2018 Clos du Marquis, St-Julien

The 2018 Clos du Marquis is composed of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc, with 13% press wine added back to the blend. Grapes were harvested September 18 to October 10, with yields of 35.5 hectoliters per hectare, and the wine has 14.5% alcohol. It will be aged in barriques, 55% new. The finished blend was put into barrels last December. Deep purple-black in color, it displays flamboyant scents of kirsch, crushed black cherries and warm cassis with hints of cinnamon stick, underbrush and chocolate box plus a waft of sandalwood. Full-bodied and built like a brick house with firm, grainy tannins and bold freshness supporting the muscular fruit, it finishes long and spicy.

Graphite is a marker that you often find in LLC but typically less so in Clos du Marquis, but it's here in 2018. This is a glass-staining purple colour, with a lovely rich quality to the autumnal blackberry and cassis fruits, with the balance of St-Julien and the intensity of the vintage. This is a good vintage to try out this wine, as you definitely get some of the signature of its elder statesman sibling. 55% new oak. Yield of 35.5hl/ha. 3.64pH.

The purple-fruit and black-olive character with violet undertones is wonderful here. Full-bodied, yet reserved and intense. Finesse. Graphite and minerality. Layered.

The 2018 Clos du Marquis is a powerful, heady Saint-Julien. Smoke, cedar, tobacco, menthol, licorice, iron, scorched earth and gravel all run through this potent, virile Saint-Julien. In 2018, Clos du Marquis is especially tannic. There is so much to like about Clos de Marquis in 2018, but it will need time in bottle. Best of all, it should be a solid value. The blend is 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc. Tasted two times.