2018 Pedesclaux

An estate that continues to shine, the 2018 Château Pedesclaux is a rich, ripe, sexy Pauillac offering loads of ripe cassis fruits as well as lead pencil, chocolate, and violets. Seemingly even richer now from bottle than barrel, it's full-bodied and has a round, concentrated mouthfeel, lots of ripe tannins, good freshness, and a great finish. A rich, powerful Pauillac, it's going to need 4-6 years to shed some baby fat but should be very long lived.

The 2018 Pédesclaux was rather perplexing when I tasted it from barrel. It still has an opulent bouquet of blackberry, bilberry and blueberry fruit laced with iris petals, although I now discern greater control. The palate is medium-bodied with sweet black fruit, generous and a little chewy still. The finish is slightly one-dimensional compared to other recent vintages, and there’s a touch of bitterness on the finish. I wanted to like this Pauillac more than I do.