Le Bordeaux de Tour du Roch-Milon (half bottle) 2018

“Bordeaux 2018 will be remembered as an exceptional year, with no shortage of outstanding wines from this extraordinary vintage.”
– Gavin Quinney for JancisRobinson.com

Well, what more can we say? Plenty.

For starters, with tongues wagging over the fantastic quality of Bordeaux 2018, everyone’s scrambling to get their hands on the best values. Luckily for you, it’s our man on the ground, Jean-Marc Sauboua, to the rescue…

He’s good friends with Pascale Peyronie, owner of historic, under-the-radar, Château Tour du Roch-Milon. Her Pauillac estate is located across the street from prestigious First Growth, Château Latour. And her vines perch on the same gravelly ridge as another famed First Growth, Château Mouton Rothschild. (In fact, they even share vineyards—Pascale’s caught Mouton harvesters accidentally taking grapes from her vines. Today the stakes are color-coded to avoid confusion!)

Back to Jean-Marc: he persuaded Pascale to part ways with a small lot of her silky 2018, which has a gold medal from leading wine guide, Gilbert & Gaillard. Mainly Merlot, with a touch of Cabernet Sauvignon for structure, it has 12 months in French oak, plus a dose of “juice” from her top-shelf Pauillac release (which starts at $60). Look forward to layers of classic cassis and plum, plus notes of cedar and cinnamon-clove.

Jean-Marc also convinced Pascale to bottle a portion of the wine in convenient half bottles (375ml), which are perfect for sharing with a friend over dinner. Once our limited allocation is gone, you’ll have to wait until next year (if we’re lucky enough to get our hands on more...).