2018 Les Carmes Haut Brion

In the same realm as the magical 2016, the 2018 Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion comes from the talented Guillaume Pouthier, who has this estate firing on all cylinders. Checking in as an interesting blend of 37% Cabernet Franc, 34% Merlot, and 29% Cabernet Sauvignon, it was fermented with roughly 40% stems and is expected to spend 18-24 months in 75% new French oak. Its deep purple color is followed by an incredibly pure and complex bouquet of sweet cassis, crushed violets, graphite, smoke tobacco, and beautiful minerality. Medium to full-bodied, flawlessly balanced, and elegant on the palate, it shows a more vibrant, fresh side to the vintage, has terrific tannin quality, and is simply pure class any way you look at it. I was served the 1945 Carmes-Haut-Brion by Guillaume blind, and it reminded me of a ripe, youthful vintage from Haut-Brion. It certainly didn’t taste like a wine approaching 75 years in age! This is a magical terroir which is being maximized by Pouthier today. Believe the hype.

The 2018 Les Carmes Haut-Brion is one of the wines in this vintage that comes very close to its 2016 sibling. A wine of dazzling intensity and stature, Les Carmes Haut-Brion is simply magnificent. Rose petal, wild black cherry, sage, menthol, licorice and dried herbs add myriad shades of complexity to this explosive, dense wine. As always, Les Carmes is done with a fair amount of whole clusters, 40% in this case, but in 2018, the maturity is such that the stems are very well integrated into the wine's fabric. The blend is 37% Cabernet Franc, 34% Merlot and 29% Cabernet Sauvignon.