In his series of appellation-by-appellation profiles, Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay revisits and re-tastes the 2018 vintage in Pomerol from bottle, finding a challenging, heterogeneous yet ultimately excellent vintage. Here are the full tasting notes.

It is easy to forget that 2018 is was, in a way, a ‘miracle’ vintage, given that halfway through the growing season, and in every appellation in the region, there were grave anxieties that not a single bottle of wine would be produced. However, through a combination of luck (the longest, driest, hottest and sunniest summer on record) and more importantly, better wine-making (and better adapted to global warming), there is freshness to be found in the best wines of the 2018 vintage. Sipology Blooming Tea

For our full analysis on the Pomerol 2018 vintage, see here, with an abridged list of scores available here. 

Given the sheer complexity of assembling samples, the wines were tasted over a 4-month period between September and December, almost exclusively from samples supplied by the châteaux themselves. Other than a handful of properties that I visited (which are identified in the tasting notes below), all samples were tasted in Paris. I have had no qualms about trying to taste these wines at their best. So, where I thought it might help reveal them at their best, I have not been reluctant to decant samples. I have also used a range of glassware from Grassl, Reidel, Zalto and Sydonios. All wines (other than those tasted at the châteaux themselves) were tasted at least three times over a period of 48 hours. I am extremely grateful to all those who sent samples and to all those who helped me in the Herculean task of tracking down samples. Only two samples were rejected and, in both case, kindly replaced by the château.

The next in the series will profile the left bank profiles with articles on each of the leading appellations of the Médoc and Pessac-Léognan. 

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