Producer note: As is usually the case, I met with Véronique Drouhin who had an interesting tagline for the 2018 vintage, calling "The Tranquil Force. The idea behind the phrase is to capture the vintage's deceptively easy-going nature as there is real power and energy hiding beneath the veneer of baby fat. Now things are much clearer but the winter and early spring did not begin propitiously as they were cold and very wet. Then, in seemingly the blink of an eye, a warm second half of April caused the vegetative cycle to explode. Remarkably, we saw the initial flowering on the 19th of May, and it was done in record time. The first signs of véraison were noticed in the middle of July though a very hot and dry August would see it advance slowly. Other than some early season mildew the season was essentially without disease pressure. Ultimately, we chose to pick quite slowly from the 29th of August to the 17th of September. In the vinifications we used more whole clusters then we usually do and in hindsight I'm glad that we did as the lower fermentations that accompany this style of vinification helped preserve the freshness. I am super enthusiastic about the aging prospects for the 2018 reds as I believe it will be a very long-lived vintage. With that said, the ripeness of the tannins and very good concentration should permit many wines to be enjoyed early on." After tasting through a wide range of the Drouhin 2018s I can see why she is so high on the vintage as many of the wines are excellent. Also, my sense is that the restrained and elegant Drouhin house style is well-suited to riper vintages and it appears to be especially successful in 2018. (Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., www.dreyfusashby.com, NY, USA; Pol Roger Ltd., www.polroger.co.uk, UK).
Tasting note: A fresh, cool and densely fruited nose display a broad variety of aromas that include menthol, cassis, smoked game, earth, anise and plenty of floral characters. The relatively refined medium weight plus flavors exude a fine bead of minerality on the tautly muscular finish where a hint of bitter cherry appears. This needs to develop better depth though the underlying material appears to be present for that to gradually occur with extended bottle age.
