François Bertheau, who manages this 6.23 ha domaine (half of which is in villages level vineyards), said in his typically understated laconic manner that 2018 was "hot and dry though fairly easy to manage from a viticultural perspective.

The fruit was very ripe and it was tricky to find the right date to pick as the sugars were climbing but we didn't quite have the phenolic ripeness that I wanted so we waited. I am happy that we did as the tannins are phenolically mature but at the cost of alcohols that came in between 14 and 15%. As to the wines, they're interesting in their fashion but it's not really the style that I prefer." Bertheau further noted that the 2018s would see about 20% new wood and reiterated that the wines are never fined or filtered.

The Bertheau '17s, revisited below, were bottled in January and February 2019. (C&D Wines c/o Fruit of the Vines, Inc., www.cndwines.com, NY and Envoyer Fine Wines, www.envoyerfinewines.com, CA, both USA; Clark Foyster Wines Ltd, www.clarkfoysterwines.co.uk, A&B Vintners, www.abvintners.co.uk and Flint Wines, www.flintwines.com all UK; L'Imperatrice Fine Wines, www.imperatrice.com.hk, Hong Kong/China).