Chateau d'Issan 2018
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Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert - Decanter
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Dunnuck
Jeb
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The final blend took place in mid-January with an obvious, well-balanced selection. The 2018 vintage of Château d’Issan has intensity. The precision of the Merlot fruit is offering a great attack on the palate. It moves on to become more profound thanks to the Cabernet in this great vintage, reminiscent of 2016.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of blackberry, plum, cocoa, iodine, clove and graphite. It’s medium-to full-bodied with firm, silky tannins. Tightly wound and mineral at the moment, with dusty gravel and graphite notes, yet with focus and precision. Such balance and harmony for the vintage. Try from 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 D'Issan is composed of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, aging in 50% new and 50% second year barrels for an estimated 18 months. With 13.97% alcohol and a deep garnet-purple color, it features baked berries, warm cherries and cassis with spice box and fragrant earth plus tea hints. Medium to full-bodied, it has a great core of muscular fruit with firm, fine-grained tannins, with nice freshness, finishing layered with mineral notions. Barell Sample: 94-96
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Decanter
Well-balanced, fleshed out by redcurrant, raspberry and black cherry fruits. There is tannic build-up, gently layering but adding up to quite the wall at this stage, suggesting a long life ahead, and beautifully judged cigar smoke edging through the finish. Good stuff from Issan, and a wine I have tasted both at en primeur and during ageing in barrel. 50% new oak.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The top wine, the 2018 Château D'Issan is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot that spent 18 months in 50% new French oak. It offers a beautiful, singular bouquet of blackcurrants, new leather, smoked tobacco, scorched earth, and camphor. This carries to a medium to full-bodied, seamless Margaux with wonderful tannins, beautifully integrated acidity, and just a flawlessly balanced, elegant, layered style that's going to evolve for 20-25 years. It's one classy 2018 that has loads to love.
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Wine &
Château d’Issan is in the heart of the Margaux appellation, a truly privileged location, which explains the outstanding quality of its wines. The mild weather, regulated by being close to the sea and the Gironde Estuary, provides ideal conditions for vine growth. The vines at Château d’Issan benefit from close, on-going care designed to produce perfectly ripe grapes. Everything is organized so that each individual plot can be tended independently in order to get the very best out of its fruit. Château d’Issan is a Third Growth of the 1855 Imperial Classification. The wine is made from the old vines in the Château d’Issan enclosure in the middle of the Margaux appellation. The soil here is mainly made up of surface gravel on top of a clay subsoil, which contributes to optimal ripeness and freshness in our two grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon 65% and Merlot 35%. Château d’Issan expresses the exquisite bouquet so characteristic of Margaux, and stands out with its suppleness, subtlety, elegance and long keeping potential that come from its unique terroir.