2002 Margaux

From a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot, this medium bodied wine is perhaps slightly more interesting on the nose than the palate. The pleasurable floral, cherry, tobacco, leaf and earthy nose lead you to a wine with some rusticity in the tannins in the crisp finish. More time could soften the wine, but I am not willing to bet the farm on it. If you were lucky like me and bought the wine as a future in 2003 for about $80 US dollars, you did great. But in today's world, there are better wines to buy.

This has hit its stride fully now, with a lightly mulled edge to the core of plum and blackberry fruit, while dark tea and singed iron notes fill in through the finish. Lovely and lingering dark perfume and charcoal hints gild the finish. -- Non-blind Château Margaux vertical

Crimson with a slightly pale rim. Buckwheat nose. Quite skinny and with marked acidity. This wine initially had a note that was almost green and underripe. Not that long. But it opened out a little in the glass and was the most improved wine after 24 hours in the decanter. It became a little more voluptuous and might have earned a score of 17.5.