Chateau Lagrange 2018

97 Points - Jeb Dunnuck

The flagship 2018 Château Lagrange is a more dense, backward, serious wine, offering an un-evolved yet incredibly promising bouquet of cassis, blackcurrants, scorched earth, graphite, and violets. A big, rich, full-bodied Saint-Julien, it delivers thrilling purity of fruit, plenty of background oak, ripe, silky tannins, and a great mid-palate. This is serious stuff, but it's going to require patience. Hide bottles for 7-8 years, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following two decades.

95 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Medium to deep garnet-purple coloured, the 2018 Lagrange explodes from the glass with bombastic notes of crème de cassis, chocolate-covered cherries and baked red and black plums with suggestions of rose oil, cedar chest, pencil lead and hoisin. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has fantastic vibrancy for the ripeness, packed with juicy black fruits and compelling tension with a finely grained texture to support, finishing on a lingering mineral note. Nicely done!

94 Points - Wine Enthusiast

This smoky wine still shows some wood-aging flavours. Structure comes from this wood aging and the rich blackberry-fruit tannins and concentration. The succulent Cabernet Sauvignon is ripe and full. It needs time, so drink from 2026. 

94 Points - Decanter

Beautiful reflections through the body of this wine, with fresh acidity and an attractive sense of uplift through the palate, although the actual fruit is a little subdued right now, which, as it opens, shows damson and bilberry. There is a real tannic frame and build-up on the finish as you see how concentrated these dark fruits are.

93 Points - Wine Spectator

This has a unique tobacco and bay leaf profile out front, followed by bramble-textured, gently mulled plum and black cherry fruit.

93 Points - James Suckling

It is highly perfumed with currant and blackberry aromas and flowers. It is medium-to-full-bodied with firm, creamy tannins that frame some pretty, elegant fruit for the vintage.