Dear <<First Name>>,
The 2018 En Primeur campaign is now reaching a crescendo with vast majority of wines released in advance of the 1st growths and the very top appellation wines next week.
To underscore the quality of the 2nd largest appellation on the left bank, we have a quartet of 2nd and 3rd growth wines from Margaux. Famed for its perfumed fragrance and dominant blackcurrant flavours from a high proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon , 2018 will be remembered for producing some of the best wines of the vintage.
Château Giscours is of great finesse and elegance. Delicacy and power are combined in this flask to bring you the elegance expected of a great Margaux wine.
Antonio Galloni (93-96 pts)
"It is certainly the best recent vintage I have tasted.."
Château d'Issan expresses the exquisite bouquet so characteristic of Margaux and stands out with its suppleness, subtlety, elegance and long keeping potential
Wine Cellar Inside (94-96 pts)
"The wine is full-bodied, round, sweet, juicy and just a little bit spicy. You can feel the vitality in the ripe, red plums and black currants which accent the finish."
Château Cantenac Brown is the flagship wine of Bernard Magrez and renowned worldwide for consistent quality and this year does not disappoint, with high praise across the board.
Wine Spectator (94-97 pts)
"Delivers a beguiling feel despite the concentration. A very strong showing"
Château Branc-Cantenac is on a path to forging a very distinct identity for his wine, Henri Lurton has elevated Brane-Cantenac as one of the most elegant and refined wines in the medoc.
Wine Enthusiast (94-96 pts)
"This wine is rich yet finely balanced. The acidity and the tannins are well integrated with the beautiful black currant flavor. Overall, this fine wine promises a bright future"
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Antonio Galloni (Vinous.com)
"... As for the wines, the best 2018s are positively stunning. I don’t see the consistency of 2016, for example, but 2018 offers a tremendous amount of choice for the consumer, from everyday gems to the rarest of collectibles"
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The Bordeaux 2018 En Primeur begins ... Quickly !
The 2018 vintage will be a mixed bag with a very good spread of excellent wines but as always, only time will truly tell.
The weather for some vintners played a crucial part as April came around, with some experiencing hail in amongst the heavy rains and the potential after affects of mildew was not welcome. The summer was long and warm helping with well formed concentrated berries and healthy yields.
There are a plethora of excellent wines from the right bank, particularly from Saint-Émilion and Pomerol.
On the Left bank great wines can be found in most of the appellations, however, St Estephe and Paulliac in particular appear to have made the most consistent and best wines. Our advice would be to carefully select wines that will be predominately for drinking and not necessarily for investment.
A few critics (James Suckling, James Molesworth and Jane Anson) have been quick to analyse and produce some interesting initial reports, perhaps not always agreeing on the levels of quality! For the first time in many years Neal Martin (now at Vinous Media) will not be reviewing Bordeaux EP until later in the year.
Chateau Angelus (JS - 99/100 pts) was very quick off the blocks to become the 1st top flight wine to hit the inboxes, opening at £255 per bottle which is down on last year and broadly the same as 2015. This gives a good indication of the pricing levels we can expect in the coming weeks.
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James Suckling
"2018 is an exceptional year for Bordeaux wines... and can be compared in quality to recent excellent years such as 2016 and 2015. I think it could turn out to be an all-time great, similar to 2010, 2009 and 1989 or even such classics as 1982 or 1959."
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Château Giscours (Margaux)
Giscours has a long, rich history, which can be traced back to the fourteenth century. At that time it was a defensive tower overlooking a wild and inhospitable region. The real beginning came in 1552, when Pierre de Lhomme, a wealthy Bordeaux draper, bought a nobleman’s house called “Guyscoutz”; he proceeded to turn it into a vast estate and planted the first vines. Wine production was launched and each of the rich merchant’s successors made their own contribution to this magnificent building. It was in the nineteenth century under the promise of the Pescatore and Cruse families that Giscours gained much of its finery: the château was transformed into a neoclassical palace with architect Eugene Bülher, and the production facilities were modernized with the construction of huge buildings, including the famous «Ferme Suzanne”.
The history of Giscours represents a fascinating story, full of countless anecdotes… In 1995, a Dutch businessman, Eric Albada Jelgersma, took over management and set about meticulously renovating the vineyard and buildings to make this prestigious estate fully worthy of its third growth ranking in the 1855 classification.
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2018 Château Giscours (3rd growth)
55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot & 6% Petit Verdot
This Classified Growth in 1855 is the first label of Château Giscours. It is of great finesse and elegance. Delicacy and power are combined in this flask to bring you the elegance expected of a great Margaux wine. The aging potential of this great wine is between 8 and 20 years or even more for the most exceptional vintages.
Secrets such as those that a glass of Château Giscours will whisper to the taste buds of wine lovers.
Aged in high quality French oak barrels, the wine acquires its complexity as the month progresses, subtly combining aromas of dark fruits and spices to the tannins of the wood, to reach a sublime balance. The complex blending procedure, an important stage in the production of this great wine, requires the most advanced skills of the cellar master and their team.
