Margaux 2018

The 2018 Château Margaux is composed of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, representing 36% of the crop this year. The wine has a pH of 3.8 and 14% alcohol. Deep purple-black in color, it slowly unfurls to reveal tantalizing scents of crème de cassis, wild blueberries and Black Forest cake with hints of redcurrant jelly, rose oil, dark chocolate and cedar chest plus a touch of star anise. The medium to full-bodied palate bursts with opulent black fruit, fragrant earth and floral layers, supported by a rock-solid structure of exquisitely ripe, finely grained tannins and seamless backbone of freshness, finishing with fantastic length. This is classic Margaux at its most seductive, although it is, rather amazingly, approachable and absolutely delicious right now. But, to enjoy its full glory, you will want to cellar it for at least 6-8 years and then watch it metamorphize over the next 40+ years. 2027 - 2067

The 2018 Château Margaux was observed over a period of 24 hours. I used the word "luxurious" to describe the nose when I encountered this First Growth from barrel, and it’s still apt to use now the wine is in bottle. It just blossoms over time, revealing gorgeous blackberry, raspberry, crushed violet and peony, and hints of shucked oyster shells, all delivered with the precision one expects from a first-division Claret. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins, still as silky-smooth as ever, offering blood-orange-infused black fruit that is crystalline on the finish. You almost miss the structure behind this Château Margaux that should ensure it will age over the next three or four decades. Utterly sublime. Drink 2026-2060.

So much ash, tobacco and earth to the bright blackberry and currant aromas. Flowers too. Fresh. Full-bodied with seamless tannins that spread across your palate and caress every square centimeter. It’s shows loads of ripe-berry, cherry, currant and chocolate character, as well as walnut and light cedar. Then the finish goes on for minutes. Extremely refined and elegant, despite the structure. 90% cabernet sauvignon, 4% cabernet franc, 4% merlot and 2% petit verdot. A joy to taste, but drink after 2025.

Tasted blind at Southwold 2018. Deep purple colour. Oily fruit and fragrant violets together on a very Cabernet-led nose. The palate has bags of character, bringing dried flowers, roasted black fruits and cleaner fresh cherries together. Though bursting with flavour, the underlying tannins are very persistent, firming-up towards a finish of focus and depth. Finely etched, this can only improve in the coming decades.

Without doubt an incredible Margaux, although whether it will equal the 2015 remains to be seen. It's less serious than the 2016 but every bit as good, floating above the palate, performing that acrobatic trick that only happens in the really great years. It's silky yet intense and powerful, with sweet, fleshy and succulent raspberry cut through with fresh rosemary and sage that add texture and grip. The menthol side of the Cabernet is already coming through, which suggests the fruit was just perfectly ripe - these are aromatics that you don't get in true heatwave years like 2003. The flavours stretch out, gently gripping and keeping you involved in what is unfurling.

Harvested between 17 September and 13 October, with an average yield of 31hl/ha due to both mildew and the concentration of the berries that occured at the end of ripening. The impact was uneven, depending on the vineyard blocks, so yields actually varied between 15 and 50hl/ha. The best plots were the least affected, which means that unusually there is more production in the grand vin and in Pavillon, with less in the third and fourth wines. Final numbers are 36% of production here, 30% in Pavillon Rouge.

83IPT. 100% new oak. 12% press wine. 2% Petit Verdot completes the blend.

Drinking Window 2028 - 2045

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

Deep in colour and brooding on the nose, with cassis, pepper and blackberry. The palate is silky and suave, with cashmere tannins framing ripe, juicy black fruits, dried flowers and creamy, toasty oak. This is ripe and exotic, with some warmth coming through that adds to the sweetness and pepperiness. Vibrant acidity comes in waves, and paired with the fine tannins offers great poise and precision. Powerful and long, with a floral, complex and spicy finish.

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.