Bordeaux 2018 - Langtons tasting

I’m a self confessed Bordeaux lover and this was a interesting and confouding wine tasting in so far as despite each wine being distinctly different in character, I honestly could not differentiate (points or quality wise) between them - this is a first time for me to be in this quandary. They were all superb wines to my reckoning.

Interestingly, being unable to differentiate on quality, I found myself drawn instead to finding a moniker for each wine. Pichon Baron became ‘the structured classic’, Cos ‘the exuberant’, Cheval Blanc ‘the ethereal’, Mouton ‘the complete’, L’evangile ‘the luscious’, Canon ‘the elegant stylist’.

The tasting panel debate over the best wine seemed to bounced between Cheval Blanc, Mouton and the Canon. From memory the panel debate compared/contrasted the undeniably sophisticated completeness of the Mouton, to the unique lifted ‘specialness’ of the Cheval with the sheer alluring purity (and prospective allure) of the Canon.

I returned again and again to my tasting glasses trying to differentiate but simply couldn’t.

• 2018 Château L'Evangile 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  “The Luscious” - black fruits and a little plum. Full flavoured mouth feel but yet retained an elegance via its beautiful structure. Liquorice, truffle, spices, char

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• 2018 Château Canon 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Medium bodied. Black and red fruits. Fruit meets minerality and purity. Slightly closed but firm stylish structure suggests greatness ahead. A lovely graphite coolness. “The elegant stylist”

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• 2018 Château Cheval Blanc 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Red and black fruited beauty with a certain lifted floral character. Dry herbs and mixed spices. A real X factor wine - something ethereal about it. Initially for me seemed a little looser in structure than others but eventually took it as a broader taste spectrum across the palate. “The Ethereal”

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• 2018 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  For me this presented as a absolute classic Paulliac. Dark fruited and tannic - lovely balance of fruit and structure. It really hits you and portends of a long interesting future. I dubbed this ‘the structured classic’.

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• 2018 Château Cos d'Estournel 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  The most voluptuous of wines tasted. A real fruit cake experience. Mixed fruit with spices. Deep and brooding but still with an apparent frame of structure holding it all nicely together.

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• 2018 Château Mouton Rothschild 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  A very complete wine. Classic Bordeaux. Black currant, black berries, lead pencil and cigar. Everything in place and delicious even now.

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As a general comment on character I found these wines quite quite big and approachable but beautifully held together by great structure which balanced the tasting experience and making all these young wines stunning.

If pressed to pick, I think the Cheval Blanc has a special X factor quality that makes it stand out.