Margaux elegant or diluted?

[Dandersson]

Hello BWE,
I want you to help me find great value in Margaux. Early back in the old ages I drank a fair amount of the low Margaux wines. They were supposed to be elegant but I just felt lack of concentration. Do you have any good recommendations? I know a lot of you like Margaux, what should I try in say $30-70 range. Thank you!

Best, Dan

[stefan]

D'Issan and du Tertre. Great values year after year.

[hautbrionlover]

Agree on both^^
For slightly more, I like Malescot St-Exupery and Brane Cantenac (the latter of which currently pushes the specified price limit)

[Ianjaig]

Château La Tour de Bessan and Château Labégorce are good value Margaux's IMO.

[Claudius2]

Dan
I've been drinking Bordeaux for some decades now and the wines of Margaux have improved enormously over the years. I do have to say that some needed to improve to justify their status. Glad that there have been many improvements over the years. It does remain to be seen however how the more modern style of Margaux will age, but they generally tend to drink earlier than the wines of say, Pauillac or St Estephe.

I'd also add Prieure' Lichine, and if you can find them at reasonable prices (I don't really know USA prices) then Giscours, Dufort Viviens and Ferriere.
Ferriere is a small producer and seems to fly under the radar somewhat, but I have bought it with some regularity since the mid 90's and it ages quite well.

Cantenac Brown has also improved considerably in recent years and I also agree with Du Tertre and Malescot. The latter may be more expensive based on prices here in Singapore. D'Issan is a wine I used to buy at low prices but the last few vintages are more expensive. I did buy it on 2019 indent, along with several other Margaux wines but it may be above your range now.

If you are happy to try Cru Bourgeois, then D'Arsac and particularly Labegorce are good value at their price points.

For value, I'd suggest the less famous classed growths of PL, Ferriere, Du Tertre and the CB Labegorce.

I'd also add that I'd avoid a few others such as Rausan Gassies and Lascombes - never been impressed with either - and some of the other CB's are lacking in concentration. Value in Margaux is mainly found in the middle ranked wines.

cheers
Mark

[Antoine]

Boyd Cantenac is under the radar and delivers for me.

[Dandersson]

Awesome, thank you all for the input, now I have some wines to try. I figured that they deserve more of my attention but wasn't sure where to start. Thank you!

Best, Dan

[Racer Chris]

I've bought Marsac-Seguineau in just about every vintage since 2009.
Labegorce has been on a good run. I have '14, '15, '16, and a bottle of 2017 to try.
I also bought a lot of 2015 Ch. Siran.
Malescot, Prieure Lichine, and Cantenac Brown are all good choices.

[Dandersson]

Thank you Chris, I will be on the lookout for those wines.
Best, Dan

[AKR]

Although not formally Margaux AOC, Cantemerle is just outside the bounds, and would not be easy to separate out in a blind tasting of Margaux AOC wines.

Lots of good suggestions.

[greatbxfreak]

Claudius2,

You obviously haven't tasted recent vintages of Rauzan Gassies and Lascombes! Lascombes is fabulous in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Rauzan Gassies has improved a lot.

Boyd Cantenac has improved a great deal and 2018 is a highly impressive wine. 2020 from the same property is excellent as well. Giscours is as always a sure bet.

[Dandersson]

Funny, this weekend I suddenly feel anxious, why? I generally drink 2-3 bottles during the weekend and that is it. This week I have Ch La Garde with two bottles of Italian wine. So, only one Bordeaux this week, that would only amount to 52 Bordeaux wines per year. This has to change, I can no longer waste time. There are so many Bordeaux wines to drink.
Anyone else feeling like that? Is this a common symptom of being a Bordeaux wine enthusiast? Does it get better with experience?

[Claudius2]

Izak
Yes you are correct I have not had it for several years.
I tried a handful of vintages at the Chateau some years ago and have tried various others at tastings and a few whole bottles from the 90s.

If it has significantly improved, how does it now compare to Rausan Segla?
Cheers
Mark

[AKR]

Has Rauzan Gassies moved to hand harvesting? That to me would be a root cause of issues. It's the unusual cru classe using machines at this point.

As mentioned in various posts here, they made good wines for my tastes in 2000 and 2005, and I'm still drinking them, but the harvests were ripe and rot free, so using mechanical pickers would not have made big differences in the quality of what's going in the vats.

They have a kind of weird texture / feel to their labels btw. It's like they are plastic or something. No wrinkling or mouldering either.