Chateau Margaux 2009

A first growth on the Gironde

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 five wines that hold premier cru, or first growth, status in the Bordeaux classification of 1855. The site has been occupied since at least the 12th century, when a fortified castle called La Mothe stood there, and wine under names such as 'Margou' was known by the 15th century. Wine became the estate's business after the Lestonnac family arrived in the 16th century; in the 1570s Pierre de Lestonnac cleared grain fields to make way for vines.

By the start of the 18th century the property covered 265 hectares, about a third of it in vines, almost exactly the layout it keeps today. An estate manager named Berlon is credited with banning early-morning picking so dew would not dilute the grapes, and with paying attention to the different soils on the estate. In 1771 wine from the estate became the first claret sold at one of the great auction houses, and in 1787 Thomas Jefferson named Chateau Margaux among the 'four vineyards of first quality.'

After the Revolution the owner, Elie du Barry, was guillotined and the estate was 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. In the 20th century the Bordeaux merchant Fernand Ginestet bought into the estate in 1925, and his son Pierre owned it outright by 1949. In 1965 Pierre Ginestet announced that only great years would carry a vintage date, with lesser years sold as non-vintage wine, as in Champagne.

The Mentzelopoulos family and Paul Pontallier

The Bordeaux crisis of 1973 forced the Ginestets to sell. A bid by National Distillers & Chemical Corporation was vetoed 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 Andre Mentzelopoulos, bought the estate for about 72 million francs, or $16 million. With the oenologist Emile Peynaud advising, he restored the vineyards, cellars and mansion, and the 1978 and 1979 vintages were declared exceptional. Mentzelopoulos died in 1980 and his daughter Corinne took charge.

In 1983, on Peynaud's recommendation, Corinne Mentzelopoulos hired Paul Pontallier, then 27, an agricultural engineer whose doctorate examined the effect of barrel aging on red wine. He worked seven years alongside Philippe Barre and became managing director when Barre retired in 1990. In 2003 Corinne Mentzelopoulos bought back the majority stake held by the Agnelli family and became the sole shareholder. The 2009 was made by that same partnership.

Pontallier died on March 28, 2016, at 59. Philippe Bascaules, who had worked beside him for eleven years before leaving in 2011, has managed the estate since. In 2023 Corinne Mentzelopoulos handed the role of chief executive to her daughter Alexis.

2009: drought, cool nights and a five-week harvest

The estate's account of the season begins with a cold, dry winter and a cool, wet April that delayed budbreak. Warmer weather from May 1 brought a quick, even flowering. Then the rain stopped: from July 10 until the end of the harvest on October 14 there was almost none, and the vintage was as dry as 2005. Warm days alternated with cool nights, which the estate credits with building tannin and aroma while keeping the fruit fresh. The drought hit the plots unevenly; vines on the best soils, with roots deep enough to find water, fared best, and Cabernet Sauvignon coped better than Merlot.

'The merlot is the ripest I've ever seen,' Pontallier told the writer Jeff Leve. Picking of Merlot began on September 28, with potential alcohol between 14% and 16%, and the Cabernet Sauvignon came in from October 5 to October 12. The estate hired more than 300 people for what Leve reported was the longest harvest in its history, more than five weeks, including five teams of 30 who did nothing but sort grapes in the vineyard before a second hand-sort at the winery. Pontallier said the estate saw no need for an optical sorter. That year Margaux also added a new gravity-fed reception system and a new barrel room for plot-by-plot winemaking.

Pontallier said the harvest 'finished in dream like conditions' and compared the year to 2005, though hotter and drier. The estate judged its Cabernet Sauvignon the best it had ever grown, equaled only by 2005. Picking was stretched to October 14 to give the later plots for the second wine, Pavillon Rouge, time to ripen, and some of those plots never made it.

The grand vin

Only the core parcels went into Chateau Margaux itself. The grand vin is 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, drawn from about 36% of the crop; the estate gives 31% at bottling. Pavillon Rouge took 41% of the crop, and the Swiss critic Rene Gabriel reported that 23% was declassified to the estate's third wine despite the quality of the year. The wine was raised in 100% new oak.

Its alcohol is modest for such a hot year, though tasters disagree on the exact figure: one barrel report gives 13.1%, James Suckling recorded 13.2% and Robert Parker 13.3%. Before the harvest was even blended, Pontallier had said he expected the wine to finish close to 13%. 'Certainly one of the most extraordinary wines we have ever made here,' he told Gabriel. 'The most concentrated and, at the same time, one of the silkiest Chateau Margaux.'

The estate compares the wine's density and tannic frame to 2005 and its soft, silky texture to 1990. Gabriel described it as a blend of a more concentrated 1990 and a slightly richer 1983, and predicted the tannins would need at least ten years to settle.

