2018 Château La Tour Carnet

The 2018 La Tour Carnet is not quite as overripe as I feared on the nose, though I have still tasted plenty of other vintages that show more delineation. It turns very earthy with aeration and over several hours of opening, if anything, closes up instead of opens. The palate is medium-bodied with dense, grippy tannins. There is adequate freshness here, although some sinew on the finish takes away from its finesse. Give this some bottle age and I suspect it will repay you.

Lots of impressive cassis and currant fruit as well as tobacco, lead pencil, new leather, and spice notes emerge from the 2018 Château Tour Carnet. It's a medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced, elegant 2018 with good concentration, ripe tannins, a solid spine of acidity, and outstanding length. It's well worth buying multiple bottles and is going to drink brilliantly for 15 years or more.

The 2018 La Tour Carnet has calmed down a bit since I tasted it in barrel, but it still delivers plenty of punch. Inky dark red fruit, cedar, mint, dried herbs, mocha and pipe tobacco give the 2018 notable complexity. Somber and a bit brooding, the 2018 is going to need a few years to be at its best, which is always the case here. Bernard Magrez makes a wide range of compelling wines. La Tour Carnet is one of his finest.