Margaux 2018 has been released at €408 per bottle ex-negociant, up 17.2% on the 2017’s opening price of €348. It is being offered by the international trade at £5,112 (US$6,840/HK$51,000) per 12×75, up 18.3% on the 2017’s release of £4,320 per case.
Margaux featured in the Liv-ex members’ top ten wines of the vintage, ranking at 9th place.
The wine was among James Suckling’s favourites, as the critic awarded it a barrel range of 99-100 points. He said that “this takes off on the palate the moment you taste it” and called it “superb”.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW (The Wine Advocate) also saw today’s release potential to be a “perfect” wine, scoring it 97-100 points. In her tasting note, she described the palate as “charged with the most amazing energy” and commented on “the most exquisitely ripe, fine-grained tannins”.
While Antonio Galloni (Vinous) also praised “this compelling, memorable Grand Vin”, calling it “one of the finest Margauxs in recent memory”, he gave this year’s offering 95-98 points.
Prices for Margaux show 71% correlation to ‘Benchmark Critic’ scores but when we take out the 2015 commemorative vintage, which trades at a massive premium to all other vintages (as per the bar chart above), the correlation rises to 95%.
Based on our ‘Fair Value’ methodology, today’s release represents good value for followers of Suckling and Perroti-Brown but appears slightly above the implied line when Galloni’s scores are used.
Buyers might wish to also consider the physical 2016, which is similarly priced and boasts 99 points from Suckling, Galloni and Perroti-Brown, and 98 points from Neal Martin. Followers of Parker might look back at older vintages, such as the 2012, available in the market for less.
Looking for more?
Our Bordeaux 2018 pages contain everything you need to know about this year’s En Primeur campaign, including:
- Critic scores
- Release prices
- Bordeaux 2018 analysis tool [members only]
- The conversation on social media
- Liv-ex’s fair value methodology
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