2018 Cantemerle: Excellent, again.

[JimHow]

Tasted now three times, it has been consistently excellent. This is the best Cantemerle since the 2010 vintage. A lovely medium bodied elegance, true to its terroir, nothing overbearing like many of the other 2018s I've tried. Another strong 93 point performance.

[un bureaucrate]

I haven’t tried any ’18 Bordeaux yet, but Cantemerle was my first love. Now I’ll have to try a bottle out. How long would you recommend to decant?

[JimHow]

I popped and poured, UB, this wine is lovely. It seems to harness the best of 2018, lovely fruit, while avoiding the worst of it, the overbearing alcohol. Tasted three times now, consistently elegant and classy every time, seemingly a pleasant aberration in the vintage.

[dstgolf]

Jim,

I don't know HOW you drink them so young Regardless you enabled a 1st sampling of my 2010 6 pack tonight. Great nose of cassis and bing cherry. On its own the tannins are still very present and puckering to drink alone before dinner even with a 1.5hr decant. With the braised beef roast this was outstanding though pushing those tannins into the background and smoothing out this dark beauty. With a small pour left after dinner it puckered me up again. Loved the wine but this is still a baby and I'll try to hold off for another 4-5 yrs before cracking the next or just ensuring we've got a good fatty piece of red meet to pair up. I can't imagine what the 18 tannins are like and I think I've got a 6 pack buried somewhere in the cellar that I won\t be cracking soon. Thanks for the enablement.

[DavidG]

LOL Danny! My local tasting group back in the 90s had a love for big, young, strapping, tannic wines. We called ourselves the Tannin Pigs.

Jim, for your unabashed enjoyment of young Bordeaux, and for your demonstration of the ideals upon which the group was founded, I herby bestow upon you honorary membership in the Tannin Pigs, with all of the rights and privileges of membership attendant to such exalted status. Our secret sign (do not divulge this upon pain of expulsion) is to push up the tip of your nose with the back of your clenched fist and squeal.

[Nicklasss]

Jim,

I don't know HOW you drink them so young Regardless you enabled a 1st sampling of my 2010 6 pack tonight. Great nose of cassis and bing cherry. On its own the tannins are still very present and puckering to drink alone before dinner even with a 1.5hr decant. With the braised beef roast this was outstanding though pushing those tannins into the background and smoothing out this dark beauty. With a small pour left after dinner it puckered me up again. Loved the wine but this is still a baby and I'll try to hold off for another 4-5 yrs before cracking the next or just ensuring we've got a good fatty piece of red meet to pair up. I can't imagine what the 18 tannins are like and I think I've got a 6 pack buried somewhere in the cellar that I won\t be cracking soon. Thanks for the enablement.

The 2010 Cantemerle is amazing for the price. Complex, good body, young and grumpy, but still very drinkable. Happy to read you liked it Danny, and that you still have 5 bottles left.

And Jim, and don't think i will start chasing more 2018, but the Cantemerle might be the exception. Thanks for reporting.

[JimS]

Another one worth considering in the same vein would be Rauzan Segla in 2018. I think they handled the vintage quite well. Hard to ever go wrong with Cantemerle though…just can’t beat the QPR and in the right vintages, when it’s on, it’s on….

[un bureaucrate]

Finally tried a bottle with friends over dinner out this past Thursday night, following ’08 La Grande Dame and ’17 Trimbach Frederic Emile. Paired with filet/foie, ’18 Cantemerle delivered the goods. Definitely picking up more of this one.

[William P]

James, it's better than 2016? I'll have to try it, if I see it.

[un bureaucrate]

Second bottle this past Saturday night, at a restaurant, with a friend. This time, I opted to decant for two hours in advance, to see what we’d get as a result. Following some hearty appetizers and cocktails (old fashioned and mojito for me), we tasted and drank the wine over two hours, first with a truffle-y egg pasta, then with spit-roasted pork. The ’18 Cantemerle did not disappoint, coming on more velvety on the palate and floral on the nose this time than last; my friend noticed more oak than I did, though he thought it worked well; an excellent compliment to the food, although between the two, it was at times difficult to deduce which was orchestra, and which was soloist. Lighter end of medium-bodied, longer end of short persistence. We finished the bottle, and concluded our meal with malmsey Madeira and butterscotch bread pudding. The next day, still thought for some time on the bottle. Another success.

[JimHow]

Mmmmm well done UB.
Agree on the “lighter end of medium bodied” note, a welcome relief in 2018.