Margaux 2018

Tasted blind. Light animal note on the nose. Rich but in medium mode rather than top-drawer mode. Neat and very good but just a little more restrained than the finest. Long though. Easy to overlook. 14%Drink 2028 – 2048

90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot. Barrel sample. Intense cherry red with black core. Scented cassis and cassis leaf. Small, intense berries giving refined and intense fruit. Tannins are super-charged but not aggressive, deep and chewy but layered rather than monolithic. There’s a fine dark, charry character on the palate, giving a savoury dry freshness. Very fine in all its tannic power. Dare I say, more Pauillac than Margaux? Elegance in power. Great length. So smooth on the finish. The concentration is carried lightly. (JH)Drink 2028-2048

One of the wines of the vintage on the Left Bank is the 2018 Château Margaux, a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% each of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and the balance Petit Verdot. A thrilling, sensational Margaux that reminds me of the 2015 at this stage, it reveals a saturated purple/blue color as well as heavenly notes of black raspberries, blueberries, cassis, spring flowers, high-class smoke tobacco, and graphite. Deep, full-bodied, and seamless, it builds incrementally on the palate and carries masses of fine tannins, no hard edges, and awesome purity of fruit. Given its purity, depth of fruit, and texture, it’s going to be approachable with just short-term cellaring, but I suspect it won’t start to hit prime time for at least a decade.

(90 Cabernet Sauvignon, 4 Merlot, 4 Cabernet Franc, 2 Petit Verdot) | 100% new oak | 14% alc | 36% of the harvest was used for this wine | 83 IPT They had 600mm of rain between April and July, then only 40mm in following hot and dry three months. Mildew was a threat and they lost a part of the crop as well as losing fruit from dehydration in the summer months, too. The quality of tannins in this wine is amazing and the entire framework of the fruit is built on these foundations. The fruit is richer and more intense than Pavillon by quite a jump in power and there is obvious richness here. 13% press wine was added in this vintage on account of its sheer quality. The berries were particularly small and this certainly influenced the density of flavour and fondant nature of this wine. Long and calm with superb balance in the mid-palate and a crunch of acid on the finish, there is not the scale of fruit here which I have seen in some of the other top wines, but it is still a lovely Margaux. I am sure that this is a vintage which some will go nuts for but for me it is a lovely interpretation of 2018, but not on a par with 2010 or 2016.

The 2018 Château Margaux was picked from September 17 until October 13, the Cabernet Sauvignon from the beginning of October. The word that springs to mind on encountering this for the first time is "luxurious." The supremely pure bouquet features raspberry, blueberry, violet petals, black currant pastilles and a hint of vanilla; it is opulent rather than rich. The palate is medium-bodied with very plush, velvety-smooth tannins. It sashays along nicely and, atypically for a 2018, reaches a gentle crescendo toward the linear finish. It is amazing how well this contains the excesses of the growing season and retains the sense of Château Margaux.2026 - 2060

Wow. This takes off on the palate the moment you taste it. Aromas and flavors of redcurrants, flowers, cherries and hints of hazelnuts. Full-bodied, tight and compact, but the linear tannins, running down the center of the wine, draw the wine through the finish.

The 2018 Château Margaux is made of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The grand vin represents 36% of the crop this year. The wine has a pH of 3.8 and 14% alcohol. Deep purple-black in color, it comes prancing out of the glass with energetic Morello cherries, black raspberries and blackberry pie scents plus nuances of fragrant soil, candied violets, lavender, sandalwood, unsmoked cigars and black olives with a gentle wave of cassis and licorice emerging with coaxing. Full-bodied, the palate is charged with the most amazing energy, delivering layer after layer of red and black fruits with tons of earthy nuances, framed by the most exquisitely ripe, fine-grained tannins, finishing with amazing freshness and an extraordinarily long-lingering perfume. Magnificent.