The 2018 Lagrange is charming and gracious. Sweet, lifted aromatics and mid-weight structure give the 2018 tons of immediacy. Bright red berries, blood orange, mint, spice, rose petal and cedar build with time in the glass. Polished, silky tannins grace the beautifully persistent finish. Best of all, the 2018 will be ready to go with only minimal cellaring.

Black chocolate and intense blackberry and bilberry fruits, clove and black pepper spice, touches of cigar box, sage, bay leaf and pencil lead. The berries in 2018 were the smallest ever, from the northeast wind that arrived in September and took 1hl/h of yield out every day - which together with the high alcohols meant that extraction had to be carefully controlled in the cellar. Successful and enjoyable. 3.42ph, 54% first wine, 50% new oak. Eric Boissenot consultant.

I am increasingly impressed with the work that Lagrange has been doing in recent years, and this is one of their standout vintages. Everything feels full of life and forward momentum, plenty of cassis, damson and bilberry fruits, finessed tannins, slight austerity with the tobacco leaf and rose stems, but still but so much life ahead.

The 2018 Lagrange is off the charts. Bold, plush and beautifully resonant in the glass, the 2018 possesses tremendous richness and textural intensity. Super-ripe dark cherry, plum, espresso, mint and licorice build in a racy, sumptuous Lagrange loaded with personality. The 2018 is one of the best recent vintages I have tasted. Tasted two times.

The 2018 Lagrange appears to have gained a little more opulence since I tasted it in barrel. Quite precocious for the vintage, it presents lush black fruit with hints of menthol, a bouquet you might assume comes from a warmer growing season, though it is still well defined and focused. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, fleshy and ripe, demonstrating beautiful balance and poise toward the finish. I suggested that it might drink sooner than its peers, and this affirms that to be the case. One of the more approachable Saint-Julien wines, yet it is endowed with the substance to last.

The 2018 Lagrange is deep in colour. It has a plush and generous bouquet with blueberry and black cherry fruit, a touch of clove and menthol developing with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins and very pure fruit. This has a Burgundy-like allure and though there is some new oak dominating the finish, there is sufficient fruit to support that. This is potentially a very lovely Lagrange, one that I suspect will drink sooner than other recent vintages. (3.53pH, 14.6% alcohol)