2018 Château Beychevelle | MG

The 2018 Beychevelle has a very intense nose, easily the most flamboyant of the modern era, with precocious black cherries, creme de cassis and violet scents. The palate is medium-bodied with layers of toasty black fruit laced with white pepper and thyme that exert an insistent grip. This shows slightly better than from my tastings just after bottling, though I maintain that the 2019 is the better of the two vintages. Tasted at the Beychevelle vertical at the property.

- Neal Martin (04/2022)

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. Try after 2025. (04/2021)

The flagship 2018 Château Beychevelle is a more serious, concentrated, focused wine that still has that classic Saint-Julien purity of fruit as well as a wealth of fruit. Gorgeous notes of crème de cassis, chocolate-covered blueberries, violets, spring flowers, tobacco leaf, and cedar notes all emerge from the glass, and it's medium to full-bodied, with sweet tannins, moderate acidity, and a great, great finish. A blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, it's one of the sexiest, most up-front and irresistible wines in the vintage. Don't let that scare you, though; it's going to drink beautifully for 2-3 decades. (03/2021)

The 2018 Beychevelle is deep garnet-purple in color. It bounds out of the glass with bold notes of black cherry compote, dark chocolate, and blackcurrant pastilles, plus fragrant hints of violets, underbrush, and garrigue. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is coated with juicy black fruits and a firm, grainy texture, finishing long and perfumed. (02/2023)

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. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2023 through 2038.

- J.M.

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.

- Lisa Perrotti-Brown (03/2021)