Chateau Beychevelle - Beychevelle St Julien 2018 (750ml)
Price: $135.99
Producer | Chateau Beychevelle |
Country | France |
Region | Bordeaux |
Varietal | Bordeaux |
Vintage | 2018 |
Sku | 3228 |
Beychevelle 2018 can be characterized by two words: Harmony and Concentration. This vintage presents a balanced rarely achieved at this stage. A bouquet of well-ripened red and black fruit invites us to sample the intense, harmonious palate. Very silky tannins accompanied by fruit bursting with freshness and concentration. 2018 will join the list of Chateau Beychevelle's truly exceptional vintages.
Blend: 50% Merlot, 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc
Vinous: 96 Points
An unabashedly flamboyant, exotic wine, the 2018 Beychevelle possesses tremendous richness and raciness right out of the gate. Inky dark fruit, chocolate, licorice, spice, menthol and espresso infuse this sumptuous Saint-Julien with striking aromatic and flavor complexity. Soft contours and silky tannins add to its irresistibly sensual personality. Time in the cellar should help the new oak assimilate, but readers should be prepared for a full-throttle, heady wine.
Wine Spectator: 95 Points
Violet and warm cassis aromas and flavors lead the way, melding with applewood, ganache, açaí and blueberry reduction notes along the way. Almost lush in the end, but there's a buried tarry streak giving it just a bit of grippy texture for contrast. Serious juice.
Wine Advocate: 95 Points
Aged for around 18 months in barrel, 60% new and 40% second fill, the 2018 Beychevelle needs a fair bit of swirling to release classic notes of cassis, plum preserves and ripe blackberries, with emerging suggestions of unsmoked cigars, tilled soil and cedar chest, plus a waft of pencil lead. The medium to full-bodied palate is still very tightly wound, offering finely packed black fruit and earthy layers within a frame of firm, grainy tannins and just enough freshness, finishing long and mineral laced. This will need a good 5-6 years to come around and then will drink beautifully over the next 20+ years.
Wine Enthusiast: 94 Points
There is attractive tension in this wine between the dry tannins and opulently ripe black fruits. That sets the wine on a course of long-term aging. Bold, dense fruits are matched by the dry core.
James Suckling: 94 Points
Currants and blackberries with crushed stone and fresh herbs. Some flower stem, too. It’s full-bodied, yet tight and linear with firm, driven tannins. This needs four or five years of bottle age to open and come together.