Emerging from the team of Beau-Séjour Bécot, the 2018 Château Joanin Bécot is based on 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc coming from the limestone soils of the Côtes de Castillon region. Lots of black cherry and redcurrant fruit as well as leafy herbs, dried flowers, chalky minerality, and camphor emerge on the nose. This carries to a medium-bodied, seamless 2018 with terrific overall balance, ripe yet present tannins, and outstanding length on the finish. Tasting like a topflight Saint-Emilion, it will benefit from a year or so in the cellar and impress for at least a decade. Readers looking for a brilliant Right Bank wine to put in the cellar should jump on this beauty.

(91-93 points) Chocolate mint, licorice, black cherry and smoke are easy to spot. There is volume with layers of ripe, dense, black fruits along with a touch of fig, dark cocoa and espresso bean. Fleshy, long and rich, this is clearly the best Joanin Becot ever. The blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc is aging in a combination of 50% new, French oak barrels, 25% in vat, 15% in amphora and 10% in one-year-old barrels. 91-93 Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-tasting-note/?vintage=2018&wine=Chateau%20Joanin%20Becot

Fruit-filled and so easy to like. There are pretty strong tannins here, a little more evident than they were en primeur, with the austerity of limestone coming through, but what a great value wine with a ton of personality. Second vintage with Thomas Duclos as consultant and the first with new technical director Jean de Connick. Drinking Window 2022 - 2034

A blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc, the 2018 Joanin Bécot exhibits delicate aromas of blueberries, flowers and violets with touches of tobacco. Medium to full-bodied, it’s a lively, rather delicate wine with a fleshy core of fruit and a crystalline texture overlaid with a fresh, penetrating finish that has racy acidity. The wine will offer a broad tasting window. - Yohan Castaing

The 2018 Joanin Bécot is a very pretty wine marked by strong Cabernet Franc aromatics. Crushed red berry, mint, raspberry, sage and dried flowers all grace a mid-weight, silky Côtes de Castillon that is more about savory nuance than power. Drink it over the next decade or so. -- Antonio Galloni