To those who can wait, Giscours, described as an “intellectual” wine by some connoisseurs, will divulge all of its complexity and reveal its secrets…
£ 270.00 per 6 x 750ml (IB)
£ 275.00 per 3 x 1500ml (IB)
(Wine Enthusiast 95-97 pts, Wine Spectator 93-96 pts, Vinous 93-96 pts & James Suckling 96-97 pts and Decanter 95 pts)
"Deep purple in colour with violet edging, this is beating fast with juicy bramble fruit and life. You can feel the texture of the berries in the mouth, making this a luxurious, confident Giscours, with swirls of smoke backed up by spice. There's an effortless quality to the tannins, but this is definitely built to last. It easily stands up to the 2015 and 2016. Harvest lasted for a full month, from 12 September to 12 October. Aged in 50% new oak."
(Decanter 95 pts)
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2018 Château d'Issan (3rd growth Margaux)
60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot
Château d’Issan is a Third Growth of the 1855 Imperial Classification. The wine is made from the old vines in the Château d’Issan enclosure in the middle of the Margaux appellation. The soil here is mainly made up of surface gravel on top of a clay subsoil, which contributes to optimal ripeness and freshness in our two grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Château d’Issan expresses the exquisite bouquet so characteristic of Margaux, and stands out with its suppleness, subtlety, elegance and long keeping potential that come from its unique terroir. Château d’Issan is aged in barrels for 16 to 18 months, half of which are new. Annual production is around 100,000 bottles.
£ 282.00 per 6 x 750ml (IB)
£ 287.00 per 3 x 1500ml (IB)
(Wine Advocate 94-96 pts, Vinous 92-95 pts, Decanter 96 pts & James Suckling 95-96 pts)
"The 2018 D'Issan is composed of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, aging in 50% new and 50% second year barrels for an estimated 18 months. With 13.97% alcohol and a deep garnet-purple color, it features baked berries, warm cherries and cassis with spice box and fragrant earth plus tea hints. Medium to full-bodied, it has a great core of muscular fruit with firm, fine-grained tannins, with nice freshness, finishing layered with mineral notions."
(Wine Advocate - 94-96 pts)
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2018 Château Cantenac Brown (3rd growth Margaux)
60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot
At the beginning of the 19th century, John-Lewis Brown (1769-1851), bought a vineyard and designed in the village of Cantenac, a traditional Tudor style château, reminding him of his Scottish origins.
In 1843, Mr. Gromard, banker, took over the estate. After the 1855 Grand Cru Classification, Louis Armand Lalande (1820-1894), Bordeaux winemerchant and owner of several estates in Médoc, extended the building. Surrounded by a remarkable British style park, Château Cantenac Brown is since then among the most original in Médoc. In 2006, the Simon Halabi family has given new impetus to the estate with the ambition of raising it to the highest echelons. José Sanfins presently manages Château Cantenac-Brown. He does his utmost to make the best of the magnificent terroir, lavishing the greatest of care on the soil and the vines, with great respect for the environment. This meticulous attention to detail continues into the cellar, where everything possible is done to produce an exceptional wine.
£ 237.00 per 6 x 750ml (IB)
£ 242.00 per 3 x 1500ml (IB)
(Wine Spectator 94-97 pts, Wine Enthusiast 95-97 pts, Wine Insider 94-96 pts and James Suckling 93-94 pts)
"Winey and dark in profile, with steeped currant, plum and blackberry fruit, buttressed by ganache, smoldering tobacco and warm earth notes. Accents of bay leaf, alder and mineral are in reserve. Delivers a beguiling feel despite the concentration. A very strong showing"
(Wine Spectator 94-97 pts)
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2018 Château Brane-Cantenac (2nd growth Margaux)
74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot
Belonging to the Lurton family since 1925, Château Brane-Cantenac owes its fame to an exceptional gravelly soil dating back to the quaternary era.
When Henri Lurton took over in 1992, he made it his mission to produce the best possible wine so as to reinforce Brane-Cantenac’s position as a second classified growth in 1855 yet remaining faithful to its ‘terroir’ and its prerequisites.
A spacious vat room, modern winemaking techniques and a talented team actively contribute to creating each year an elegant, aromatic wine, both complex and well-balanced destined to be kept for many years to come.
£ 306.00 per 6 x 750ml (IB)
£ 311.00 per 3 x 1500ml (IB)
(Decanter 95 pts, James Suckling 95-96 pts, Jeb Dunnuck 94-96 pts, Wine Enthusiast 94-96 pts)
"This is a serious wine, with well constructed walls and floor, but it's full of life too, with brambled, succulent and generously-extracted fruit on the nose. It has less immediate charm than some in the appellation and will take a while to come round, but it has clear ageing ability and is one to savour. You feel the precision and confidence in how it presents itself. 1% Petit Verdot makes up the blend - there was no Carmenère in the grand vin in 2018. 45hl/ha yield. 70% new oak"
(Decanter 95 pts)
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All prices are 'In Bond' and exclude, duty, VAT & delivery and subject to availabilty and confirmation
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The wines above are subject to strict allocation on a first come first serve basis, confirmation and remaining unsold.
Different formats are available for most wines (375ml to 15L) at an additional cost.
Delivery is expected to commence in spring 2021.
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