The 2018 vintage is a great success in the Bordeaux vineyards, according to the Press, and according to Bordeaux Tradition too. Let us present our opinions on these Primeurs 2018 at the dawn of the first releases.
Vintage 2018 : a post-freezing vintage.
Between the temptation to recover a volume compensating for the losses caused by frost and the management of a vineyard frustrated by the interruption of its previous vegetative cycle (yes the plant has some memory!), The winemaker faces a real challenge for this 2018 vintage.
So vintage 2018 was built over 2 years. Since April 2017, each harvesting, cutting and grassing operation has had an impact on what was picked up between September and October 2018. Thus 2018 is the result of a huge amount of winemarkers work. And who says precision work says also : need of a fine knowledge of its soil and need of qualified manpower.
Concerning the climatic conditions, the inventory of the different rainy and windy episodes is to consider appellation by appellation. So their enumeration would therefore be useless and tedious. However, some interesting points remain to be emphasized. The flowering first took place in a climate window quite favorable. Which is the necessary (but not sufficient) condition for a vintage of quality. The abundance of the flower (often the case after freeze year) has required significant arbitration on the part of technical managers.
Then it should be noted that the month of July was surely one of the warmest since 1947. Which is interesting in the management of the water stress of the plant. Finally the harvest took place under the best auspices (cold night, hot day, some rains inflating the berries).
Thus, what is found in the cellars is a remarkable quality. Very healthy harvest, few rots so little sort, optimal phenolic / alcoholic maturities, IPT / Anthocyanin indices at the top… And we are clearly part of the stylistic change initiated a few years ago: the freshness, the purity, a desire for sweet extraction to avoid wines very / too exuberant.
And after our week of tasting en Primeurs 2018, we can confirm: this 2018 vintage is delicious! The yields are sometimes lower than expected but the quality of the juices is up to the work provided. It’s a world-class vintage coming up, and a smile is on the list for those who contributed to it.
The Press Approves !
At the beginning of April we were again on the roads of Bordeaux for this crazy week of “Tastings Primeurs”. As every year, you know it, we have the chance to taste the juices of the vintage that will be released few weeks later, but will be available only the following year! From estate to estate, we have discovered this fabulous vintage, both Right & Left Bank.
Of course, we were not the only ones present for this exercise: all the international journalists from the world of wine were also there! And since 1 week, we are carefully collecting their first feedback on this 2018 vintage.
Thus, some 100/100 notes were awarded by James Suckling, followed by many 98-100/100. The journalist agreed himself: he did not expect a vintage of such good quality this year. For her part, Jane Anson attributes an overall rating of 4.5/5 to these 2018 Primeurs. According to her, the Right Bank could be closer to a meeting between the 2009 and 2016 vintages and the Left Bank of a meeting between the vintages 1998 and 2015. To sum up, that is excellent comments for this year.
Some notes and comments remain to be published by the Press. Yet the campaign has already begun this week, especially with the very famous release of Château Angélus…
We stay at your disposal for any further information on this vintage or to discuss our offers Primeurs 2018 by clicking here!
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