Jeff Leve has been releasing his Bordeaux 2018 scores in a series of reports on individual appellations over the past week, all of which can be found on The Wine Cellar Insider.
Leve’s overall impression of Bordeaux 2018 is that the wines are “concentrated, opulently textured, full-bodied and express a beautiful purity of fruit”. According to him, there is “vibrancy and freshness”, a “feeling of energy that stops the wines from being too much, and instead, allows them to be truly special”.
However, he notes that there are “hits and misses with 2018 Bordeaux”. His top-scoring wines, which he awarded a barrel range of 98-100 points, can be found in the table below.
In his tasting note on Angelus 2018, which was the first major release of this campaign, Leve writes that “you have an evolution not a revolution; there is a small shift in style moving to a more refined elegance while retaining all its power”. He describes the wine as “sensually textured […] with a precise character”.
He calls another one of his favourites, Cheval Blanc, “bottled decadence” and goes on to say that “the over 60 second finish is too short because you’ll never want it to end”. Leve comments that the “fresh and spicy” Leoville Las Cases reminds him of “walking into a forest after a massive rain fall” and compares the colour of Trotanoy to “something for the front window of the ritziest florist in town”.
Leve’s full tasting notes can be found here. To see how his scores compare to those of other critics, visit our critic scores page.
[mc4wp_form id=”18204″]
