2018 Wine

Vintage 2018: two seasons, one and the same sunny signature

The 2018 vintage will be remembered for its extreme climatic contrast. A very wet winter and spring saturated the soils with water and raised a serious threat of downy mildew, before an exceptionally hot and dry summer set in durably through to harvest. This spring water reserve allowed the vines to resist the summer drought, particularly on clay-limestone terroirs. The result is a year of full ripeness, generous and alcoholic, whose success hinged on two fronts: controlling downy mildew in the spring, then preserving freshness through the heatwave. Where both challenges were met, 2018 produced ample and profound wines across almost every region of France.

Bordeaux 2018 — Classic power born from a battle against downy mildew

In Bordeaux, the first part of the year demanded constant vigilance: persistent humidity fuelled one of the most intense downy mildew pressures of the decade, costing several properties a portion of their harvest, including Château Pontet-Canet. The climate then changed dramatically, with July recording the highest temperatures since 1954 and dry, sunny conditions lasting through to the end of October. The whites were harvested from late August to mid-September, the reds from 7 September to mid-October. The result is powerful, opulent wines with ripe tannins and a dense structure, in a style built for ageing that harks back to the great classic Bordeaux.

On the Left Bank, the cabernet sauvignons achieved full phenolic ripeness: in Saint-Estèphe, Château Montrose displays remarkable density and tannic structure, while in Saint-Julien, Château Léoville Las Cases delivers a wine of impressive concentration and length, emblematic of the vintage's style. The first growths of Pauillac and the great terroirs of Pessac-Léognan confirm this thoroughbred power, while Margaux seduces with more restrained degrees and an elegant finish. On the Right Bank, merlot yielded fleshy and sensual wines: in Pomerol, Château Lafleur was hailed as one of the absolute peaks of the vintage, and in Saint-Émilion, Château Pavie illustrates the velvety generosity of the year on the limestone plateau. For sweet wines, Sauternes and Barsac benefited from a beautiful autumn. The selection of 2018 classified growths offered by SoDivin can be found among the great wines of Bordeaux, to be reserved for lovers of long ageing.

Rhône Valley 2018 — The North spared, the South put to the test by downy mildew

The Rhône Valley illustrates the two faces of 2018 better than any other region. In the north, the vineyards largely escaped the downy mildew that was rife elsewhere; after the wet spring, heat and drought ripened an abundant and highly concentrated syrah. Acidity is low and alcohol levels high, but growers who managed to find balance produced Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage and Cornas of remarkable depth. The south experienced the opposite scenario: one of the most severe outbreaks of downy mildew in generations caused many estates to lose half their harvest, so that success, very real among the growers who were spared, is more uneven there.

In Côte-Rôtie, Paul Jaboulet Aîné delivers a dense and velvety Hermitage La Chapelle, carried by deep dark fruit, while Stéphane Ogier and his cuvée La Belle Hélène, sourced from the oldest vines on the Côte-Rozier, combine power and mineral tension. Domaine Jamet confirms the smoky, peppery finesse of its Côte-Rôtie, and Guigal elevates La Landonne to a level that Decanter ranks among the peaks of the year. The contrast with a more generous and immediately approachable southern Rhône is all the more striking.

Burgundy 2018 — Solar generosity and preserved freshness

Burgundy experienced a year that was both high in quality and abundant — a rare combination. After a very wet winter and spring — more than 120 mm of rain in both January and March — summer settled in with temperatures one to two degrees above normal and dry conditions, disturbed only by two hailstorms south of Nuits-Saint-Georges. The key challenge was to harvest early, from the end of August for the whites, in order to preserve acidity in the face of rapidly advancing ripeness. The whites are generally more consistent than the reds, and the Côte de Beaune, along with the cool terroirs of the Hautes-Côtes, Saint-Aubin and Pernand-Vergelesses, made particularly good use of the vintage.

In Chablis, Vincent Dauvissat and his grand cru Les Clos counter the warmth of the vintage with a saline gunflint character and chiselled concentration. In the Côte de Nuits, Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg delivers pure and silky reds with a caressing texture and precise tannin grain. The great 2018 reds seduce with their immediate fruit without surrendering any of their ageing potential, as demonstrated by the Cros Parantoux from Emmanuel Rouget mentioned above.

Champagne 2018 — The opening of a great series

Champagne places 2018 among the great ageing vintages. Spring rains and a few hailstorms in the Côte des Bar called for close monitoring of the vineyards, then the hot, dry summer led to an early harvest from 20 August onwards, with high yields authorised by the trade association. Pinot noir achieved remarkable phenolic ripeness and chardonnay, despite acidity put to the test by the heat, proved to be brilliant. The result is wines that are dense yet fresh, destined for a long evolution, opening a sequence of great Champagne vintages.

On the chalks of Mesnil-sur-Oger, André Robert and his Terres du Mesnil Blanc de Blancs capture the saline precision and depth that grand cru chardonnay can offer in this ripe vintage: a grower's Champagne reserved for the terroirs and vintages that deserve it, at once vinous and taut. Among the other reference wines of this Champagne vintage, we also find Pascal Agrapart and his Grand Cru Minéral 2018.

Loire and Alsace 2018 — The triumph of sweet chenins and late-harvest wines

The great summer of 2018 was a windfall for sweet wine vineyards. In the Loire, the heat and sunshine brought chenin blanc to a rare level of ripeness, with botrytis and passerillage conducive to concentrated and luminous sweet wines, while the dry whites and reds of the appellation benefited from the same generosity. In Alsace, the sunshine yielded ample, ripe wines and made possible some superb late harvests.

In Vouvray, Domaine Huet and its Le Mont Moelleux Première Trie marry honey and quince paste with a vibrant acidity that keeps the wine airy. In Alsace, Domaine Marcel Deiss, faithful to its co-plantings, delivers whites of great density, and the late-harvest wines of Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss confirm the success of the year for sweet cuvées. These bottles extend, even into the northern terroirs, the sunny signature of 2018.

The 2018 vintage, an already indispensable modern reference

The 2018 vintage is for those who love generous, sunny years without sacrificing depth. It is a vintage of substance and patience, whose greatest bottles will continue to improve for many years to come, while the whites, Champagnes and sweet wines already offer immediate pleasure. To compare 2018 with other great vintages and identify bottles at their peak, keep the SoDivin Vintage Guide close at hand.