PAVILLON ROUGE 2nd wine of Ch. Margaux, Margaux 2019 Bottle

Description

Château Margaux Pavillon Rouge 2019 is an outstanding wine, earning 96 points from both James Suckling and Wine Enthusiast, and 95 points from The Wine Advocate. This exceptional second wine exhibits aromas of fresh tobacco, currants, and forest flowers, with a rich yet soft mouthfeel. Suckling notes its layered structure, velvety texture, and finishes of blackberry and chocolate. Wine Enthusiast praises the bold black fruits that mask the tannins, highlighting the fine balance between structure and fruit. The Wine Advocate describes its sensual character with refined tannins and racy acidity. With a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 19% Merlot, this wine is delicious now but will improve with bottle age, ideally enjoyed from 2026 onwards.

*****

JAMES SUCKLING 96 points
Fresh tobacco, currant and earth, opening up to forest flowers. It’s rich in tannins, but very soft and beautiful. Layered, with lots of fine fruit and a velvety texture. Blackberry and chocolate in the finish too. 27% of the crop and a blend of 76% cabernet sauvignon and 19% merlot, the rest petit verdot and cabernet franc. Delicious already, but give it at least six years of bottle age. Better after 2027.

WINE ENTHUSIAST 96 points
The wine is rich, open and generous. The bold black fruits mask the tannins and bring out the fine balance between structure and fruit. Drink this very fine wine from 2026. — Roger Voss

THE WINE ADVOCATE 95 points
Drink Date: 2025 - 2050
Given that Margaux's second wine contains plenty of fruit that made it into the grand vin just a decade or two ago, great things are to be expected from this bottling. Yet I was nonetheless taken aback by the quality of the 2019 Pavillon Rouge. Wafting from the glass with aromas of raspberries, plums and cherries mingled with rose petals and sweet spices, it's medium to full-bodied, sensual and concentrated, with beautifully refined tannins, racy acids and a long, penetrating finish. This is an exquisite Pavillon Rouge that is well worth seeking out. I confess that I don't buy many second wines, but I did purchase a case of this, with alacrity, right after tasting it. - Reviewed by: William Kelley

DECANTER 94 points
Tasted by: Jane Anson
(at Bordeaux, 20 May 2020)
Part of Best Bordeaux 2019 wines: Second labels
Drinking Window: 2025 - 2040
Packed with spice and fruit on the nose, this grips you and lifts off. A great mid palate with juicy, enrobed tannins and seductive fleshy fruit in the mouth. Makes you smile, enticingly creamy and yet with sappy slate on the finish. One of the best Pavillon Rouge for years. 27% of overall production in Pavillon. 2% Cabernet Franc completes the blend. A yield of 47hl/ha, (compared to 30hl/ha last year). Tannin index of 75 IPT so higher than 2009, 2010, 2016 (only 2018 higher).

VINOUS 94 points
Drinking Window 2026 - 2045
From: Bordeaux 2019: The Southwold Tasting (Feb 2023)
The 2019 Pavillon Rouge has a more austere bouquet than its peers, nuanced yet still well-defined, taut with black fruit laced with pencil shavings and freshly rolled tobacco. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, pliant and rounded, smooth and harmonious though not satin-like…there is still a bit of grit on the finish. It builds and opens nicely in the glass - a serious and quite compelling Deuxième Vin. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting. - By Neal Martin on January 2023

JANCIS ROBINSON 17.5 points
Tasted blind. Glowing crimson. Creamy texture, buttery nose. Round fruit, which really grabs the palate and brain, and almost disguises the tannic power behind it. Really nice wine! Accessible. Long. (JR)