Château Margaux 2005

WEATHER CONDITIONS

The cooler-than-average winter delayed budburst by a week compared with the usual dates. The warm, sunny spring, however, favored steady growth and enabled rapid flowering from the first days of June, on exactly the same dates as last year. Thanks to the excellent weather conditions, the fruit set was perfectly successful, but the quantity of grapes harvested was already lower than in 2004, as there were far fewer bunches per vine. The whole summer was fine, and particularly so Sec: barely 100 millimetres of rain fell between May 1 and the start of the harvest! We'd never seen anything like it... Fortunately, the weather was warm but not excessively so. It's hard to imagine what the consequences of such a drought would have been in 2003! But great terroirs - and it's partly for this reason that they are great terroirs - have an Extraordinary capacity to absorb nature's excesses. They seem to react with the same sense of measure and balance that characterizes the wines they produce.

CHATEAU MARGAUX 2005 is a true, pure great vintage of Château Margaux! First of all, it has all the nobility: that inimitable nose of finesse, grace and depth belongs only to its terroir, and to a few dream vintages. It also has strength: its concentration is exceptional, superior to 2000 and even 2003! At first glance, it expresses itself in a color of unprecedented intensity, and on the palate in density and length Extraordinary. And yet it's not power that has the last word, but voluptuousness and harmony... The Cabernet Sauvignon grapes (85% of the blend) are of course largely responsible for this balance, having reached perfect ripeness without exceeding 13% alcohol. The single Merlot that joined them (8% of the blend) is the only one not to have reached 14 degrees. Finally, beyond all its qualities and graces, Château Margaux 2005 possesses an essential virtue, now and for many years to come: the pleasure of tasting it is equalled only by the pleasure of drinking it. (april 2006)