Bordeaux 2004 at Ten Years: Margaux
The most southerly of the communal appellations of the Médoc, Margaux has the broadest spread – the appellation boundaries actually encompass four other communes besides Margaux itself – and unsurprisingly therefore it also has the most varied terroir. This is one reason, although I am sure there are other contributing factors, why the performance here seems so variable in so many vintages. Situated on the best gravel mound which sits at the heart of the appellation, Château Margaux and Château Palmer usually put in a good performance, with nearby Château d’Issan and Château Rauzan-Ségla usually coming close, but beyond this quartet everything else starts to get a little less reliable.
In 2004, however, there seems to be a pretty good show from this appellation. Having said that, it is the châteaux mentioned above that have turned in the best performances, equalling the kind of quality seen in 2004 St Julien. Across the small selection of other wines from this appellation, however, quite a few wines are good, but no more exciting than that. As with all my other commune-by-commune reports for this vintage, the wines discussed here were poured in London in March 2014. There were two exceptions in the case of this line-up, the wines from Château Dauzac and Château Preuillac (I have tagged wines from the Moulis and Médoc appellations on at the end of this report), which were both pulled from my cellar.
