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Tasting notes
The 2018 Balthus from Château de Reignac has a high-toned, iodine-tinged bouquet of cassis and crushed violet aromas, just a little too showy, perhaps. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent ripe tannins, fleshy and rounded, slightly granular rather than silky in texture. Quite spicy toward the finish. This is a thoroughly enjoyable pure Merlot that just needs to evolve a bit more personality.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
A special cuvée from Reignac, the 2018 Château De Reignac Balthus offers lots of red and black currant-like fruits as well as cedarwood, dried herbs, chocolate, and graphite notes. It's nicely concentrated, medium-bodied, has firm yet ripe tannins, and a great finish. This is an outstanding wine. However, it needs a solid 4-5 years of bottle age, and it should keep for another decade after that.
The 2018 Balthus, the estate's pure Merlot, is laced with inky dark fruit, crème de cassis, licorice, graphite, cloves, chocolate and lavender. Here, too, I find the wine lacking in mid-palate depth. I would prefer to drink the 2018 sooner rather than later, before the fruit dries out and the tannins become overpowering.
100% Merlot. Cold maceration (6 °C) for six days prior to fermentation. Fermentation in new oak barrels using the method patented by owner Vatelot with skin and seeds, including post-fermentation maceration. The wine is then run off into barrel for malolactic conversion. Aged in 100% new oak barrels, stirring the lees in the barrels stacked using the Oxoline system for up to 19 months. Deep, healthy crimson. Liquorice flavour and very ripe but (just) not too much. Though a bit severely pinched on the end. This is only just exaggerated but with food many palates would really enjoy this carefully made wine. But its just a bit pastiche-like on the finish. Not my style and with a light raisin character. (JR)