Wine ChroniclesVarious Médocs 2018
Posted on January 24, 2021
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 blind at Château Belgrave, two bottles came across a bit iffy, so I have reserved my notes and hope to re-taste them from bottle again at a later date. As with other areas in 2018, cooler soils helped to buffer vintage heat, but you sometimes get raisin or heady aspects.
Médoc/Haut Médoc/Listrac/Moulis – In alphabetical order (with some updates coming)
As usual, if in bold, I liked especially. If red and bold, even more.
Château Agassac (AOC Haut Médoc) – This wine, tasted in Strasbourg along with the Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnels, exudes tasty ripe fruit, although you get some raisin like aspects, coming from the heat of the vintage. 90
Château Arnauld (AOC Haut Médoc) – This blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot is a reliably good Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel and it does not fail to please in 2018, with plenty of brambly fruit, a refined expression and just delicious. Clocks in at 14% alcohol. 92+
Château Belgrave (AOC Haut Médoc) – Tasted blind. This has fresh fruit primary aspects on the nose that seduce. Smooth and nuanced and juicy. More than delivers the goods. A top Haut Médoc in 2018. Bravo! 94
Château Belle-Vue (AOC Haut Médoc) – One of the top among the Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel wines tasted non-blind in Strasbourg, with subtle floral and ripe red and dark fruit aromas. Extra care for superb selection both in the vineyard and in the vat room: important in 2018. The nearly 20% Petit Verdot lends spice and structure, 54% Merlot succulence, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon more structure and body. There is 1% Carmenere, but I will not pretend to detect it J. What I like about this wine is classicism in a rich hot vintage, coming from the southern Médoc to boot, just near the Margaux appellation. The balance at close to 13.5% alcohol is agreeably fresh for the vintage, but the wine also has density and fine length, with pleasing, Indian Tonic like bitterness. 93 Read More
So Satisfying Saint Emilion 2018
Posted on January 24, 2021
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 (or 15) years ago, the tasting would not have been as pleasant. Cooler limestone and deep clay soils proved how good the wine can be in a hot, dry vintage like 2018, when paired with judicious extraction in winemaking. The wines are listed in alphabetical order. Many tasted in Bordeaux, some onsite at Saint Emilion. Just for information, Saint Emilion boasts about 80 “Grand Cru Classés”, not including the “Premiers Grands Crus Classés”.
As usual, if bold, I liked in particular. If red and bold, even more. And if underlined, too, a kind of wine nirvana.
With Cabernet Franc aged in larger vessels, the sensation of oak derivation has been diminished and that is good news!
Château Angélus Saint Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé “A” – In bottle since September, this wine comes across very opulent, as if you had a dollop of fine vintage port in the blend, and yet much tannic edge to leave an impression of structure. lmpressive density! “Since this vintage we changed a bit the aging of some of the Cabernet Franc, and we now age some in foudres (larger, 3,000 liter barrels) rather than in (regular) barrel to reduce oak contact and to preserve more freshness”, remarked Emmanuel Fulchi, cellar master. A good move that has been further developed for the 2019, which is a vintage I prefer, as assessed in a vertical held at the estate. 96
Tasting Château Ausone with owners Pauline and Alain Vauthier, comme à la maison.
Château Ausone Saint Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé “A” * – Pauline Vauthier had opened the bottle at 11 am for the 4:30 pm tasting. Even so, with aromas started discrete if refined: wet stone mingling with violet, clean ripe red and black berry fruit and touches of fresh mint leaf. The power builds on the palate with juicy envelopment, never overbearing and exuding wet limestone freshness, deep and dense, a reflection of the grand terroir of Ausone – just seven hectares of vines – leading to a long finish and a sense of pristine, spherical balance. Loved it from barrel, love it from bottle! The limestone terroir lends needed freshness to the vintage. “We always have a pH of around 3.6”, Vauthier remarked. That certainly ensures freshness. And after about 30 minutes in glass, the nose gets more intense. A top ten wine of the vintage, but be patient and enjoy some of the other excellent Saint Emilion wines crafted by the Vauthier Family as even the excellent second wine needs some 10 years of cellaring before you can think of opening it. 100 Read More
Saint Estèphe 2018
Posted on January 24, 2021
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 still think that the 2016 will be better (or the 2019 for that matter, which I had tasted side-by-side), the 2018 Montrose impresses me most among the Saint Estèphes in 2018.
As usual, wines in bold I liked in particular. When red and bold, even more. And when underlined, wine nirvana 😊🍷😍.
