Chateau Margaux 2015

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 wines ranked premier cru, or first growth, in the Bordeaux classification of 1855. The site has been occupied since at least the 12th century, when it held a fortified castle called La Mothe, and wine under names such as 'Margou' was known by the 15th century. Wine became central only 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 changing how the wine was made, banning early-morning picking so that dew would not dilute the grapes and paying attention to the different soils on the property. In 1771 wine from the estate became the first claret sold at one of the great auction houses, and in 1787 Thomas Jefferson, visiting Bordeaux, listed Chateau Margaux among the 'four vineyards of first quality.'

The Revolution was hard on the place. Its 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, tore down the old chateau and had the architect Louis Combes build the First Empire mansion that still appears on the label. Sources date its completion differently: one history says the Marquis moved in by 1812, while the estate and its architects refer to the chateau of 1815.

The Mentzelopoulos family and Paul Pontallier

In the 20th century the Bordeaux merchant Fernand Ginestet bought into the estate in 1925, and his son Pierre owned it outright by 1949. After the Bordeaux crisis of 1973 the Ginestets 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 it for about 72 million francs, or $16 million. With the oenologist Emile Peynaud consulting, Mentzelopoulos restored the neglected vineyards, cellars and mansion, and the 1978 and 1979 vintages were declared exceptional.

Mentzelopoulos 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 in oenology 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. (One later interview gives his tenure as general manager as 1989 to 2016.) The critic Steven Spurrier called the Mentzelopoulos-Pontallier partnership 'something that has never been surpassed.' The Agnelli family took a stake in the early 1990s; in 2003 Corinne Mentzelopoulos bought back the majority stake and became sole shareholder.

Pontallier died of cancer on March 28, 2016, at 59, one week before the start of the en primeur tastings at which the trade would taste his 2015 from barrel. The 2015 was his 33rd vintage at Margaux. Philippe Bascaules, who had worked beside him for eleven years before leaving in 2011 to join Francis Ford Coppola at Inglenook, has managed the estate since Pontallier's death. In 2023 Corinne Mentzelopoulos, chief executive for 43 years, handed the role to her daughter Alexis; her daughter Alexandra became president of the holding company's supervisory board.

2015: a new cellar and a last harvest

The year 2015 was a milestone for the estate in another way. In June it launched a new winery designed by Norman Foster, the first new visible building on the property in two centuries. It includes a vat room with 40 small stainless steel tanks of 13 to 40 hectoliters that let the team keep more individual plots separate before blending, plus a research center, a laboratory and a 70-meter underground library cellar for old bottles. Foster said that at first glance there should not appear to be a new building at all.

Antonio Galloni of Vinous walked the vineyards with Pontallier in late July 2015. The finished grand vin is a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, drawn from about 35% of the estate's total production and raised entirely in new oak. Jancis Robinson recorded 13.5% alcohol, which she called a record for the grand vin, and other tasters noted that the Cabernet lots were above 13%, unusual for that grape.

Neal Martin, then writing for the Wine Advocate, scored the wine 98-100 from barrel in April 2016 and added a postscript: he had written his note five days before Pontallier died. 'It is a final gift from a gifted winemaker,' he wrote.

The Hommage bottle

For the first time in its history, and for this vintage only, the estate made a special bottle for its grand vin. The 2015 comes in a black bottle screen-printed with the chateau in gold over a gray outline of the new Foster cellar, with two lines at the bottom reading 'Hommage a Paul Pontallier' and, on the back, a tribute to two centuries of architecture on the estate.

Alexandra Petit-Mentzelopoulos, who led the design, said the special bottle had been Pontallier's own idea. It took more than a year from design to finished bottle; the gold was applied over the silk-screen printing so that it would adhere, and the team deliberately mistreated test bottles to make sure the decoration would last for decades. The estate announced the bottle in November 2017.

The release drew attention in the trade. One trade report said that on November 13, 2017, a merchant bid 7,500 pounds for a 12-bottle case on a secondary-market exchange, up from a previous high bid of 6,600 pounds. When identifying a bottle, the black glass, gold screen printing and the Pontallier line at the base are the marks of this vintage.

