Château d’Armailhac is a Cinquième Grand Cru Classé of Pauillac, one of the twelve fifth growths in the 1855 classification of the Médoc, situated immediately adjacent to Château Mouton Rothschild with which it shares both the same proprietors (Baroness Philippine de Rothschild’s estate) and some of the same prime vineyard land. The estate’s proximity to and under the same ownership as Mouton Rothschild gives d’Armailhac a degree of winemaking precision and vineyard management far above its official classification standing, and its wines consistently outperform their fifth growth peers in quality even as they offer excellent value relative to the Pauillac appellation’s classified wine hierarchy. The wine is produced from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, vinified in the same cellar facility as Mouton Rothschild and aged in French barriques with a proportion of new oak appropriate to a wine of this style.

The 2000 Bordeaux vintage is one of the great modern classics: widely considered the finest vintage between the legendary 1982 and the outstanding 2010 and 2016, it produced wines of extraordinary aromatic complexity, structural depth and ageing potential across all the major appellations of the left bank. At twenty-five years from harvest, the 2000 d’Armailhac, particularly in the magnum format with its slower development profile, will have reached a point of elegant maturity where the primary fruit character has given way to the complex secondary and tertiary aromas of aged Pauillac: tobacco, cedar, dried herbs, iron mineral and the distinctive cassis-graphite quality of great left-bank Cabernet Sauvignon from a celebrated vintage.

A Mouton Rothschild-owned fifth growth Pauillac from the 2000 vintage in the magnum format represents an unusual opportunity to drink fully mature classified Bordeaux from one of the most celebrated vintages of the modern era, at a price point that reflects the estate’s fifth growth commercial profile rather than the legendary character of its proprietors and the quality of the vintage. For those who seek the pleasures of mature Pauillac without the extreme prices of the first and second growths, this is an intelligent and satisfying acquisition.

Mature garnet with developed brick at the rim and a complex evolved nose of tobacco, cedar, dried blackcurrant, leather, iron mineral, dried herbs and the fine graphite-Pauillac character of mature Cabernet Sauvignon from a great vintage. Medium to full-bodied with well-resolved tannins, excellent residual acidity and a long, savoury, mature Médoc finish. Drink now through 2030.