Clos Fourtet 2018

The 2018 Clos Fourtet is one of the most elegant, refined wines of the vintage. Silky and aromatically expressive, Clos Fourtet is all grace. Blue/purplish fruit, lavender, spice, menthol and sage all lift from the glass. Even with all of the natural richness of the year, Clos Fourtet sizzles with tension and delineation. Then again, that is the magic of the Saint-Émilion plateau. Clos Fourtet is easy to look past in 2018. It is neither exuberant nor exotically ripe. Instead, everything is in reserve. The 2018 is a magical wine, that's all there is to it. Don't miss it.

Score: 98 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2028 - 2058 Date: 26 August 2021

The 2018 Clos Fourtet has a wonderful bouquet of mixed red and black fruit mingled with graphite and melted tar, all very focused and well delineated. The well-proportioned palate delivers fine-grained tannins, a perfect bead of acidity and very pure black fruit laced with tobacco toward the finish. I maintain that it is less flamboyant than recent vintages, which suits its well. This is going to age beautifully.

Score: 95 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2024 - 2044 Date: 18 August 2021

Beautiful all the way, the deep purple hued 2018 Château Clos Fourtet comes from one of the prized terroirs on the upper limestone plateau, just outside the village of Saint-Emilion. The blend is 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, and the balance Cabernet Sauvignon, brought up in 60% new French oak. Gorgeous minerality as well as cassis and ripe black cherry fruits emerge from this full-bodied 2018 that has lots of tobacco and spice-driven aromatics, again, an almost searing minerality, beautiful overall balance, and ripe, building tannins. It benefits from air if opening bottles anytime soon, and it’s going to benefit from 3-5 years of bottle age and cruise for two decades in cold cellars.

Score: 97 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Maturity: 2024 - 2044 Date: 19 July 2021

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2018 Clos Fourtet (a blend of 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 3% Cabernet Franc) opens with wonderfully pure, intense black fruit notes of ripe blackberries, crushed black cherries and warm plums, leading to suggestions of pencil lead, clove oil, black olives and aniseed. The medium to full-bodied palate is chock-full of muscular black fruits, delivering compelling vivacity and tension, framed by velvety tannins and finishing epically long and perfumed. The intense, bright, energetic fruit on this 2018 has been impeccably preserved. Stunning!

Score: 97 Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2025 - 2055 Date: 11 July 2021

Easily as good as the 2015 at this estate, the 2018 may even prove to be better after some ageing. There is depth and concentration to the berry fruits, but also a fine quality to the tannins and a softness overall that suggests nothing was pushed, that all of this power is simply what was naturally given by the vintage. It's very good quality, true to the confidence of the estate, pulsating with rich raspberry and damson notes and playing between a seductive gourmet edge and maintaining its limestone freshness. I have enjoyed a number of older vintages of this wine recently, and I feel pretty sure that this will grow into one of those wines that you are so happy to open after a few decades of ageing. 33hl/ha yield. 60% new oak.

Score: 97 Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2027-2043 Date: 15 April 2019

Dark plum and boysenberry fruit is laced with tobacco and chalk notes, while the fleshy grip slowly builds through the finish. This is seriously long, and though the fruit is gorgeous, the minerality steals the show in the end.

Score: 96 - 99 James Molesworth, Wine Spectator Date: 28 March 2019