Pomerol 2018 reappraised: the scores

In his series of appellation-by-appellation profiles, Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay revisits and re-tastes the 2018 vintage in Pomerol from bottle, finding a challenging, heterogeneous yet ultimately excellent vintage. Here are the scores.

In db’s reappraisal of the Pomerol 2018 vintage,  it is easy to forget that 2018 is was, in a way, a ‘miracle’ vintage. Halfway through the growing season, and in every appellation in the region, there were anxieties that not a single bottle of wine would be produced. However, through a combination of good luck (the longest, driest, hottest and sunniest summer on record) and more importantly, better wine-making (and also winemaking that is better adapted to global warming), there is freshness to be found in the best wines of the 2018 vintage.

The tasting process itself took place over over a 4-month period between September and December (due to the sheer complexity of assembling samples), with samples almost exclusively supplied by the châteaux themselves. Other than a handful of properties that I visited (which are identified in the tasting notes below), all samples were tasted in Paris. I have had no qualms about trying to taste these wines at their best. So, where I thought it might help reveal them at their best, I have not been reluctant to decant samples. I have also used a range of glassware from Grassl, Reidel, Zalto and Sydonios.

All wines (other than those tasted at the châteaux themselves) were tasted at least three times over a period of 48 hours. I am extremely grateful to all those who sent samples and to all those who helped me in the Herculean task of tracking down samples. Only two samples were rejected and, in both case, kindly replaced by the château.

For our full analysis see here, and for the full tasting notes, click here.