2018 Château Potensac

The 2018 Potensac has an outgoing nose of wild strawberry and raspberry notes and touches of meat juices, a slight gaminess emerging with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with edgy, crisp tannins. Quite tight on the entry, it finds its groove in the second half, displaying commendable delineation and tension on the graphite-tinged, slightly austere finish. Fine.

The Grand Vin 2018 Château Potensac (45% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Cabernet Franc, and the balance Petit Verdot) sports a deeper purple, almost opaque hue to go with lots of ripe black cherry and currant-like fruits intermixed with notes of toasty oak, tobacco, graphite, and earth. Richer and more concentrated than the Chapelle de Potensac release, with full-bodied richness and building tannins, it's going to benefit from a solid 5-7 years of bottle age and keep for 15+.