2018 Château d'Issan

Community Tasting Notes

Community Tasting Notes (38) Avg Score: 92.5 points

  • Still really young, but smooth with bright bright red fruit.

    Decant for 90 minutes before drinking for best results.

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  • Suckling Wines of the World: this was good but not a standout particularly when compared to the 2016. Black fruits and decent typicity, it will no doubt get better as it ages.

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  • Fragrant bouquet and prominent fruit and surprisingly integrated tannins. Drinking well now as a youthful wine but with the bones to go to the distance. The hot year is evident in the prominence of the fruit but its not baked or too hot. Very enjoyable.

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  • Quite nice. Tasting notes as before.

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  • Really nice wine for the $20 I bought it for from Costco.

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  • Three 2018 Left Bank Wines: Tasted over a long afternoon and evening, alongside the same vintage Romefort

    Bouquet of spring flowers, equal parts red and purple fruits and berries, red berry liqueurs, sweet herbs, and pipe tobacco, with pyrazine, graphite, and worn leather accents.

    Notably open knit, typical of this ripe vintage. Red plum and raspberry elements shroud a blackcurrant core. Leaning modern, particularly in terms of fruitiness and paucity of unmistakable terroir. Very clean as well. Also, quite boozy...no bell ringer. The combination of fruitiness, light terroir markers, cleanness, and booziness might reasonably place this, in a blind tasting, as an Argentine - Bordeaux collaboration.

    More positively, medium acid and medium minus tannins hold the liquid compactly. Generally balanced oak treatment. Not an extender ager. Holding this through 2038 seems iffy. This noted, cellaring bottles for five to seven years recommended.

    My preference ran decidedly to the restrained rusticity of the Romefort.

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  • Edrúarsmakk Eðalklúbbsins 2023 (Marbakkabraut 12): Umhellt í u.þ.b. 5 klst. Mjög svipaður litur og á Marquis d'Alesme víninu. Unglegur litur. Sólber, leður í nefi. Blóð, blek og kaffi á tungu. Einnig pappakassi, ákveðin beiskja og græn tannín. Mér fannst þetta vín koma virkilega vel út.

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  • Deep dark reddish-purple garnet in color. Full, forward & attractive nose of ripe fruit aromas of dark cherries, cassis & plums with earthy/dusty & herbal overtones, floral notes, spices, coffee, minerals, cocoa & a touch of cedar in the background. Medium bodied with a very good concentration of well balanced & smooth textured, plush, ripe fruit flavors of cherries, blueberries & plums with herbs, minerals, spices & oak/vanilla. Lingering finish. Drinks well at present with decanting & extended airing but will develop further with additional aging at which time it may merit a higher score (94+).

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  • Perfect color.
    Plum, strawberry, chocolate, and oak on the nose
    On the palate citrus, earth, cherry, vanilla, spice. After decanting ripe plum, currant, and tea.
    Good balance, strong acidity, and medium tannins.
    Thick, full-bodied wine. very good, exactly what I expect from a Bordeaux

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  • 2018 chateau d’issan
    Citrus fruit. High toned perfumed cedar and mint. Changes with air. Can smell glass from 6 ft away. Mossy covered rocks in Forrest type smell. Tobacco. Sandalwood. Just a touch of vanilla from oak. Not too much oak. Violets and honeysuckles. Little black pepper spice. Feminine. Very good. Closest comparison would be giscours. 15 second finish. Not too tannic. Drinking really well today. Happy new year.
    96

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  • Youthful , tight, needs air time

    Nose has that alder wood note I associate with this producer. Nicely integrated with dark fruit notes and hints of spice.

    Palate is silky smooth with notes of burnt wood and buttered popcorn. Odd but definitely accurate.
    finishes with nice length and lovely dark fruit.
    Would buy again.

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  • The wine must have been corked. The nose was almost completely dead and gone. Leaving behind only some tannins and a bit of acid on the pallet. Sadly, unable to comment on the progression due to the flaw.

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  • Coravin access. Tasted alongside the same vintage Branaire-Ducru.

    Suave and pretty bouquet, featuring red and purple berries, violets, candied fruit, and toasted oak. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon characteristics show about equally, although not yet integrated. A light jolt of alcohol appears at the back.

    The wine tastes like it smells. At once open-knit (Merlot) and reticent (Cabernet Sauvignon). The wine's integration will be intriguing to follow. Medium acid, medium tannin. Merlot imparted tannins seem ripe, but those imparted by Cabernet Sauvignon show an edgy bite.

    Too young. All elements present suggest no more than medium term cellaring potential, perhaps through 2038 or so. Recommend holding bottles for three to five years...to gain a better read. If the wine integrates fully, modest improvement seems possible. 92-93.

