bank of the Garonne estuary in the Medoc, and it was one of the wines ranked premier cru, or first growth, in the Bordeaux classification of 1855. A fortified castle called La Mothe stood on the site by the 12th century, and wine under names such as 'Margou' was known by the 15th. Wine became central after the Lestonnac family arrived in the 16th century; in the 1570s Pierre de Lestonnac cleared grain fields to plant vines.

By the early 18th century the estate covered 265 hectares, a third of it in vines, much as it does today. An estate manager named Berlon is credited with turning a pale, short-lived wine into a dark one that could age, banning early-morning picking so dew would not dilute the grapes and paying attention to the estate's different soils. In 1771 wine from the estate became the first claret sold at one of the great auction houses, and in 1787 Thomas Jefferson listed Chateau Margaux among the 'four vineyards of first quality.'

After the Revolution its owner, Elie du Barry, was guillotined and the estate seized. In 1802 the Marquis de la Colonilla, Bertrand Douat, bought it for 654,000 francs and had the architect Louis Combes build the First Empire mansion that still appears on the label.

The Mentzelopoulos family and Paul Pontallier

The Bordeaux merchant Fernand Ginestet bought into the estate in 1925, and his son Pierre owned it outright by 1949. In 1965 Pierre Ginestet declared that only great years would carry a vintage date, a Champagne-style policy that proved controversial. After the Bordeaux crisis of 1973 the family had to sell. A bid by National Distillers & Chemical Corporation, later reported to have been backed by Coca-Cola, was blocked by the French government on the grounds that the estate was a national treasure.

In 1976 the grocery and finance group Felix Potin, headed by the Greek businessman Andre Mentzelopoulos, bought the estate for about 72 million francs, or $16 million. With the oenologist Emile Peynaud consulting, he restored the neglected vineyards, cellars and mansion. He died in 1980 and his daughter Corinne took over. In 1983, on Peynaud's recommendation, she hired Paul Pontallier, then 27, an agricultural engineer whose doctorate examined how barrel aging affects red wine. He worked seven years alongside Philippe Barre and became managing director when Barre retired in 1990.

The 2000 was made at the height of that partnership. The critic Steven Spurrier called the Mentzelopoulos-Pontallier pairing 'something that has never been surpassed,' and a Decanter review of the 2000 singled it out as proof of the partnership's success. In the early 1990s the Agnelli family had taken a stake; in 2003 Corinne Mentzelopoulos bought back the majority and became sole shareholder. Pontallier died on March 28, 2016, at 59. Philippe Bascaules has managed the estate since, and in 2023 Corinne handed the chief executive role to her daughter Alexis.

2000: a slow start and a perfect finish

Nothing about the first half of 2000 suggested a great year. January was cold. A mild March was followed by one of the worst outbreaks of mildew Bordeaux had seen in decades, and flowering came late. June swung between hot and cold, and July was cool, cloudy and wet. At midsummer, growers expected an average vintage at best.

At the end of July the weather turned. Bordeaux had two months of warm, dry, sunny weather; by August some vineyards were close to drought, and the first half of September was hot and sunny. The harvest officially began on September 20 and was carried out in fine weather, and most estates had finished by October 10. Several chateaux recorded the highest tannin and extract levels in their history.

The vintage was hailed as the first great year on both banks of the Gironde since 1990, and the market priced it that way. When the wines were first offered as futures, first growths asked between $2,500 and $3,000 a case, prices one critic said no first growth had dreamt of charging before. Margaux's 2000 is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot, raised in new barrels.

How the critics see it

Robert Parker scored the 2000 Margaux 100 points, describing it in 2010 as 'absolutely compelling,' with 'stunning blue, red, and black fruits intermixed with spring flowers' and the ability to evolve for another 30 to 40 years. That March he joined a small group tasting the 2000 Bordeaux at ten years old; the critic Jeff Leve, who was there, also gave the Margaux 100 and called it 'a rock star.'

Jeb Dunnuck, tasting from magnum, called it 'a prodigious, flawless wine' and wrote that 'Bordeaux (or red wine, for that matter) doesn't get any better,' with 100 points. James Suckling and Decanter also scored it 100; Decanter's reviewer found it 'starting to reach their full expression at 20 years old' and gave a drinking window of 2020 to 2050. Vinous rated it 99, noting a dozen or so bottles over the years, the first with Pontallier himself, that 'have never disappointed.' Wine Spectator scored it 98 after a blind retrospective of the vintage in December 2015.

