The 2018 vintage in Saint-Émilion
Vintage benchmark: 96/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)
Vintage character: After the mildew, the heat concentrated a small harvest: rich, ripe and very dense wines.
Overall reading of the year’s season across Saint-Émilion. 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.
The vintage
Manual harvest. Merlots on 28 and 29 September and on 1, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11 and 12 October, Cabernets Franc on 16 October. Yield of 46 hl/ha; 41% of the grapes and juices selected for the grand vin.
Blend of the 2018 vintage
- 97 % Merlot
- 3 % Cabernet franc
Shares for this vintage, as recorded on the 2018 technical sheet. The vineyard itself is planted with 99 % merlot, 1 % cabernet franc — a vintage blend departs from the area under vine as the year dictates.
Figures from the 2018 sheet
- 14.5 % vol.Alcohol
- 46 hl/haYield
Winemaking
Whole-berry vatting by gravity. Plot-by-plot vinification in small concrete vats. Gentle mixed extraction by punching down and pumping over. Protective macerations aimed at more flesh and salinity.
Ageing
Reductive ageing on fine lees, partly in barrels and partly in oak foudres.
1st racking after 4 to 6 months of ageing. 2nd racking one year later, before bottling.
Terroir
Plateau of chestnut-coloured and red clays over asteriated limestone, with east-facing terraces and west-facing slopes of very chalky, fine bluish clays.
An offer on Château Laroque 2018
Availability, allocations and terms: the Compagnie Médocaine will reply promptly. The estate and vintage are already filled in in the message.
Texts and documents 2018
The texts below copy in one click for your product sheets, catalogues and social channels. The printable sheet condenses the whole page onto a single A4 page.
Visuals
This wine’s visuals are grouped in the media library. High-definition packshots, labels, back labels and lifestyle photos are reserved for clients and partners, on the Compagnie Médocaine’s VinCod media library.