extraprima Bordeaux2018 OUTSTANDING QUARTET: 2015 TO 2018 For Bordeaux-wines 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 will be the iconic vintages of the future. Similar to the vintage twins 1989 and 1990, they will ripen to truly legendary vintages. Some producers made the comparison of these four vintages with years like 1945 and 1947, 1959 and 1961 or later 2000, 2005, 2009, and 2010 – but there has never been such a density of quality over FOUR VINTAGES in succession from Bordeaux! For example, in all of the four vintages, the Grand Vins of Ausone and Haut-Brion are close to 100 points. This is absolutely unique! The two homogeneous years 2015 and 2016 were followed by the two heterogeneous years of 2017 and 2018. The 2017 season saw a devastating frost, in 2018, as mentioned, the vines suffered from a heavily rainy spring, mildew, dryness, and heat. In each of the four vintages, there is a large series of wines that reach the absolute maximum ratings of 100 points. Even many wineries have produced in some of the four vintages one of the best wines of their history so far if not even the best ever. VERY OWN CHARACTER The best red wines of the vintage 2018 are absolutely outstanding. The dark berry fruit component, the powerful richness, and the stunning presence in smell and taste, as well as the impressive structure and purity on the palate, are all special attributes of the vintage. Many wines are very similar to the aromatic profile, especially if they come from the same appellation. Therefore 2018 is a vintage of less influence from the micro-climate. The vintage-character itself dominates the wine, much stronger than their terroir: dark fruit flavors, rich tannins, and powerful intensity with a broad-shouldered, full-bodied structure. This is partly because of the fact that the grape varieties Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon aromatically show a seldom similarity in this vintage, a complex interaction of different characters is therefore hardly achieved. Consistent harmony is the result. Many wines appear as if they were cast from one piece. Fortunately, the slightly higher alcohol content is not to be noticed at all. For many wines, the combination of tannins and acidity is reminiscent of the mighty, slowly evolving 2010s, indicating a long life for the 2018s. However, these 2018s are much more creamy and succulent than the 2010s have been at the same stage. Although 2018 was blessed with high temperatures, a vintage style in the wines, as seen in 2003, was fortunately spared. The fruit flavors appear much cooler, absolute- 3 2015 2016 2017 2018 Ausone 98 – 100 98 – 100 97 – 99 99 – 100 Haut-Brion 98 – 100 98 – 100 97 – 99 98 – 99 Pétrus 97 – 99 98 – 100 97 – 99 98 – 99 Latour 96 – 98 99 – 100 98 – 100 99 – 100 Lafite-Rothschild
Bordeaux2018 extraprima 4 Thomas Boxberger and Comte Stephan von Neipperg ly fresh, and very clear, without any jammy or cooked notes in the fruit flavors. However, 2018 is not a great storyteller. Much like a well-known superstar can fulfill a hall without any word solely by his presence, the 2018s appear to be less eloquent than other vintages. The 2018s are exceptionally muscular, with a sense of aesthetics and the perfect performance. But anyhow, they need fewer words to express themselves than wines of other vintages. This is also evident in many of my descriptive texts on the wines, which are definitely shorter than in other years because the wines often simply »tell less«. With further barrel-aging and ripening in the bottle, the wines may be regaining eloquence again. Nevertheless, there are some top wines that even right now have given a lot of conversation to attentive tasters. Even for the dry white wines, 2018 is an outstanding vintage. For example, Haut-Brion was able to produce one of the best white wines of the last two decades, simply 100 »the art points! Such a deep acidic tension of tasting …« paired with a highly intense and pure Sauvignon-aromatic never was seen before in Haut-Brion. For many white Bordeaux’, especially from the Médoc, 2018 is one of the best vintages so far, superbly pure, with brilliant fruit and profound structure. Because it remained dry throughout the harvest, there was little fungal attack at this stage, which is perfect for dry white and red wines. Instead, the