Best St-Emilion 2018 wines: ‘Up there with 2015’

See all St-Emilion 2018 wines tasted here

Commentators talk about the evolution of St-Emilion every year but they are often giving estates the benefit of the doubt.

My notes are more cynical than most when it comes to this issue, but 2018 shows the appellation is truly evolving for the better.And that’s with high alcohols, when estates could have all gone utterly crazy.The tannins do still build up, and you still leave the en primeur tasting session with a mouth that needs a good run through a field of flowers, but the wines were more enjoyable than in 2017 and 2016.

St-Emilion 2018 is up there with 2015. I am one or two points above where I was in 2016 in almost every case, and my scores are generally at least equal to 2015.There is always a powerful punch of fruit on the nose that St-Emilion delivers. But more often than not in the 2018 tastings, the wines then peel back layers to reveal minerality, and they were so much the better for it.

The Grand Cru Classé tasting is always a big test of any vintage for me, and I have to say it was one of my most enjoyable ever.

Everything was big, yes, but far more in balance than this vintage would have been 10 years ago.

It was interesting to hear the technical director at Dourthe, Frédéric Bonnaffous, saying that one of the biggest changes he has seen is people not deleafing like crazy as soon as the weather gets hot. Dourthe manages Château Grand Barrail Lamarzelle Figeac in St-Emilion.

Yields

Getting in to the details, we saw lots of high yields in St-Emilion that will have helped get juiciness through the palate.

Some of this was due to the vines rebounding after last year’s frost. On the limestone plateau, it seemed that estates were reaching generous yields, even with the threat of mildew.

St-Emilion’s average yield for 2018 was 42 hectolitres (hl) per hectare (ha), although the grand cru classés saw an average of 34hl/ha, according to Francis Despagne, the new president of the group.

Individual examples from across the appellation included 50hl/ha at Beau-Séjour Becot, 49hl/ha at Lassègue, 42hl/ha at Canon, 43hl/ha at Cheval Blanc, 39hl/ha at Figeac, 40hl/ha at Valandraud and 47hl/ha at Pavie Macquin.

There were some small yields, too, such as 26hl/ha at Tauzinat Hermitage.

Overall, though, there was juice to play with.

Alcohols

You’re not going to see anything below 14%abv, with almost all St-Emilion 2018 wines clocking in at 14.5%.

A few went even higher, with 14.7%abv reported at Vieux Château Mazerat, Soutard and Tour St-Christophe. Teyssier and Monbousquet hit 14.8%, and Quintus was at 15.2%. There was speculation of some wines reaching 16% but I didn’t see any during my tastings.

pH levels were correspondingly high, although these were better than I expected. Most wines were between 3.6 and 3.8.

This all meant that winemakers had to be careful about the temperature of extraction in the cellar.

Most have handled the fruit carefully with measured extractions; foot off pedal, avoiding wall.

Long harvest 

One of the headline of the vintage in St-Emilion was the long harvest window.

Troplong Mondot and Canon started picking on 7 September didn’t finish until 10 and 9 October respectively – the longest harvest either had recorded.

This was one of the stories of the year here. La Gaffelière harvested from 10 September to 9 October and Beau-Séjour Becot for a month from 11 September.

Estates potentially offering great value: Pressac, La Serre, Rochebelle, Clos de Sarpe

Top Scoring wines overall: Pavie Macquin, Cheval Blanc, Figeac, Rocheyron, Beauséjour HDL, Angélus, Ausone, Bélair Monange, Canon, Troplong Mondot, Rocheyron.

Best St-Emilion 2018 wines

The following wines have been scored 96 points and above. See all St-Emilion 2018 wines here.

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