JAMES SUCKLING: "Wonderful aromas of flowers such as roses, violets, strawberries and a hints of wet earth. Wet stones as well. Full to medium body, very firm tannins and a long, racy finish. Minerals and chalk on the aftertaste. Needs three to five years to soften. Better in 2020."

ROBERT PARKER - THE WINE ADVOCATE: "Tasted blind at the 2012 Southwold tasting, the 2012 Château Margaux has a taut, linear, pencil lead-infused bouquet with pure blackberry and boysenberry scents, an undercurrent of tobacco that surfaces after five minutes in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, crisp acidity, a life-affirming sense of balance with well-integrated new oak towards the finish. I concur with Robert Parker that his has become more structured and masculine in bottle, yet there is pedigree here from start to finish, a sense of effortlessness that is seductive. This is a top-class wine from the late Paul Pontallier and his team."

FALSTAFF: "Dunkles Rubingranat, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung, attraktive schwarze Beerenfrucht, feine Röstaromen, tabakig, schokoladige Nuancen, feines Brombeerkonfit unterlegt. Ausgewogen, feines Cassis, gut integrierte Tannine, zarte karamellige Nuancen, frisch strukturiert, mineralisch, reife Kirschen im Abgang, gutes mittleres Reifepotenzial."