wineries in Sauternes and Barsac area were praying at the same time for the noble rot Botrytis cinerea to spread over the vineyards producing sweet wines. Here, the drought brought a high concentration in the berries. Only after a few rainfalls in mid-October Botrytis could spread quickly and evenly to the grapes. For the sweet wines, the vintage 2018 was quite good, but they do not have much complexity, tension, or longevity. A VINTAGE OF EXTREMES In the 2017 vintage, the most famous and best terroirs were largely spared by the devastating frost. In the 2018 vintage, various problems have been much more complex. The rainy spring brought precipitation from December 2017 to June 2018, which often by far exceeded the rainfall of a whole year. That under these circumstances flowering happened almost uniform and relatively fast, some winemakers considered simply as a miracle. In many cases, however, millerandage was observed. This means that not all blossoms were inseminated, which led to a lower yield and later to a more uneven maturity of the individual berries. But by far, the biggest problem in 2018 was the massive attack of mildew. Many veteran field managers and vineyard workers had never before experienced such intense fungal attack by mildew. Only a few wineries were not affected; extensive spraying was essential in particular because of the damp weather. The fight against mildew seemed much more difficult for organically farmed vineyards. In many cases, high yield losses had to be accepted. On the other hand, some organic farms had the problem quite well under control, such as Count Stephan von Neipperg from Canon-la-Gaffelière. He said that sprayings at a very early stage and in a strongly targeted manner had to be made with a lot of manpower. Neipperg’s yields remained at »normal levels«. The two most famous biodynamic farmed Châteaux in Bordeaux, Pontet-Canet and Palmer, had to contend with heavy losses and could harvest just ten or eleven hectoliters per hectare instead. Even if the vineyard teams made all steps of protection, the fungal pressure was simply stronger, due to the proximity to the Gironde. After the wet phase, dryness set in, reminiscent of the 2016 drought. The temperatures rose, and it got hot too. Now the vines were again put to the test. The grapes remained small, thick-skinned, and concentrated, sometimes they also dried and shrunk (passerillage) right before the harvest. These bunches tend to have raisiny liqueur-like aromas with very massive tannins. The vines, which were frost-damaged in 2017, were already struggling with the long-term consequences of the heavy frost. Growth can thereafter normalize only slowly over the subsequent vegetation cycle, which the vineyard managers were already aware of in advance. In the Dordogne valley of the Saint-Emilion appellation, where the frost of 2017 destroyed almost everything, many wines remained aromatically limited. In August, September, and October, it was evenly warm and dry, so the harvest date could be set individually without any pressure. All grape varieties had the opportunity to mature to the maximum. Again, the later harvested Merlots remained less expressive than the early picked ones. The Cabernets reached maximum expression and dominate the aromatic profile of the wines. Late ripening Petit Verdot was also able to reach full maturity, so in the 2018 blends, Petit Verdot was used more often and with higher proportions than Text by Thomas Boxberger © 2019
Bordeaux2018 | Pomerol extraprima 5
Bordeaux2018 | Pomerol extraprima 5
Bordeaux2018 | Pomerol extraprima 5
Bordeaux2018 | Pomerol extraprima 6
Bordeaux 2018 | Saint-Emilion extra
Bordeaux2018 | Saint-Emilion extrap
Bordeaux2018 | Saint-Emilion extrap
Bordeaux2018 | Saint-Emilion extrap
Bordeaux2018 | Saint-Emilion extrap
Bordeaux2018 | Saint-Emilion extrap
Bordeaux2018 | Saint-Emilion extrap
Bordeaux2018 | Saint-Emilion extrap
Bordeaux2018 | Saint-Emilion extrap
Bordeaux2018 | Saint-Emilion extrap
Bordeaux2018 | Satellites extraprim
Bordeaux2018 | Satellites extraprim
Bordeaux2018 | White wines extrapri
Bordeaux2018 | White wines extrapri
Bordeaux2018 | White wines extrapri
With Bill Blatch, 2016 With Pascal
94 Atlantic EXPERIENCE BORDEAUX Pau
96 Wine is one of the most importan
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