Neal Martin gave his first ever wine 100-points in-bottle without having awarded 98-100 in-barrel.
The wine?
It was originally scored 94-96 in-barrel back in November 2019. In his new 2018 in-bottle report called “The Future’s Definitely Not What It Was: Bordeaux 2018”, a nod to his initial En Primeur report “The Future’s Not What It Was,”, Martin decided to upgrade the Chateau Palmer 2018 to a full 100.
The chateau suffered from a mildew blight early in the growing season that wiped out nearly two-thirds of the crop; in the end harvesting as little as, “one bunch per vine”.
On first tasting the wine in barrel Martin had noted that, “this [2018] Palmer explodes from the glass unlike any other that I have tasted over the last two decades.”
In his new report, Martin said he had an, “inkling out of the barrel [that it was exceptional], but such was its intensity that I wanted to assess it in bottle before I felt confident in saying so, because this could have gone either way” – towards greatness or vulgarity.
Tasting the wine again he has clearly decided which path the wine has taken. He completed his review by calling it “a legend in the making”, “sui generis [unique]”, and proclaiming, “there will never be another Palmer like this.”
Petrus and Trotanoy were not far behind with their scores, both at 98 points. A further nine wines were awarded 97 points – all of which can be seen in the table below.
We’ve included a link to all Bordeaux 2018 activity on the exchange.
The value of the Bordeaux 2018 trade has been increasing quietly through 2021. Margaux, Carruades de Lafite and Chateau Lascombes have been the most widely traded by value year-to-date.
