2018 Bordeaux Tasting on December 20th 6pm
We’ll have some charcuterie to complement the wines. This will be a formal sit-down tasting. Reservations must be paid in advance.
Champagne Toast!
Château de Bligny NV Grande Réserve Brut Champagne France
Wine Enthusiast 91 Rating
A blend of half and half Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, this Champagne is ripe and mature. It is a finely balanced wine, rich while keeping a fresh aftertaste. Drink now.
1-Chateau Maurac 2018 Red Blend Haut Medoc Bordeaux France
Wine Enthusiast 92 Rating
A 24-acre vineyard close to Saint-Estèphe has produced this rich and dense wine. Tannins give a solid base to generous black-plum and berry fruits. Initially it seems as though this wine will develop quickly, but that is deceptive. With the tannic core and firm aftertaste, the wine will take its time. Drink from 2024.
2-Chateau Talbot 2018 Saint-Julien Bordeaux France
Wine Spectator 95 Rating
This is densely packed with ripe macerated fig, blackberry and plum fruit flavors supported by tar and bramble notes that meld steadily through the finish. Notes of applewood and anise flash throughout. For the cellar.
3-Chateau Phelan Segur 2018 Saint-Estephe Bordeaux France
Jeb Dunnuck 95 Rating
The flagship 2018 Château Phélan Ségur is a beauty based on 57% Cabernet Sauvignon and 43% Merlot. This was a great vintage for the Médoc, and the 2018 reveals a dense purple hue to go with powerful notes of blackcurrants, iron, smoked tobacco, chocolate, and earth. Rich, full-bodied, and concentrated, it has beautiful tannin's, remarkable purity of fruit, and just does everything right. It has some up-front appeal today (no doubt due to the high Merlot content), yet it builds with time in the glass and shows more and more structure with air. It deserves 5-6 years of bottle age and will keep for 20-25.
4-Chateau Monbousquet 2018 Red Blend St. Emilion Bordeaux France
Jeb Dunnuck 95 Rating
Another brilliant vintage for this estate, which has been going from strength to strength over the past decade, the 2018 Château Monbousquet reveals a dense purple, opaque color as well as a rich yet lively bouquet of cassis, chocolate covered currants, new leather, and graphite. With sumptuous levels of fruit, full -bodied richness, and ample mid-palate depth, it's the purity of fruit as well as the quality of the tannin's that have brought this cuvée up another notch. Readers are going to love this cuvée, and it should keep for 15-20 years.
5-Chateau Lagrange 2018 Saint-Julien Bordeaux France
Jeb Dunnuck 97 Rating
The flagship 2018 Château Lagrange is a more dense, backward, serious wine, offering an unevolved yet incredibly promising bouquet of cassis, blackcurrants, scorched earth, graphite, and violets. A big, rich, full-bodied Saint-Julien, it delivers thrilling purity of fruit, plenty of background oak, ripe, silky tannins, and a great mid-palate. This is serious stuff, but it's going to require patience. Hide bottles for 7-8 years, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following two decades.
6-Chateau La Gaffeliere 2018 Grand Cru Classe Saint-Emilion Bordeaux France
Vinous 99 Rating
The 2018 La Gaffelière is hands down one of the wines of the vintage. Towering in its stature and vertical lift, the 2018 dazzles right out of the gate. Inky dark fruit, mocha, spice, licorice and leather all run through this deep, wonderfully pliant Saint-Émilion. The 2018 is rich, deep and beautifully resonant, with tremendous depth and tons of stature that builds, all framed by beams of supporting minerality that confer vibrancy. La Gaffelière is distinctive, alluring and arresting right out of the gate. It is another magnificent showing from this reborn estate. The blend is 63% Merlot and 37% Cabernet Franc. Magnifique!
And just because we can!
Chateau Rieussec 2003 Sauternes Bordeaux France
James Suckling 97 Rating
So rich and powerful with so much dried apricots and citrus aromas and flavors. Caramel and toffee. Full and very sweet. Amazing.