Right Bank
ThE wiDE hARvEsT window has perhaps impacted the wines in st-Emilion and Pomerol more than anywhere else, because it truly was a vintage where winemakers could pick according to their individual terroirs, personalities and strategies. As a result you get clear estate signatures – fresh and sculpted or succulent and gourmet – which gives you lots of choice when it comes to purchasing. The vintage as a whole has done a great job of allowing the character of the appellations to come through, as long as people selected their picking dates well and didn’t extract too much. in Pomerol there are plenty of similarities to both 2010 and 2016, whereas st-Emilion is more like 2015, but often with less extraction and a clearer sense of terroir.
St-Emilion
somE of ThE most enjoyable st-Emilions i can remember tasting, because so many estates handled the high sugars and high tannic count brilliantly, with gentle extractions and clever choices over picking dates.
34 POTENTIAL 100 Château Beauséjour Duffau-Lagarrosse 1GCCB 98-100
One of the best estates in St-Emilion. Deeper, darker and more serious than its sibling Pavie Macquin in 2018, the tannins are less pliant, with huge concentration of cassis and tobacco. You can taste the limestone, the lifted spice through the finish and the tannic mass is undeniable. It will take 10 years to come round and be wonderful then, but I wish I could taste2028-2044 14.5%
