This year a shortage of time only allowed me the opportunity to taste eleven wines from Pomerol that were shown at the Grand Cercle event in April, along with a few others with Jean-Luc Thunevin. In May I had the opportunity to taste Château Gazin, which was wonderfully pure and strong. Overall, it’s been difficult to draw firm conclusions on such a small sample, but the wines I’ve tasted from Pomerol certainly show plenty of joyful, ripe fruit and considerable style. The wines were generally low in acidity. Again, as in St Emilion, to me they didn’t have the delightful tension of the 2015 and 2016 vintages, with 2018 seemingly much more akin to 2009 in style. If there is a flaw, it is that the wines lack acidity. That said, many will provide immediately pleasure and this doesn’t feel like a vintage that will need much time in bottle.