This complicated year taught us many lessons, as it differed completely from the usual, very probably too simple, pattern of the great vintages. It may well be that the heavy rain which came at the end of September was, in fact, a help to the ripening of the Cabernet Sauvignon, as was likely the case in 1995, rather than having the opposite effect as we had feared. Whatever the explanation, this vintage ended up producing a wine which will go down in history for its classicism and purity.


The Cabernet Sauvignon has seldom achieved such a perfection of style and such good balance. What is even rarer perhaps, is to find in a young wine, only just after its blending, the ability to impress and move us at once through the purity of its fruit, the density of its structure and the harmony of its shape. It is a dream of a Margaux which is difficult to resist now, but has a huge potential to age. (October 2018)