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  • This bottle was slightly corked, a shame, as it has lovely substance and florals underneath. One of my favorite 2018s to be sure.

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  • Popped open for four hours before the first glass. More open and approachable than one would think, the nose is quite engaging: blackberries, cigar box complexity, fresh cherries, cedar and pencil lead. All through the nose and palate there’s a lovely floral quality. Silky and fine tannins, with a medium body and a deep core. One to age, yet still quite enjoyable today. Not sure if there will be a dumb phase. Drink 2025 -.

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  • Coravin’d and blind tasted alongside a Troplong Mondot 2019 and Chateau Giscours 2019. The wine won.

    Lovely nose of sweet fruit—almost like a St Emilion. Very nice on the palate. Needs a long decant if drunk now. Too young certainly.

    Should get more of this. At $70 or so this is very good value.

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  • kind of generically young left bank at this point, and with a ripeness that might even have you thinking new world, but the 18 Issan is really well made. Broad shouldered, densely concentrated and still a bit lactic at this point, it’s a wine to hold.

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  • Opened one of these as Costco had them, surprisingly, so I picked up a couple more beyond the four I already had, so thought I'd try one. This is more closed than the '19, which is far more approachable now. This doesn't has as much of the house style that I'm used to - has more of a blueberry liqueur and Christmas cake aspect; really far too young to comment on really. Pretty similar two days later; kind of muddled, and still too tightly wound - this is one to forget about for a long time. The '19 is far more open for business now by comparison, and has more of the lovely house style at least at this stage.

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  • Dalem 2018
    TD-9 2018
    d’Issan 2018
    Guidalberto 2016
    Guado al Tasso 2012

    Guado had aged nicely. Really impressive. Good cab sauv expression. And some green bell pepper from the cab franc. WOTN

    d’Issan delivers way above Dalem. Some violets. True to the Margaux concept. Not shut down, not backwards. Could use a decant though

    Dalem had a slightly unpleasant Merlot profile. Meeh. Not my cup of tea

    Guidalberto surprised us. Really developed and hard to see how this would improve much. Lovely wine and beautiful Italian expression of merlot (in the fore).

    TD-9 did not disappoint. Merlot roasted coffee and some oaky backdrop. Good wine but very different from the other ones in this set up. Can probably use some age to gather things to a tighter package.

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  • Not decanted. From 375 ml bottle. Consumed over 4 hours. A very good Chateau d'Issan. I think this will be even a better wine with 7-10 more years in the cellar. 92+ pts. at the moment.

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  • My third vintage from this producer: 1981, 2010 and 2018.
    Pnp: One can really sense the quality here and the first sips are, as so often, wonderful, and tells you what will happen with this wine as all the liquid content in the bottle has matured.
    Fruity, a bit on the sweet side, but not fruit forward. This wine also has an attractive touch of perfume.
    This is a big step up from the 2010.
    Drinks quite well just after opening. Will drink over 10 days and update accordingly. 94-95 pts.

    After a few days I decide to upgrade to 95-96 pts - this is just wonderful.

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  • Pretty wine, just a small sample, but presents itself as refined, well balanced, with the youthful ripeness and intensity of the vintage. Issan is always a fabulous buy and 2018 is no exception.

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  • Doesn’t have the refinement of the Rauzan-Segla or the intensity of the Palmer. Still a success for the vintage as it’s not too dense and retains the typical violet Margaux nose. Tannins a bit coarse and prominent, with blue and red fruits. Just a hint of cedar spice oak influence mixed in. Solid, but needs some time soften.

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  • Dark dense red, decanted for 3 hrs
    N: prunes, red berries, lingonberries, caramell, black currants
    P: as nose plus strawberries, black peppercorns
    Good acidity, pronounced tannins but with balance and is drinking surprisingly well already
    The wine feels elegant and pure and has enough structure for a long life. Could be 94-95 pts.

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  • It’s good…. Not sure I would say amazing and at $120 one can do better…. I would buy pichon baron or the leoville wines instead as they can be found for a range close to this.

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  • Plums on the nose and palate. Some musty dry dust and salt spray on the nose. The profile was good with a nice balanced and lengthy finish.

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  • Black raisin, berry jam, vanilla. Could cellar for many more years.

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  • Black raisin, berry jam, vanilla.

