2018 Bordeaux – a surprisingly great vintage
“At the very peak of quality, the 2018s are mind-blowingly incredible.” Lisa Perrotti-Brown – Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate
“As for the wines, the best 2018s are positively stunning.” Antonio Galloni - Vinous
“After two weeks in Bordeaux tasting more than 1,100 wines from the 2018 vintage, I can tell you that 2018 is an exceptional year for Bordeaux wines.” James Suckling
The wine writers certainly agree, as do I, that 2018 is a terrific vintage in Bordeaux. In fact, I have never seen such agreement in the scores from the six most highly regarded reviewers from any previous vintage in Bordeaux.
I was in Bordeaux in early April 2019 for the annual En Primeur tastings where I sampled well over 300 wines from the excellent 2018 vintage. I was also in Bordeaux in early October 2018 during the harvest and got a preview of the vintage. Overall, this was a very interesting vintage to taste. The wines are certainly very concentrated, but in the best examples, the tannins are very fine and silky and there is great balance and freshness. There are some Chateaux that made the best wines they’ve ever produced. But it is not a vintage where one can pinpoint a specific region as ‘the best’, although St. Julien was by far the most consistent. There are a lot of hits but there are some misses over all the appellations. One colleague posed the question “could this be a modern day 1982?”. Only time will tell. Quantity will be an issue as yields were way down for many Chateaux, so it will be in your best interest to buy ‘En Premier’. Please feel free to give me a call here at the store 202-338-1433 if you’d like to discuss in detail or you can email me at pbernstein@bassins.com -Phil Bernstein