How the critics scored it

Scores for the 2015 cluster at the top of every scale. Lisa Perrotti-Brown gave it 99 in the Wine Advocate on February 21, 2018, calling it 'an achingly beautiful swan song.' James Suckling and Jeb Dunnuck each gave 100; Suckling called it 'a new legend for Margaux,' and Dunnuck said it was 'as good a wine as I've ever tasted.' Galloni scored it 99 for Vinous. Jane Anson gave 100 en primeur and again in February 2025, ten years after the vintage, when Decanter also published a 100-point review.

Tim Atkin gave 97 and closed his note with 'Au revoir, Paul. Et merci.' Jancis Robinson's score is reported differently by different sellers: one lists 19 out of 20 alongside her note, another lists 17.5. Neal Martin, tasting it again a decade on for Vinous, gave 98 and noted the 'quite stunning engraved bottle.'

The estate makes about 150,000 bottles of grand vin in an average year, from about 80 hectares of red-wine vineyard within a domain of 262 hectares. In 2022 a 12-bottle lot of the 2015 was offered at auction with an estimate of $11,000 to $16,000, and in October 2026 U.S. retailers were asking about $1,250 to $2,200 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

2015 selection

About 35% of total production went into the grand vin

Wine Advocate

99 (Lisa Perrotti-Brown, February 2018); 98-100 from barrel (Neal Martin, April 2016)

James Suckling

100

Jeb Dunnuck

100

Jane Anson / Decanter

100 (February 2025)

Vinous

99 (Antonio Galloni, February 2018); 98 (Neal Martin, later retasting)

Jancis Robinson

Reported as 19/20 by one seller and 17.5/20 by another

Timeline

1. 1570

   In the 1570s Pierre de Lestonnac expands the estate and replaces grain fields 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. Aug 17, 1835

   The Spanish banker Alejandro Maria Aguado buys Margaux.

6. 1855

   Margaux is ranked a first growth in the Bordeaux classification.

7. 1949

   Pierre Ginestet takes complete ownership after his father began buying shares in 1925.

8. 1976

   Andre Mentzelopoulos buys the estate for about 72 million francs.

9. 1980

   Andre Mentzelopoulos dies; his daughter Corinne takes charge.

10. 1983

    Paul Pontallier joins the estate at 27.

11. 1990

    Pontallier becomes managing director.

12. 2003

    Corinne Mentzelopoulos becomes sole shareholder.

13. Jun 2015

    The estate launches its new Norman Foster winery.

14. Jul 2015

    Antonio Galloni walks the vineyards with Pontallier in late July.

15. Mar 28, 2016

    Pontallier dies at 59, a week before the 2015 en primeur tastings.

16. Apr 2016

    Neal Martin scores the 2015 98-100 from barrel.

17. Nov 14, 2017

    The estate's one-off commemorative bottle for the 2015 is reported.

18. Feb 21, 2018

    The Wine Advocate scores the bottled 2015 99 points.

19. Apr 8, 2022

    A 12-bottle lot is offered at auction with a $11,000 to $16,000 estimate.

20. 2023

    Alexis Mentzelopoulos succeeds her mother as chief executive.

21. Feb 2025

    Jane Anson and Decanter score the 2015 100 points at ten years.

The world in 2015

• Jan 7, 2015

  Gunmen kill 12 people at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo.

• Mar 24, 2015

  A Germanwings Airbus is deliberately crashed in the French Alps, killing all 150 on board.

• Jul 1, 2015

  Greece becomes the first advanced economy to miss a payment to the International Monetary Fund.

• Jul 20, 2015

  Cuba and the United States restore full diplomatic relations.

• Sep 18, 2015

  Volkswagen is accused of rigging diesel emissions tests on an estimated 11 million vehicles.

• Nov 13, 2015

  Coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris kill 130 people.

• Dec 12, 2015

  The Paris climate agreement is reached at the COP 21 summit.

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 2015 is number 32 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 (21 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The 2015 is the only vintage of Chateau Margaux's grand vin ever released in a bottle designed for that year alone.
• The commemorative bottle was Paul Pontallier's own idea, and the team carried it out after his death.
• Neal Martin wrote his barrel note on the 2015 five days before Pontallier died.
• 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.
• The Foster winery opened in 2015 was the first new visible building on the estate in two hundred years.