Margaux 1999, 2001

The 1999 Margaux vintage produced wines of medium body and exceptional aromatic delicacy, with the appellation’s finest estates delivering the floral, fragrant, violet-inflected character for which Margaux is celebrated. Robert Parker described Château d’Issan’s 1999 as a gorgeously elegant wine and the quintessential example of the finesse and nuance expected of a classified growth Margaux, pure and graceful with delicacy rather than weight.

The 2001 Médoc harvest produced wines of elegant medium body and genuine aromatic nuance, with Margaux delivering some of its finest expressions of the decade in terms of fragrance and structural delicacy. Neal Martin praised Château d’Issan’s 2001 as increasingly seductive with successive tastings, its classic tobacco-infused complexity, crisp red fruit, fine tannins and excellent freshness building in the glass over time. Robert Parker found it a floral, graceful and elegant expression of classic Margaux.

D’Issan is one of the oldest and most romantically situated estates in Bordeaux, its moated medieval château enclosed by a stone wall built in 1644, documented since the twelfth century and bearing the Latin motto Regum Mensis Arisque Deorum, for the table of kings and the altar of the gods. The Cruse family have stewarded the estate since 1945, with Emmanuel Cruse leading a transformative modernisation from 1998. The blend is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot, aged in 50% new French oak.