CHÂTEAU L'ÉVANGILE
2018 Pomerol Château L'Évangile
80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc. Mineral nose with hints of dark fruit. Sweet on entry. Mineral too. Tightly wound at the moment. Dusty tannin gives this wine a well structured feel which will surely open up wonderfully in the years to come. Fresh yet powerful. Drinking range: 2030 - 2055L&S (Apr 2019)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
So attractive on the nose with blackberry, black olive and a hint of brown sugar. It’s full-bodied with layers of ripe tannins that flow across the palate. Rich, intense and flavorful finish with flavors similar to the aromas. Fleshy and toned at the end. From organically grown grapes. Drinking range: 2025 - Rating: 98 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Jan 2021)
The grand vin 2018 Château l'Evangile turns the intensity up substantially, offering a beautiful bouquet of blue fruits, violets, classy oak, spring flowers, and graphite. Rich, concentrated, and elegant on the palate, it has more Cabernet Franc than normal (20%) and this shows dramatically, with the wine staying more focused, straight, and fresh compared to the more massive and opulently styled 2015 and 2016. This is a regal, elegant yet still full-bodied l’Evangile that’s going to benefit from 5-7 years of bottle age and keep for 25 years or more. Rating: 96-98 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (May 2019)
80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc. pH 3.9. Barrel sample. Inky core, deep crimson rim. Perfumed with black fruit and violets. Dense but not tough, many fine layers giving density but it's smooth and plush nevertheless with some dark chocolate on the finish. Fruit character is dark enough to be savoury, black olive and then becoming just slightly more floral with air. Changes a lot in the glass. It's a wine all in the future even though the tannins are smooth now. It's quite closed in on itself but should have a long life. Drinking range: 2028 - 2035Julia Harding MW, www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2019)
The 2018 L'Evangile is composed of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. The Merlot was harvested September 19 to October 2, and the Cabernet Franc was harvested September 25 to October 1. This is the optimal blend—with more Cabernet Franc coming through this year, since it was amazing. Deep garnet-purple colored, it slips seductively out of the glass with glamorous notes of baked black cherries, warm blueberries and raspberry tart plus wafts of kirsch, red roses, rose hip tea, espresso, licorice and sandalwood. Full-bodied, rich, concentrated and delivering opulent black fruit layers, the palate has a firm frame of lovely, ripe, rounded tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and fragrant. Beautiful. Rating: 97-99 Lisa Perrotti-Brown, RobertParker.com (Apr 2019)
A very plush and exciting L’Evangile with polished, velvety tannins that set this up to be a classic. It’s full-bodied with glorious fruit and a great center palate that has fantastic depth. It’s so caressing and beautiful. So much here. Rating: 98-99 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2019)
This is a blend of 80% Merlot, picked between September 19th and October 2nd, with 20% Cabernet Franc, picked from September 25th and finishing on October 1st. This takes 50% of the crop; there is usually a little more grand vin than this, but the volume of Merlot was reduced this year, forcing a shift in the distribution. The alcohol is 14.5%. Technical director Jean-Pascal Vazart would have liked more Cabernet in the blend I think, but many of the vines are young, and he recognises that these things take time; for the moment his younger Cabernet remains dedicated to the second wine. This has a beautifully pure, fragrant, black cherry and currant substance, around which there dances a perfumed ribbon of violet and peony. It feels so classic and correct, the palate just so charming, so broad and polished, with streaks of currant, black olive, black bean, toast and vanilla flower, all supported by a rich bed of ripe and firm tannins, which linger with great intention. It is so defined, so cleanly formed with pencil-drawn lines, supple yet showing great density and a sinewy substance, lifted and elegant. A barrel sample which seems wonderfully pure, fresh and defined, with not a hair out of place, and yet I see here a huge intensity and structure that will see this transform with time into a truly great L'Évangile. Broad, long and textured, this is a brilliant wine. A stunning example of the vintage and an example of how Merlot-dominant wines can also shine alongside their Cabernet-counterparts in this warmer year. Rating: 98-100 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2019)
A rich, solid texture from the Merlot is lifted by the attractively perfumed 20% Cabernet Franc in the blend of this wine. Its power is palpable, rich and concentrated at the end, making this a wine for aging. Rating: 93 Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast www.winemag.com (Apr 2019)
You feel the density and power straight off the nose here - this is really silky, sexy and smoky wine with a ton of complex flavours combining berry fruits with spices swirling through, and finishing up with liquorice bean and coffee grounds on the finish. There’s less lift perhaps than the 2016, but you feel the concentration, the depth to the flavour, and the balance. It has a beautiful texture and feels very classically Pomerol but with elegance and persistency. A small production in 2018 but a very beautiful one. 75% new oak used. Drinking range: 2027 - 2044 Rating: 97 Jane Anson, Decanter (Mar 2019)
Château L'Évangile
Sandwiched between Château Petrus to the north and Château Cheval Blanc to the south are the vineyards of Château l’Evangile. In the latter part of the 19th Century l’Evangile’s wines were rated as second only to Petrus, reflecting the glory of its illustrious neighbours.
