Tasted from magnum, the 2000 Château Margaux is a prodigious, flawless wine that shows the elegance and seductive hallmark of the estate paired with incredible density, depth, and richness. Its still-ruby/purple color is followed by sensational notes of crème de cassis, spring flowers, lead pencil, and sandalwood that develop beautifully with time in the glass. Medium to full-bodied, opulent, and seamless, with a multi-dimensional, layered texture, it has a massive mid-palate, sweet tannins, and a finish that won’t quit. It’s drinking brilliantly today, and there’s certainly no need to delay gratification, but it’s going to continue evolving for another 3-4 decades. Bordeaux (or red wine, for that matter) doesn’t get any better. The 2000 is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot brought up new barrels.

Now, you are talking. This is a heat-stopping vintage of Margaux. The perfume, with its lavender, lilacs, currants, plums, cedar and tobacco hits you. But it is the rich, opulent, silky, sensuous, multi-layered palate presence with its seamless finish that steals the show. Drink this now, or age it for 2-3-4 decades!

The 2000 Chateau Margaux is deep garnet in color, with a touch of brick. It leaps from the glass with evocative scents of plum preserves, blackberry pie, and redcurrant jelly, leading to wafts of dried lavender, powdered cinnamon, and tobacco leaf, with a hint of crushed rocks. The medium-bodied palate is filled with black fruits and savory accents, with a velvety texture and seamless freshness, leading to a perfectly balanced, lingering perfume of a finish. Graceful, flawless perfection.

Tasted blind, the 2000 Chateau Margaux was a reminder of the peaks that the millennial vintage could reach. Noticeably deep in color, the bouquet rivets you to the seat with copious red berry fruit, clove and truffle, hints of cedar emerging with time. As the aromatics open and aerate, the fruit profile seems to darken and manifests blackcurrants and bilberries. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannin. There is immense depth and symmetry conveyed by this First Growth, quite masculine for the estate with a gentle but insistent grip. It is a brilliant wine that flirts with perfection. Afford it another 3-4 years if you can, because it will last decades. Tasted November 2016.- NM

The 2000 Château Margaux remains one of the standouts of the millennial year. This bottle is consistent with the previous example. It's deep in color. The aromatics are intense and backward, opening with blackberry, crushed violet and pencil box scents with time, but there remains a sense of beguiling aloofness, as if you are so lucky to be in its presence, which you are. The palate has a large structure for this First Growth, yet there is a sense of pliancy with a multi-layered, very persistent, satin-textured finish. Divine. Tasted at the château. -- Neal Martin

This thrilling wine from a textbook year is dark in colour and shows pronounced aromas of ripe mulberry and black plum fruit, with hints of spice and smoke – the aromas are youthful, and still show some influence from the cask ageing. The texture is lush and dense, with firmish tannins, a plump feel and a warm, approachable texture. Has the substance to age for decades to come. The results in the glass are in every way a fulfillment of the promise of the millennial year.

Tasted blind at Bordeaux Index’s 2000 tasting in London. This has a lovely nose, black fruit, fruitcake, mulberry, graphite, cedar and a touch of black olive. Very fine definition and lift, just building with every swirl of the glass. The palate is medium-bodied, very well poised, such a fine silver thread of acidity with melting tannins, touches of cooked meat and dried herbs, very elegant towards the finish. This is sophisticated and regal. Drink 2015-2045.

This continues to be a jaw-dropper, with beguiling lapsang souchong tea, singed sandalwood and fresh bay leaf aromas slowly wending along, while the core of pure cassis, raspberry reduction and warmed fig notes sits on a throne of perfectly embedded charcoal and tar-laced tannins. And with all the heft, there's a beautifully long iron note to give the finish cut and elegance. Just dreamy.--Blind 2000 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2015). Best from 2018 through 2040. — JM