France

Cabernet Sauvignon

Merlot

Cabernet Franc

Petit Verdot

Ch. Kirwan

Chateau Kirwan 3eme Cru Classe Margaux

Bordeaux

Margaux

Truffles, saffron, wheat, beautifully soft campfire and cold ash smoke, with intense white flower aromatics. The tannins are melted into the structure, and this is very much in its drinking window, tertiary and open, thoroughly charming, floats out of the glass with delicacy and finesse. Dangerously easy to gulp down. Jean-Henri Schyler in charge at the time.

Inside Bordeaux

Deep garnet-purple colored. Offers faint notes of dried cranberries and strawberries with wafts of tobacco leaf, dried sage, and damp soil. The light to medium-bodied palate is lean and chewy with just enough freshness and a short finish.

by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW

The 2023 Kirwan is deep garnet-purple in color. Notes of cedar chest, baked blackberries, and boysenberries give way to an undercurrent of tobacco, dried herbs, and balsamic. The light to medium-bodied palate is lean, with soft tannins, a crisp backbone, and a rustic finish.

Even young, this is tasting superb, exuberant but with balance, fresh mint leaf, cumin, rosemary, cassis, espresso, creamy berry fruits coupled with fresh aromatics. Harvest began on September 5, earliest ever, finishing on September 22. 50% new oak for ageing, Eric Boissenot consultant, Philippe Delfaut director. Upscore from En Primeur. 33hl/h yield.

The 2021 Kirwan is deep garnet-purple in color. It gives up scents of fresh blackberries and black raspberries, plus wafts of dried Provence herbs, lavender and cardamom. The medium-bodied palate is soft and intense, with vibrant red and black berry flavors and a minerally lift on the finish.

The Kirwan 2020 is deep garnet-purple in color. It has compelling scents of baked plums, warm cassis, and baking spices, with hints of rosehip tea and pencil shavings. Medium-bodied, the palate delivers a good core of black fruits, with a grainy texture and plenty of freshness, finishing with a minerally lift.

The 2019 Kirwan has a deep garnet-purple color. To begin it offers classic notes of cassis, pencil lead, and cedar, opening out to notions of crushed rocks, wild sage, and roses. The medium-bodied palate is tight-knit, refreshing, and energetic, with fine-grained tannins and a mineral-laced finish.

The 2018 Kirwan is deep garnet purple in color. It begins with notes of cedar chest and roses, leading to a core of cassis, blackberry preserves, and spice cake, plus a touch of bay leaves. Full-bodied, with a taut, muscular palate and a chewy texture, it finishes firm and well-structured.

Love this, back to the crushed rose petals, delicate white pepper, capsicum and pomegranate, with mouthwatering oyster sapidity on the finish. It is from this point, in what was a relatively challenging vintage, that you start to see how Kirwan is regularly delivering great wines with appellation typicity. 50% new oak for ageing, 38hl/h yield. Eric Boissenot consultant, Philippe Delfaut director.

A touch of crème de cassis on the aromatics here, with slate, crayon, crushed rocks, cassis, blackberry, cocoa bean. More muscular and a little less charming than the 2015, at least for now, with a ton of ageing potential. This has character and concentration but needs longer in the bottle. Very Left Bank - the most typical Médoc of the vertical. 50% new oak for ageing, 50hl/h yield. Harvest 27 September to 20 October, Eric Boissenot consultant, Philippe Delfaut director.

As with the 2009, you can discern the impact of the vintage on the aromatics, with depth and power, waves of cumin and rosemary, sage, liqourice root, blackberry, cassis, crushed rose petals. Excellent quality, 51hl/h yield, 50% new oak for ageing. Harvesting began September 18. First year vinified in the new ageing cellars. Underlines how Margaux was unusual in the Médoc for being a really excellent appellation to head to in the 2015 vintage. Eric Boissenot consultant, Philippe Delfaut director.

Medium to deep garnet-brick in color, the 2014 Kirwan is a bit oxidized, with prune and hoisin notes followed by leather and tobacco in the background. The medium-bodied palate is chewy and tiring with a rustic finish.

The 2013 Kirwan is medium garnet in color, with a touch of brick. It slips out of the glass with fragrant scents of kirsch, rose oil, and powdered cinnamon, plus hints of unsmoked cigars and fragrant soil. Medium-bodied, the palate is soft and lively, with delicate red fruits and a spicy finish.

