Pessac-Léognan & Graves

As wiTh muCh of Hordeaux, there were plenty of stresses along the way to the final harvest, with hail then mildew, then drought. so again the important thing is to track individual estates, because there are differences. in general, Pessac is an early-ripening area, which helped lessen the gap between technical and phenolic ripeness, which was an issue for some in this vintage. The excellent summer and autumn weather meant estates could harvest when they wanted, so stylistic differences again came into play. The whites, certainly in Pessac, were much better than i expected – helped by the fact that when the drought continued into autumn, most of the white grapes were already in the cellars. Hut there are few wines exceptional enough to top the brilliant

2017s. The reds are more reliable: lots of layers, fruit