Château l’Evangile’s origins lay in an estate called Domaine de Mautretat that was broken up in the early years of the 18th Century with a Mme Conseillan taking one part (that went on to be next-door neighbours Château Conseillante) with a reverend gentleman called M. Léglise purchasing the other, to be called Château Fazilleau until renamed l’Evangile – the Gospel – in the late 19th Century, presumably in keeping with having St Peter (Petrus) next door.
Today Château l’Evangile is owned by Domaines Baron de Rothschild (Lafite), they having purchased the estate in 1990 from the Ducasse family one of whose forebears, Paul Chaperon, had built the château in 1874. DBR have injected a whole new level of investment and improvement to once again raise l’Evangile to the very top echelon of Pomerol. The 22ha of vineyard and planted for the most part on an usual gravel band that runs through the more usual clay soil. They are planted with 79% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines are aged in barrel for between 12 and 24 months, although in more recent vintages they, like many producers in France, have also used larger oak foudres, amphorae and concrete vats alongside the traditional barriques bordelaises of 225 l.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those on the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do contact our private client team via email or on 020 7018 0187.
Ordering
Prices are all in bond by the case size stated.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment to buy wines on release, as long as the release price is within the upper and lower price bands set by you on the pre-order form. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability but providing this firm commitment to buy effectively gives you priority and is a good idea for the most desirable wines.
Wines listed on the website can be ordered in the usual way via the website wishlist order form. You can also send orders directly to our private client team via email. Please note that, for the most sought-after wines, priority will be given to those who ordered the same wines last year and to those that have pre-ordered.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of email confirmation. Pre-orders are not binding if the release price is above your upper price band.
Invoices are all raised at the in bond price (excluding any duty and VAT) which will become payable at the prevailing rates when the wines arrive in the UK, should you wish to take duty paid delivery.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or bank transfer. We regret we cannot accept credit cards for en primeur orders. We reserve the right to apply a dunning charge of 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (at LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £500. Orders below this total will be charged an administration and handling fee of £16.50+ VAT when invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery of 2022 Bordeaux bought en primeur is expected during 2025. Delivery dates may vary as wines are shipped from Bordeaux at different times.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes). Immediate payment of invoices is then required by cash, cheque, debit card or bank transfer. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option but please note that confirmed orders are still binding even if the final invoice has not yet been issued.
Please specify on your wishlist order form where you would like the wines shipped on arrival in the UK. If this is to a third-party bonded warehouse, please specify the relevant account details. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue a second invoice for duty and VAT at the prevailing rate when the wines are available for delivery.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the format you want. While most of our listings are for 75cl bottles, we can source wines in any format that is offered by the Château. Please note that format requests cannot be changed once wines have been invoiced. Additional charges for special formats do apply and are as follows:-
- +£18.00 per case of 12 half-bottles
- +£30.00 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£7.50 per case of 3 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£11.00 per case of 6 Magnums
- +£45.00 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£60.00 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.
Storage Options:
Wines bought en primeur won't arrive in the UK until 2025. If you do not wish to take home delivery at that point, you may wish to consider where you would like the wines shipped. Lea & Sandeman offers duty paid and in bond storage through a dedicated storage company called Elephant Storage. For more details on the terms and fees associated with storage please go to our Storage Homepage or contact our private client team for more information.