2018 Château Grand Tayac

Currants, cassis, spicy oak, and dried flower notes emerge from the 2018 Château Grand Tayac. This medium-bodied, nicely textured, balanced Margaux has good mid-palate depth as well as ripe tannins. It should drink nicely for 10-12 years.

Full bottle 1,246 g. 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot (not sure if that is the vineyards or this wine). Vines 57 years old. 26 days on skins post fermentation, aged in French oak. 35,000 bottles produced. Deep cherry red. There’s oak’s sweet spice but it is tied in with the black and dark-red fruit as well as a cedary freshness and a savoury aspect. Smells fresh and rather refined because the fruit is not too sweet. Chewy and quite thick in tannin texture, not quite what I expected from the aroma. The oak seems to be thickening the tannins here. A bit hard work once you put it in your mouth. Needs time. (JH)

Very attractive ripe fruit with floral, cedar and sandalwood aromas that follow through to a medium to full body with intense, chewy tannins that give the wine excellent structure. They remain polished. It’s a wine that needs time to come together. Try after 2025.