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  • Pur ung Margaux Chateau d’Issan 2018 med 40% merlot/60% CS, dekantert i 3 timer og første sup var litt sånn all-over-the-place. Men samler seg bra med luft.
    Vinen er purpur på farge, klar og ren og nærmest uten kant.
    Intens på duft og vi finner solbær, lysere bærtoner som kirsebær, vi finner lær, bestefars pipe og «utluftede røkejakke».
    I munnen gir den gass; høy syre, overraskende elegante tanniner og lang lengde, god fylde, men har slanket seg noe med luft.
    Dette er en overraskende tilgjengelig Bordeaux for en som ikke er ekspert på området. Elegant og balansert, men har selvsagt mye å gå på og blir spennende å følge.

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  • Tasted side by side 2018 and 2018 Chsteau d'Issan. Photo uploaded here.

    18 Issan
    Prominent green bellpepper, some violet, mint, blackcurrant juice, blackberry, cedar, some tobacco. Medium body, supple yet maintaining good freshness and tension. 92

    19 Issan
    Riper fruits than 18 and less pronounced herbaceous notes. A bit jammy, lacking the floral charm of 18. A bit rough tannin that needs time 90.

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  • This was a really satisfying and well-composed wine that deserves more attention than the estate tends to get. It came across as a throwback style at first, with a tannic bite and slightly tart red currant flavors that gave me a little petite madeleine moment to Bordeaux from the before-times when it was expected to give you some pushback and growl on release. I checked the reviews and thought they were all smoking crack describing a silky, black-fruited wine. But this transforms in a dramatic way over the course of the bottle and lo and behold those tannins do indeed turn remarkably refined, the fruit tones turn from very red to something blacker, and it reveals a layer of gravelly sensations underneath. It's civilized and supple and there is really nothing that would have given this away as a hot-vintage wine. I went back and bought more.

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  • Regular Bordeaux, nothing special

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  • Rob brought this over

    EXTREMELY young! Drank over seven hours (long decant)
    Purple+iodine in color.
    Oak and vanilla off the nose. Gobs of red and dark fruit.
    Dry, high acidity, medium finish. Good wine but needs a lot of time. Thus the low points (for now).

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  • lovely margaux flowers. violets actually

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  • 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot
    from mounds of gravel and 15-metre (50-foot) high alluvial hills
    in the middle of Margaux.
    Manual harvest. Vinified by lot in gravity fed stainless steel vats.
    3-week maceration, followed by malolactic fermentation.
    50% new oak barrels.
    13.97% Abv.
    Proprietors: The Cruse (Emmanuel, 3rd gen) and Lorenzetti
    (Francoise & Jacky who also own Château Pedesclaux) Families
    Consulting Enologist: Eric Boissenot

    A(ccuray)=2: Med deep ruby/red. Intense, floral Margaux.
    B(alance)=3: Distinctive fruit with polished structure.
    C(omplexity)=2: Berries, plum, graphite, violet, mineral.
    D(epth)=2: Plush mouthfeel. Full palate and lingering finish.

    Wine Tally Score [2,3,2,2]= 9/10

    Finesse and elegance.

    For story-telling label graphics, see:
    [https://www.instagram.com/p/CPfNf3WN5A1/]
    [https://www.facebook.com/WineTally/]
    For a unique multimedia resource, see
    [https://winetally.wixsite.com/vingnette]

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  • Silky, fresh, floral and pure, this gorgeous vintage of d'Issan is just great. The violet and lilac bouquet, with accents of tobacco leaf, cedar, crème de cassis attracts you right off the bat. On the palate, the wine is refined, elegant and shows its purity, freshness and silky textures with no effort. Give it 7-9 years in the bottle and enjoy it over the following 2-decades or more. The wine blends 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot.

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  • Bordeaux 2018 barrel tasting (Papiersaal Sihlcity, Zürich): Barrel sample tasted at a merchant event in Zurich. Out of a sample of 12 wines, my main conclusions were: 1) again a strong vintage as pundits claim with ripe fruit profiles the common theme, and 2) generally elevated alcohol levels proved less of an issue on the palate than I feared with hardly any unwanted heat on the palate. Within this small sample, my highlights were Calon Ségur (98) and Rauzan-Ségla (98) with Pichon Baron (97) not far behind.

    Fresh but not quite ripe fruit in the nose with a greenish sting to it as well where I wasn‘t entirely sure whether intentional. Solid but not more in my eyes. Haven‘t had many encounters with d‘Issan, only tasted the 2001 (92) once and that was playing in a quite similar league. 89-90

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  • Cherry blossoms, smoke, forest floor, licorice and blackberry aromas open the wine. The wine is full-bodied, round, sweet, juicy and just a little bit spicy. You can feel the vitality in the ripe, red plums and black currants which accent the finish. From a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, the wine reached 13.97% alcohol. The Grand Vin was produced using 53% of the harvest. The picking took place September 24 to October 11. 94-96 Pts

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