How the critics scored it

Tasting from barrel on April 1, 2010, the writer behind Wine Words and Videotape scored it 98-100 and asked whether Pontallier's team had made something better than perfect. He gave Lafite-Rothschild a fractional edge that spring. In February 2012 Robert Parker gave the bottled wine 99 points in the Wine Advocate, calling it 'uncommonly concentrated, powerful' and 'unusually approachable for such a young Margaux,' and James Suckling gave it 100, calling it the 'best Margaux in bottle yet.'

Later tastings kept it at the top. Neal Martin gave it 98 after a blind tasting in January 2013, Lisa Perrotti-Brown gave 98 in the Wine Advocate in March 2019 and later 100 in The Wine Independent, and Jane Anson gave 100 in July 2022. Scores reported by sellers do not always agree with one another: one retailer lists Suckling at 99, Parker at 98, Decanter at 100 and Jancis Robinson at 18 out of 20, while the same retailer's full notes show a Decanter review at 98 and a 17 out of 20 from Richard Hemming for Jancis Robinson's site.

Several French and Swiss critics gave the maximum 20 out of 20, among them Rene Gabriel, Andre Kunz and Bettane+Desseauve, who called it 'the most harmonious and richest Chateau-Margaux of the last thirty years.' In October 2026 U.S. retailers were asking about $875 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

2009 selection

About 36% of the crop (31% at bottling); Pavillon Rouge 41%; third wine 23%

Wine Advocate

99 (Robert Parker, February 2012); 98 (Lisa Perrotti-Brown, March 2019)

James Suckling

100 (February 2012); one retailer lists 99

Neal Martin

98 (January 2013); a retailer lists a Vinous score of 97

Jane Anson

100 (July 2022)

The Wine Independent

100 (Lisa Perrotti-Brown)

Rene Gabriel / Bettane+Desseauve

20/20 each

Timeline

1. 1570

   In the 1570s Pierre de Lestonnac replaces grain fields on the estate with vines.

2. 1771

   Wine from the estate becomes the first claret sold at one of the great auction houses.

3. 1787

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

4. 1802

   The Marquis de la Colonilla buys the estate for 654,000 francs and rebuilds the chateau.

5. 1855

   Margaux is ranked a first growth in the Bordeaux classification.

6. 1976

   Andre Mentzelopoulos buys the estate for about 72 million francs.

7. 1983

   Paul Pontallier joins the estate at 27.

8. 1990

   Pontallier becomes managing director.

9. 2003

   Corinne Mentzelopoulos becomes sole shareholder.

10. May 1, 2009

    Warmer weather arrives, bringing a quick, even flowering.

11. Jul 10, 2009

    The drought begins; almost no rain falls until the end of harvest.

12. Sep 28, 2009

    Merlot picking begins.

13. Oct 5, 2009

    Cabernet Sauvignon picking begins, finishing October 12.

14. Oct 14, 2009

    The harvest ends after more than five weeks.

15. Apr 1, 2010

    The 2009 is scored 98-100 from barrel in Bordeaux.

16. Feb 2012

    Robert Parker scores the bottled wine 99; James Suckling gives 100.

17. Jan 2013

    Neal Martin scores it 98 at a blind tasting of the vintage.

18. Mar 28, 2016

    Paul Pontallier dies at 59.

19. Mar 14, 2019

    Lisa Perrotti-Brown scores it 98 in the Wine Advocate.

20. Jul 2022

    Jane Anson scores it 100.

The world in 2009

• Jan 3, 2009

  The first block of the Bitcoin blockchain is created.

• Jan 15, 2009

  US Airways Flight 1549 ditches in the Hudson River; all 155 aboard survive.

• Jan 20, 2009

  Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.

• Apr 6, 2009

  An earthquake near L'Aquila, Italy, kills 308 people.

• Jun 1, 2009

  Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashes into the Atlantic, killing all 228 aboard.

• Jun 11, 2009

  The H1N1 'swine flu' outbreak is declared a global pandemic.

• Jun 25, 2009

  Michael Jackson dies in Los Angeles at 50.

• Jul 22, 2009

  The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century crosses Asia and the Pacific.

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 2009 is number 41 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 (30 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Chateau Margaux used more than 300 pickers in 2009, including five 30-person teams whose only job was sorting grapes in the vineyard.
• Even with grapes picked at up to 16% potential alcohol, the finished 2009 came in at about 13%.
• Almost a quarter of the 2009 crop was declassified to the estate's third wine, despite the quality of the year.
• In 1965 the estate's owner decided that only great years would carry a vintage date, selling lesser years as non-vintage wine.
• Margaux Hemingway changed the spelling of her name from Margot after learning her parents had been drinking Chateau Margaux the night she was conceived.
• In the 1970s the French government blocked an American company's bid for the estate on the grounds that it was a national treasure.