Several wines tasted blind, others non blind.
Château Beau Site – Clearly nice this blend of 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot: At once very tasty and agreeable with density and power. Here an example of affordable fine 2018 Bordeaux – at about €20 a bottle in Europe. Tasted at Château Batailley with owner Philippe Casteja, who decided to leave the formal cru bourgeois system, but never mind this wine is still identified as such, and it is a very good wine indeed in 2018. 92
Château Calon Ségur – Tasted blind, this came across about as I had rather expected from barrel, with impressive “amplitude” and mid-palate density. The expressions of ripe dark fruit, spice and mint from the Cabernet Franc are pleasing. But there is a sense that the 100% new oak aging, combined with nearly 15% alcohol, leads to a drying finish in this blend of 65% Cabernet, 17% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. Such a high level of alcohol drew much oak derived tannin, and from a classified growth of this calibre, I am left perplexed. Maybe over time, the breed of the terroir will shine through. 2018 was the first vintage ever that the estate arrived at the same level of high alcohol for both Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and that is quite astounding. Now the pH at 3.75 is not the highest encountered in this vintage, and just enough acidity balances things, but I would rather go for the 2016 to be sure. Conservative score from yours truly. 93 Read More
Pauillac 2018
Posted on January 24, 2021
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 the French say, and “rise to the occasion” to rival not only 2019, but also 2016. As with Saint Julien, I tasted fine Pauillacs blind at Château Pedesclaux with Jane Anson and Yohan Castaing. I also tasted – non blind – Château Lafite-Rothschild, Château Duhart Milon, Château Mouton Rothschild, Château Pontet Canet, Châteaux Batailley and Lynch Moussas at the respective estates (the latter two also in the blind tasting). In addition, Châteaux Clerc Milon and d’Armailhac at the offices of the Bordeaux Wine Council, during which we spoke with Jean Emmanual Danjoy, who is taking over direction of the estates of Baron Philippe de Rothschild from Philippe Dhalluin.
First Wines of Pauillac 2018 in bottle (some tasted blind, others at the estates)
Château d’Armailhac – Clocking in at 14.5% alcohol, this blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot is both ripe and tannic. Pretty much as from barrel, the aromas are clean and pure, the palate smooth and even lacy, with underlying Pauillac grip. As the quality of the harvest improves at this estate, the percentage of new oak is increasing. Not too long ago, it was only about one-third, but for 2018, the wine aged in 50% new oak. Sure, there is some imposing tannin on the finish, but in a good way, meaning that you can cellar this with confidence. Excellent wine! Tasted at the CIVB offices of Bordeaux. 94 Read More
Margaux 2018
Posted on January 24, 2021
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 be rushing to score after an immediate opening of the bottles, spending but an hour with some of these wines that come across tannic and powerful, requiring aging to be sure. Nevertheless, in some cases fruit ripeness comes with harder tannins. Sometimes the wines come across more like powerful Pauillacs than Margaux, so it will be a question of assessing again in 10 years to see where they will be. The very best wines display Margaux refinement and grace as well as power and density. Unless otherwise noted – for example some Cru Bourgeois and Châteaux Palmer and Margaux – the wines listed below were tasted blind at Château Marquis d’Alesme Becker on 5 November, with Jane Anson and Yohan Castaing.
Tasting notes in alphabetical order, and as usual: when in bold, I liked in particular. If red and bold, even more. And if underlined, too, a kind of wine nirvana.
Château d’Arsac – Not tasted blind. This wine, delivered to Strasbourg as part of the Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel wines, with thanks to the Alliance de Cru Bourgeois, rather exemplifies my intro text. It certainly needs time to settle down, and I had the luxury to be able to revisit. The nose displays crushed mint and pencil lead, reflecting the 72% Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend that includes 28% Merlot. There is tannic edge to the wine that clocks in at 13.5% alcohol that on day one seemed charmlessly hard but less so over a two-day period. I do appreciate the impressive density and power, but the wine does not reflect the elegance one expects from the appellation, so I will be rather conservative in my positive score. 91
Château Boyd Cantenac – Aged in 80% new oak, this blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot and the rest Cabernet Franc exudes evident toasty notes on the nose along with ripe dark fruit and spicy notes. There is a certain freshness here, clocking in at 13.5% alcohol, and impressive density and tannic edge for aging, although it lacks, again, enough Margaux charm for a higher score. Revisit in 10 years! 93 Read More
Recent Comments