“This is no straightforward repeat of 2016”
Chris Kissack has published a series of articles on Bordeaux 2018 on his website, thewinedoctor.com.
In his report, Kissack says that “the story of the 2018 growing season will invite inevitable comparisons with 2016; there are just too many similarities to do otherwise”. However, he adds that, “while there are similarities between the two vintages, there are also stark differences, both in the growing seasons and, inevitably, in the wines.”
Kissack broadly generalises the red wines as being “rich in tannins” and “rich in terms of texture”. However, he admits that what surprised him most about the vintages was just “how lively and vigorous the red wines felt”.
He added that “they are not in general flabby, soft or ill-formed”. Instead, Kissack perceived “a welcome if gentle sensation of acidity and freshness on the palate” and noted that “the best wines certainly have more energy than the similarly seductive 2009 vintage”.
Kissack also features a section in his report about buying En Primeur. He said that when he began including this section a few years ago, his “intention was to protect readers from financial losses incurred by dealing with the wrong merchants”.
However, Kissack says that nowadays “we have to question the wisdom of buying at this stage at all” because “En Primeur purchases no longer offer the financial benefits to buyers that they once did”.
Overall, Kissack awarded nine wines a barrel range of 98-100 points. His top-scoring wines can be found in the table below. You can read his full report on thewinedoctor.com, here.
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