Top St-Julien 2018 wines: ‘Silky and gorgeous’

See scores for all St-Julien 2018 wines tasted so far

The ripest Cabernets many estates have seen

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou’s weather station showed rainfall was 75mm down on the 30-year average from 1 November 2017 to 21 October 2018, and 39mm down during the Bordeaux 2018 growing season from mid-April to mid-October.

Add in mildew, then extensive heat – with 35 days above 30°C and six days above 35°C – plus the wind that blew in October; it’s no surprise to see that Cabernets got riper than ever seen. I’ve reported on a similar picture in nearby Pauillac and St-Estèphe.Merlots had thick skins, small berries and great concentration.You will definitely see high alcohols in some of the wines, such as 14.5% abv at Beychevelle, 14.6% at Lagrange and 14.5% at Léoville-Las-Cases. All three of those estates have record high alcohols in their first wines in 2018.

Las Cases said that some Cabernet had higher alcohol levels than Merlot for the first time.

Estates also saw high phenolic ripeness. La Croix de Ducru-Beaucaillou, for example, was up at 96 on the total polyphenol index (IPT), which is a measure of tannin levels. That’s high compared to classic Left Bank Bordeaux levels.

Put all of this together and you have St-Julien 2018 wines where the power can build up sneakily through the palate.

This is balanced by pretty generous yields, which were 42.6 hectolitres per hectare on average in the appellation but much higher for some. Beychevelle was at 55hl/ha, for instance.

As a result, I found that the vast majority of en primeur wines in St-Julien were silky and really rather gorgeous.

I thought it was an impressive showing from this appellation, and there was great consistency, as ever, among the first wines. However, I was less impressed with the second wines.

St-Julien 2018 wines potentially offering great value: Glana, Moulin Riche.

Top scoring wines: Léoville Las Cases, Ducru-Beaucaillou, Léoville-Barton.

Top scoring St-Julien 2018 wines

The following wines scored 94 points and above. See all St-Julien 2018 wines here.

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