This bottle marked the first time I’ve had the pleasure of trying a first growth. Margaux seemed like a great place to start; as I’ve heard it has a high percentage of Merlot and “tends to be the most feminine of the first growths”. The cork was in bad shape, but no worse than what I’d expect for its age. Since I’ve yet to buy an Ah-so cork puller, I decided to just give it a go with a conventional lever corkscrew. I managed to extract half the cork before it snapped in half. I reinserted the screw into the remaining second half of the cork and somehow managed to only drop two or three very tiny crumbs of cork into the bottle; which I immediately decanted through a coffee filter.
I have never written formal notes while tasting before, but decided it would be beneficial to jot down some quick notes as I drank through several glasses. The initial nose smelled from the decanter is “old leather and dark plums”. The very first thing that struck me was how fresh, youthful, and fruit forward it was for a '78. This was a pretty “singular/linear” wine. It had some wonderful woody nuances and cocoa, but it was by and large fruit forward. In my notes, I used the descriptor “dark plums dipped in chocolate”. I also noted that it had “perfectly integrated tannins”. There was a little bit of weight left in the body, though most the sediment had ended up caked to the inside glass of the bottle, which you can clearly see in the pictures. By the second glass, the wine had opened up a bit. The dark fruit was becoming a little more red/floral, but it was still defined by a dark richness. Something I will never forget about this wine was just how amazing the oak nuance was. When I put my nose in the decanter it was the most beautiful wood I have ever smelled; think fresh wood logs that have just been thrown in the fire place and are showing a “sappy/caramelized” component. I wouldn’t mistaken this note for a “nutty/oxidized” quality though. Like I said, this was still fruit forward with way less secondary notes than I was expecting. It was certainly not the most complex wine I’ve ever had, but certainly the best Bordeaux I’ve tasted to date, and that includes a ton of late 60’s and 70’s Bordeaux. I still can’t believe how youthful the wine is! It sure will be interesting to see how the remaining bottles evolve over the next few years The finish lasted for about a minute. 97 pts.
1978 Château Margaux- France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux (4/28/2014) 1978 Bordeaux, Rhone etc including Margaux, Palmer, Vieux Télégraphe and Cuvaison (Regional Wines, Wellington): Colour, quite primary, purple red. Bouquet shows mature red and black berries, tobacco, cedar and Asian spices, a great nose. The acids make this a little puckering on entry but then structure and density on mid palate take over. Very good acids. Also very good fruit weight, but not, to my palate, as good as the Palmer, so my runner up to WOTN. Still this epitomises everything good in mature, top flight Bordeaux, with its excellent complexity of flavours. Lovely, spicy oak, not fully integrated. Still fairly youthful, drink or hold for the next 5 years or so. Cabernet Sauvignon 75%, Merlot 20%. (95 pts.) Posted from CellarTracker
1978 Château Margaux - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux (4/28/2014)
1978 Bordeaux, Rhone etc including Margaux, Palmer, Vieux Télégraphe and Cuvaison (Regional Wines, Wellington): Colour, quite primary, purple red. Bouquet shows mature red and black berries, tobacco, cedar and Asian spices, a great nose. The acids make this a little puckering on entry but then structure and density on mid palate take over. Very good acids. Also very good fruit weight, but not, to my palate, as good as the Palmer, so my runner up to WOTN. Still this epitomises everything good in mature, top flight Bordeaux, with its excellent complexity of flavours. Lovely, spicy oak, not fully integrated. Still fairly youthful, drink or hold for the next 5 years or so. Cabernet Sauvignon 75%, Merlot 20%. (95 pts.)
Thanks Howard, I agree that this wine is still very youthful! The one I opened had a base of neck fill. I’ll try to find one with a lower fill next time and see how it compares.
Nice notes on a very good wine. I think the 78 Margaux is a very under rated wine. I bought a case on release and each bottle I have tried has continued to evolve and improve.
That was the first excellent Chateau Margaux after the Chateaux was sold by the Ginestet family who did not have the financial resources to properly run the winery and let it languish in mediocrity. As much as people bash Parker now, this winery would never have been able to hide behind its prior reputation for so many years if he would have started rating Bordeaux earlier.
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