Château Quinault L'Enclos, St Emilion Grand Cru, 2018
The Cheval Blanc winemaking team has made real progress at Quinault L'Enclos. 2018 is the tenth vintage and definitely their most accomplished effort to date. 50% of the vineyard has been replanted using massale selections from Cheval Blanc and new Cabernet Sauvignon clones. Produced from 71.5% Merlot, 14.5% Cabernet Franc and 14% Cabernet Sauvignon and aged in a mixture 500L barrels and foudres. Plenty of wine here. Notes of soy and nori, flowers, red berries and salt, then plums, spice and Valrhona chocolate - this is impressive and concentrated yet has verve and lift. The finish has lovely salinity with notes of sweet toasty oak, wild plums and flowers. Silky, refined and pure, this is a tremendous effort from Quinault.
critic reviews
Quinault L’Enclos 2018 has a deep garnet purple color. It rolls out with flamboyant notes of blackberry pie and chocolate-covered cherries, plus wafts of roses, underbrush, and charcuterie. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has delicate flavors, soft tannins, and seamless freshness, finishing with a quiet intensity.
Quinault l'Enclos comes from off a very gravelly soil with great drainage, but there's not a lot of water during dry periods. Adeptly produced by the team of Cheval Blanc (who purchased the estate in 2008), the wine nonetheless maintained its poise under the dry and warm ripening conditions of 2018, coming in at a respectable pH of 3.67 and relatively moderate alcohol of 14.1%. The 2018 Quinault l'Enclos has a deep garnet-purple color and beautifully expressed notes of baked black cherries, ripe black plums and boysenberries, plus hints of violets, dark chocolate, star anise and tobacco leaf. The medium-bodied palate has a gorgeous velvety texture and oodles of freshness supporting the perfumed black fruits, finishing long and fragrant. This vintage is a blend of 70% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc, aged in 50% new oak and the rest in one-year-old 500-liter barrels and foudres. It is tempting to drink this right now, but give it two years in the cellar for full impact and enjoy it over the next 17+ years.
The 2018 Quinault L’Enclos was 10% matured in <em>foudres</em> plus 500-liter barrels. It has certainly retained its precocious bouquet of fig-tinged red berry fruit, crushed violets and cassis. The palate is medium-bodied with a sweet, quite saturated entry and a core of fleshy red fruit. Missing a little complexity, and I find it just a bit cloying on the finish. So-so.