Wine ChroniclesBordeaux 2018: Where does reality in bottle meet hype from barrel?
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 24 January 2021 From barrel, I had characterized 2018 Bordeaux as a vintage for “Hedonists and Intellectuals”. Over the course of the last few months, including several visits to Bordeaux during official lockdowns in France, I tasted 2018s on location, after recent bottling. Some bottles had been sent to me to […]
Right Bank Satellites 2018
Mostly Castillon: some excellent, affordable wines By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 24 January 2021 Many less heralded appellations from the Right Bank with cooler clay and/or limestone soils excelled in 2018. But I did not get to too many of them. We can start with Montagne Saint Emilion and Jean-Claude Berrouet, whose name resonates in the […]
Sauternes and Barsac 2018
Saved by the October (Botrytis) Bell By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 24 January 2021 Readers may recall that a hailstorm reduced yields for some estates to near nothing, if not nothing. Château Guiraud for example had announced that it would only make dry white wine in 2018, because of the devastating hail. As for the […]
Pomerol 2018
Some stellar, some not as much By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 24 January 2021 Some very good to great wines, but in some cases, I could not help but detect the ether of the vintage in some. Top wines – from Trotanoy and Pétrus, to Petit Village and Gazin – have deep clays that kept […]
Various Médocs 2018
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 24 January 2021 Here we have a “catch-all” review of Médoc wines, given COVID19 restrictions to taste from bottle. Tasting notes of course vary, as much ground is covered, from inland Moulis and Listrac, to Haut-Médoc wines that “see the river”, such as Sociando Mallet. Among the 1855 Classified Growths, tasted […]
So Satisfying Saint Emilion 2018
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 24 January 2021 The revolution towards freshness continues. Sure some wines recall the oaky tannic obsession of the mid-2000s. Not long ago, I recall tasting the Grand Cru Classés blind with too many wines, too hard, over extracted and/or finishing on drying oak tannins. Had the 2018 vintage happened 10 […]
Saint Estèphe 2018
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 24 January 2021 Fascinating to see – in a blind tasting of the five classified growths – just how impressive Château Montrose turned out to be. I have tasted the wine twice from bottle, once at the estate, once in the blind tasting (held at Château Lafon-Rochet), and although I […]
Pauillac 2018
Power and refinement By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 24 January 2021 Pauillac boasts some excellent wines in this vintage, some in my Top Ten. As said in the intro text, in many cases 2016 (and even 2019) may outshine 2018 in the longer run. However, some estates were capable to tirer son épingle du jeu, as […]
Margaux 2018
Stars among the more challenged By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 24 January 2021 Some estates shined bright, but the nature of the vintage challenged Margaux more than it did Saint Julien and Pauillac, or for that matter, the cooler limestone and clay soils of the Right Bank. Yet I do wonder whether we critics may […]
Saint Julien 2018
Consistent excellence By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 24 January 2021 Consistently excellent in 2018, recently bottled wines from this appellation fulfill their promise from barrel: elegant, suave, sometimes powerful, with grip, but overall refined and fresh. I give an edge to the 2016 vintage for superior freshness, as Didier Cuvelier of Château Léoville Poyferré agrees. Still, 2018 […]
Recent Comments