Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot Premier Grand Cru Classe B, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2018

The 2018 Beau-Séjour Bécot has really closed down since I tasted it en primeur. Inky red/purplish fruit, lavender, rose petal, mint and blood orange gradually open in the glass, all framed by veins of chalky minerality. The 2018 is a fabulous wine in the making, but readers have to be patient. Time in a decanter or simply in the glass helps to bring out the wine's considerable depth.

Lots of leaf, mushroom, bark and plum aromas and flavors. It’s medium-to full-bodied with juicy fruit and firm, fine tannins. Tight at the finish. The quality and the polish of the tannins are exceptional. So integrated. Needs three or four years to open. Try after 2024.

This estate makes an incredibly classic, elegant Saint-Emilion. The 2018 Château Beau-Séjour Bécot is based on 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon that was brought up in 65% new French oak. Coming from a beautiful terroir on the upper plateau, it reveals a deep purple/ruby color as well as perfumed cassis and mulberry fruits intermixed with ample spring flowers, chalky minerality, violets, and graphite. Medium to full-bodied and nicely concentrated on the palate, it has terrific mid-palate depth, flawless balance, background oak, and polished yet significant tannins. If you want to know what limestone soil gives to a wine, try this! It has the polish and balance to offer pleasure today, yet the cellar will be your friend. This warrants 5-7 years of bottle age and will have 30+ years of prime drinking.

This is the first vintage to be entirely overseen by Juliet Bécot, as her uncle and father have begun their retirement. New technical director Jean de Connick joined the team, and it's the second year working with consultant Thomas Duclos. The changes that this team are bringing in are clear. There's a beautiful delicacy here that balances the creaminess and fleshy texture of the fruit. The aromatics gather pace in the glass while the tannins are plentiful but not heavy, serving to emphasise the minerality, slate and stunning rosemary and white pepper edge. Like some other estates in 2018, this was the longest harvest ever here, beginning on 12 September and continuing for one month, yielding 50hl/ha. There were no whole-bunch fermentation trials this time (as in 2017), as they didn't want to risk the stalks not being ripe enough. They used infusion rather than pumping over, yet the tannin count is 75IPT, showing the natural power of the vintage. It's a wine that seems to be ready to age with real grace. A mix of amphorae, 20hl Stockinger casks and 225l barrels will be used.

The 2018 Beau-Sejour Becot is a blend of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, it slips slowly, sensuously from the glass with notes of boysenberries, black raspberries, baked plums and chocolate-covered cherries, plus hints of star anise, dried Provence herbs and lavender. The medium to full-bodied palate offers soft textured, perfumed black fruit layers with just enough freshness and a lifted finish. A little closed and shy at this youthful stage, give it a good 5-6 years in bottle and enjoy it over the next 25 years or more.

The 2018 Beau-Séjour Bécot is nicely detailed on the nose of pixelated black fruit laced with raspberry and subtle floral scents; back notes of marmalade come through with aeration. The pliant palate is medium-bodied with luscious tannins disguising the structure behind this Saint-Émilion. I suspect that it might close up for a period before blossoming with bottle age. This is a sophisticated and very well-crafted wine that will age with style and panache.