Château d'Agassac 2018

Critic scores

• Wine Enthusiast93
• James Suckling92
• Vinous91

The 2018 vintage in Haut-Médoc

Vintage benchmark: 95/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: After a spring marked by mildew, the heat concentrated a small crop: rich, ripe wines with great depth of material.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Haut-Médoc. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

Tasting

EYE: A red of a lovely deep garnet with violet highlights. This wine is radiant and brilliant. FIRST NOSE: The charming, spiced nose delivers, from the opening, successive waves of camphor and myrtle, the whole wrapped in a complex aromatic ensemble where one senses leather, delicate notes of eucalyptus and stewed black fruit. After swirling the glass, fragrances of kirsch-soaked morello cherries and black pepper appear. ON AERATION: As it opens, a dominant of peppery spice emerges, along with fragrances evoking clove and menthol. Notes of aged leather (within an empyreumatic weave suggesting incense smoke) are confirmed, supported by a fine, delicate oak. With a little oxygenation, the minerality of the nose develops scents of graphite. THE PALATE: Endowed with supple, generous tannins that envelop a firm texture still taking shape, the palate of this unctuous wine is dense with spiced flavors of long pepper, burnt cinnamon and Landes pine. The tender finish is underlined by camphor-like flavors that define the Agassac terroir in fine vintages. (Notes typical of wines from the Saint-Julien terroir).

Blend of the 2018 vintage

Terroir

The estate's two great assets lie in the quality of its terroir and in its precious capital of old vines. The terroir, with its warm, well-drained deep gravel soils and its exposure to the sun, is marked by a very early-ripening character, and Agassac is often the first to harvest in the region. The vineyard, made up of two walled blocks totalling 42 hectares, consists mainly of old vines — 40 years old on average across 22 hectares — which form the qualitative heart of production. Since 1997 the picture has been reshaped by grubbing up certain less worthy parcels and by planting Cabernet on the finest gravel soils, until then unplanted.