The 2012 Kirwan is medium to deep garnet colored. It rolls up with classic scents of cassis, blackberry preserves, and cigar box, plus touches of Ceylon tea and dried roses. Medium-bodied, it has lovely energy and brightness in the mouth, with plush tannins and a lifted finish.

A cooler-than-average but dry vintage, and this is showing edges of library, gunsmoke, capsicum and tobacco leaf, good weight through the palate, with lift underneath. Subtle with real charm and appellation typicity, and as things open a shot of blackcurrant pastille arrives, adding richness and a more intense fruit character. Tannins a little austere but they hug the palate and there is finesse here. Give it a good few hours in a carafe. Harvest 12 to 29 September, 41hl/h yield, 45% new oak for ageing.

Deep rich flavours, olive paste, cocoa bean, cassis, blackberry, evolving slowly and steadily, at a gorgeous moment to begin drinking, unlike many 2010s. These tannins feel fully integrated, which perhaps you don't expect in this vintage at classfiied growth level, but here you find gentle floral aromatics, sage, rose oil and fragrant black pepper. September 27 harvest began. One of the better priced 2010s also. gave it 95 in its own vertical.

An enjoyable Kirwan, although feels softer in the horizontal against other 2009s than it did in a vertical at the estate. These tannins are fine, still providing plenty of support to the cassis and blackberry fruits, and the grilled campfire and cedar-infused mid palate is charming. Floral rose petal and peony aromatics and waves of sage add appellation character, but this softens a little too quickly on the finish to really stand up against the best Margaux of the vintage. Harvest September 22 to October 8. 45% new oak for ageing, 29hl/h yield after May hail. A single point down from the recent vertical.

Dark fruit aromatics, blackberry leaf, liqourice and violet flowers, this maintains a fresh grip through the palate, tannins musclar and a little austere but this is ready to drink after a few hours in a carafe. Perfect for sharing around a table, with liliting acidity that makes it a great food wine. At this point they switched to blending after three months ageing in barrel, and introduced co-innoculation in the cellar, both techniques favoured by consultant Eric Boissenot, but still using the former cellar, meaning larger vats than today. Harvest began October 1, and this was the first year where harvesting took place according to soil types. 45% new oak for ageing, 30hl/h yield.

In theory a weaker vintage than the 2006 but this has better grip and freshness, tertiary character now kicking in with undergrowth, capsicum and crushed leaf, plenty of brambled fruits, a ton of character, and crushed rose petals on the finish. Has soft lift through the plalate and is a delicious food wine. Blend done at the beginning in this vintage, a change from Michel Rolland consulting, under new arrival Philippe Delfaut as director (arriving after harvest), and Eric/Jacques Boissenot as consultants. 50% new oak for ageing, with a lighter toast than previous vintages, 41hl/h yield.

This has soft and supple tannins, heading towards tertiary although the raspberry and blackberry fruit is still present. A charming wine, with soft rose petals, grilled cocoa bean and campfire, fades out on the finish but still enjoyable, one to drink within the next decade to keep the fruit focus. Harvest began September 22, 60% new oak for ageing, with a section also doing malolactic in new oak, then the rest transferred to barrels in January following harvest. Blend completed at the end of ageing, Michel Rolland's last vintage, 40hl/h yield.

Dyp herlig rødfarge og duft av tobakk, skogbunn, sedertre, krydder og vanilje. Stor kropp med balansert syre og vedvarende finish. Luftet i dekanter.

Amatør

Sommelier

Tasted at the château just a week before the rest of these 1982s, but it deserves including because it offers a way to access the splendour of the 1982 vintage at a far lower price point, and truly delivers something memorable. Silky soft tannins that caress the palate, violet and crushed rose petals, tobacco and earth, with very much the emphasis on florality and smoke, fruit secondary. The expectation on opening was that this wine would have faded away, but it enthralled all tasters around the table (who might well give it a far higher score), and delivered a reminder of the exceptional quality of 1982. Bottle variation undoubtedly, but if you are as lucky as we were, you are in for a treat.

2024	No priceNot available	Very Good
2023	No priceNot available	Very Good
2022	No priceNot available	Outstanding
2021	No priceNot available	Excellent
2020	No priceNot available	Outstanding

Category	Red wine
Vinmonopolet no.
Producer	Ch. Kirwan
Vintages	1966
Country	France, Bordeaux, Margaux
Bottle	75 cl

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Sugar	g/l

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