Not every taster has been unanimous. One writer at a 1978-2014 vertical of the estate gave it 98 and allowed that it 'could turn out to be 100 points,' while noting it had 'gotten so bloody expensive.'

From the chateau cellar to the sale room

The estate makes about 150,000 bottles of its grand vin in an average year, from 80 hectares of red-wine vines. It also makes a second wine, Pavillon Rouge, a third wine, and a white, Pavillon Blanc, which must be sold as plain Bordeaux because Sauvignon Blanc is not permitted under the Margaux appellation.

On October 17, 2015, bottles taken directly from the chateau's cellars were sold at auction in New York. Several 12-bottle lots of the 2000 were among the most contested of the evening and each sold for $36,750, against a top pre-sale estimate of $15,000. The top lot, a vertical of Margaux magnums from 1978 to 2012 signed by Paul Pontallier, brought $67,375.

In a June 2020 auction catalog, 12-bottle lots of the 2000 were estimated at $6,500 to $9,500. U.S. retail listings in 2026 ask about $1,200 to $1,300 a bottle.

The numbers

Estate

262 ha in all; 87 ha entitled to the Margaux appellation; about 80 ha of red-wine vines

Typical grand vin production

About 150,000 bottles a year

2000 blend

90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot

Robert Parker

100 (June 2010)

Jeb Dunnuck

100

James Suckling

100

Decanter

100

Jeff Leve

100 (March 2010)

Vinous

99

Wine Spectator

98 (December 2015 retrospective)

Timeline

1. 1787

   Thomas Jefferson lists Chateau Margaux among Bordeaux's four first-quality vineyards.

2. 1855

   Chateau Margaux is ranked a first growth in the Bordeaux classification.

3. 1976

   Andre Mentzelopoulos buys the estate for about 72 million francs.

4. 1980

   Andre Mentzelopoulos dies; his daughter Corinne takes over.

5. 1983

   Paul Pontallier, 27, joins the estate on Emile Peynaud's recommendation.

6. 1990

   Pontallier becomes managing director.

7. Jul 2000

   After a cold, mildew-hit spring and cool July, two months of warm, dry weather begin at the end of the month.

8. Sep 20, 2000

   The Bordeaux harvest officially begins, in fine weather.

9. Oct 10, 2000

   Most Bordeaux estates have finished picking.

10. 2003

    Corinne Mentzelopoulos becomes sole shareholder.

11. Mar 2010

    Robert Parker and a small group retaste the 2000 Bordeaux at ten years; the Margaux earns 100 points.

12. Oct 17, 2015

    Ex-chateau 12-bottle lots of the 2000 sell at auction in New York for $36,750 each.

13. Dec 2015

    Wine Spectator scores the 2000 98 points in a blind retrospective.

14. Mar 28, 2016

    Paul Pontallier dies at 59.

15. 2023

    Alexis Mentzelopoulos becomes chief executive of the estate.

The world in 2000

• Mar 4, 2000

  Sony releases the PlayStation 2 in Japan.

• Mar 10, 2000

  The Nasdaq Composite hits an all-time high of 5,048 at the peak of the dot-com bubble.

• Mar 26, 2000

  Vladimir Putin is elected president of Russia.

• Jul 25, 2000

  An Air France Concorde crashes just after takeoff from Paris, killing all 109 aboard and 4 on the ground.

• Sep 15, 2000

  The Summer Olympics open in Sydney.

• Nov 2, 2000

  The first crew arrives to live aboard the International Space Station.

• Dec 12, 2000

  The U.S. Supreme Court halts the Florida recount in Bush v. Gore, settling the presidential election.

Daily price data

FLOAT reprices this wine every day from completed sales. Last updated November 12, 2026.

Every grade and recorded sale for this wine

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Chateau Margaux 2000 is number 39 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (24 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• In 1771 Chateau Margaux became the first claret ever sold at one of the great auction houses.
• In the 1970s the French government blocked an American company's bid for the estate on the grounds that it was a national treasure.
• Paul Pontallier's doctoral thesis was on the effect of barrel aging on red wine, and Chateau Margaux was essentially his only full-time job.
• In 1965 the estate's owner decided to put a vintage date only on great years, selling lesser years without one, as Champagne houses do.
• Chateau Margaux's white wine cannot use the Margaux name, because the appellation does not allow Sauvignon Blanc.
• Before the weather turned in late July 2000, Bordeaux was fighting one of its worst mildew outbreaks in decades.