Château Margaux Bordeaux Blanc Pavillon Blanc 2018

A vintage where you appreciate the work and skill that goes into delivering this level of quality. The team at Château Margaux selects the freshest, most sculpted parts of the juice to make Pavillon Blanc, and they have produced here a wine that is all apricot and nectarine flesh, well textured and juicy with a smoky edge together with brilliant balance and grip. When I tasted this in bottle last year I described it as having just the right amount of fleshy mouthfeel and knife-edge freshness, and that is still true today. An early harvest of August 27 to 30, ensuring the grapes kept freshness in what was the warmest year since the beginning of the 20th century, with tempeatures 1.8C above the national average, with record-breaking temperatures in the last ten days of June and the first ten days of August, more than 3C above the 30-year average. You see that in the 17hl/h yield, but not in the flavours which have kept their juice. 3.05ph, same as 2017.