The flagship 2018 Château Soutard checks in as 61% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. It's hands down the finest wine I've tasted from this estate and offers a thrilling bouquet of cassis and black raspberry fruits as well as notes of camphor, tobacco, dried flowers, and dried rose petals. Full-bodied and flawlessly balanced, with silky tannins and that rare richness without weight character that's the hallmark of truly great wines, it's going to benefit from 3-4 years (it's brilliant even today) and have 20-25 years of prime drinking. Hats off to the team at Soutard!

(93-95 points) Blended of 61% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Franc, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Malbec, the deep garnet-purple colored 2018 Soutard features notes of warm plums, baked blueberries and blackberry pie with hints of fragrant earth, truffles, tapenade and lavender. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has great elegance and sophistication, with plush tannins and wonderful freshness supporting the subtle fruit layers through the long finish.

The 2018 Soutard is an inky, exuberant wine. Raspberry jam, mocha, licorice, cedar and blood orange saturate the palate. Sweet floral/spiced top notes add lift, but Soutard is mostly a wine of textural resonance and creaminess. Ripe, silky tannins wrap around the succulent finish. -- Antonio Galloni

From the vineyard that surrounds one of the grandest chateaux in Saint-Emilion, this wine brings richness, complexity and density. A blend that unusually includes Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec, it is a structured, firm wine that emphasizes tannins as much as the black-currant fruits. It will be ready from 2026. ROGER VOSS

The colour is deep and the nose refined with plenty of lift and freshness, the limestone soils evident. The attack on the palate is lively but smooth, the tannins finely honed. There’s good depth on the mid-palate and the freshness persists throughout a long, clean finish. Certainly this is one of the best Soutards I can remember in recent times. Harvested from 20 September-12 October. The blend is completed with 1% Malbec. (Drink between 2025-2038)