A ridiculous good wine, showing ALL the beauty of 2018 in a more seriouser package than some of the *cheap Bordeaux* I like to showcase on these pages. Here we have something delicious on entry but NOT designed for early drinking. Gobs of leather and lace smother the face in the nose, a dark, nearly impenetrable black ruby in the stained glass, spice and funk on 11, not depreciating a bit from nearly 24 hours of air.

Sure, it’s a “California vintage”, but oh boy does all that concentration work well in a package a few notches up on the legacy-ladder. Biting and sharp, the tannin so perfectly mired in the chalky fruit it comes off shocking and exuberant. The fruit a thin streak of cranberry and pie-cherry, still packed with blackberry stuffing needing to be CHEWED to extract the complex goodness which goes on for miles and miles. Dank and supremely bitter, this is a wine for the ages.

2018 CHATEAU MEYNEY Cab/ME/PV 70/10/20 St. Estephe AOC Bordeaux France 14.5

https://meyney.fr/