97pt Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux Standout

Chteau Lagrange is one of the greatest comeback stories in Bordeaux history, and Wine Access members get front-row seats for its renaissance. The 2018 is one of Lagranges highest-rated wines of all time, and the price hasnt yet caught up with the quality of this reborn Third Growth.

2018 was a splendid vintage on the Left Bank, with Napa-like weather through the summer that gave generous, opulent wines along the lines of great years like 2009. The summer was, however, one of the driest recorded at Lagrange since 1996, and warm, arid conditions continued through September and October. In a long, careful harvest, Lagranges winemaking team painstakingly hand-selected whole bunches. Quality was so high that there wasnt much for the chateaus optical sorting machine to weed out!

Chteau Lagrange was already well known and respected even before it was classified a Third Growth in 1855. Sixty-eight years prior, during a trip to Bordeaux, Thomas Jefferson had ranked the wine alongside Mouton, Calon-Sgur, and Pontet-Canet! Lagrange has the highest vines in Saint-Julien: two sloping hills that top out at 24 meters. The sheer size of this domaine, at 118 hectares, gives the winemaking team a wide array of grapes to select for the Grand Vinand less than half typically make the cut.

It hasnt always been glory at Lagrange. The chteau went through a difficult period in the 20th century before it was bought by the Suntory Group in 1983. At that time, a third of the vines were dead and the vineyard was overplanted to Merlot. Suntory invested millions of euros in rejuvenating the vineyardwhich is hitting its stride today, with an average vine-age of 37 yearsand in 2013 the entire winemaking facility was renovated.

The Japanese investors long-term bet paid offand today, you get to reap the dividends. Dont hesitate on this one.

A deep and youthful shade of purple. Brooding at first, a little air releases aromas of black currant, blackberry, mocha, cedar, pencil shavings, violets, and a hint of leather. Highly intense but equally refined, the silty fine-grained tannins glide across the palate, carrying ripe black fruit, cocoa powder, sweet tobacco, and savory spices. Alternating waves of fruit and savory spice on the finish go on and on, finally lingering on a mineral note. A beautiful Saint-Julien, classic in structure but with enough fruit to tempt even the most ardent New World drinkers. Its enjoyable now for its youthful zeal, but we definitely recommend stashing away a few bottles to see them blossom over the coming decades. Drink now2045.

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