Bordeaux 2019 Buying Guide
2019 is a bridge of diplomacy, melding the sheer exuberance and hedonism of 2018 with the more tightly bound classicism, of 2020. While it was not as hot as 2018, it was still a warm year with ample fruit, the result. Yet as Neil Martin, writing for Vinous, notes, ‘the brakes of control’ have been applied with greater precision. A good thing, perhaps, yet at the very least 2019 is an offering of greater diversity, a little more freshness and the chiaroscuro of Left Bank compression and Right Bank expansion. Indeed, there are stellar wines on both sides of the rivers yet the Left Bank ultimately shines the brightest.
2019 is a vintage of soaring aromatics, creamy textures, pixelated tannins and a considerably lower pH than 2018, setting a stage for wines of power, pedigree and longevity.
According to Martin’s compadre Antonio Galloni, Saint-Estèphe is unequivocally the star appellation, presumably because of the water-retaining capacity of its heavier clay soils, a weapon to achieve an uncanny freshness and savoury poise in warmer years. Montrose, with a perfect 100 point score, challenges for Galloni’s wine of the vintage. Pauillac, particularly the northern extremities with their heavier water-retaining soils, is next in line, while Margaux and Saint Julien boast many brilliant expressions amidst a slightly less consistent performance overall. Châteaux Mouton, Margaux, Lynch-Bages, Pichon Longueville-Lalande and la Mission Haut-Brion are only a notch behind, bearing in mind Galloni’s preference for large scaled wines of impact. D’Armailhac, too, impressive.
Martin speaks highly of Cos d’Estournel and its swashbuckling flamboyance, but that is to be expected. Yet Martin is a wine lover who prizes savouriness and detail. More intriguing, thus, is his exaltation of Calon-Ségur’s brilliance. He cites 2019 as the finest iteration from this château to date. Léoville-Poyferré, Lango-Barton and Léoville-Barton, too, each outstanding in 2019 despite Léoville-Poyferré’s recent ownership transition.
Yet Bordeaux has always been a place of perceived haves and have nots and in a vintage as consistently good as 2019, it is worth looking amidst the latter, in addition to mothballed estates, undergoing a renaissance under new stewardship. After all, while unfashionable with its fusty bourgeois airs, Bordeaux is as capable of communicating a sense of dynamism as much as the prims and propriety of establishment. Properties such as Meyney, Lafon-Rochet, Phélan-Ségur, Sérilhan, Fonbadet, Pouget, Poujeaux, Saint Pierre and the inexorable rise of Gloria, a wine that I first drank as a student in Paris because of its repute for intricacy as much as stellar value, all serve this line of communication well. Gloria has held a spot in my heart ever since. Martin lauds praise, too, on Giscours, Dauzac and the revitalised Brane-Cantenac, a Margaux of classicist lines and soaring lilac perfume. In Pessac-Leognan check out Haut-Bacalan, a veritable bargain!
‘...Many Right Bank wines are powerful and seductive, if not quite as refined as those on the other side of the water...’
Farther south in the Grave, look for the whites of la Mission Haut-Brion Blanc and Haut-Brion. This is bleeding obvious of course, but leading the peloton just behind are super whites from Domaine de Chevalier, La Louvière, Larrivet Haut-Brion, Malartic-Lagravière and stunning wines from Smith Haut-Lafitte across colours. Haut-Bailly, too, is forever dependable and gorgeous, if that is not paradoxical.
Furthermore, the consistency of 2019 across the vast Bordeaux region at large is reason to explore the nooks and crannies; the engine room and lifeblood off Bordeaux Supérieur, Cru Bourgeois and the unclassified, better estates from the Haute-Médoc and Médoc at large. Names to look out for include Beaumont, Charmail, Campillot and Doyac, among others. The Right Bank satellites, especially the outperforming Fronsac and Côtes de Bordeaux Castillon, are also worth investigating
The Right Bank and its proclivity for the earlier ripening and altogether softer Merlot, produced many good wines to be sure. Yet the heat and ill-timed late summer rains served up some challenges for its precocious cultivars, while Merlot’s plusher mouthfeel and softer tannic latticework does not quite mitigate the sense of fruit sweetness and alcohol for the drinker like Cabernet’s stiff upper lip of tannic bristle, a prerequisite for poise in 2019 as much 2018.
Many Right Bank wines are powerful and seductive. Galloni lauds both la Fleur and Cheval Blanc with 100 point scores, with the recently elevated Figeac and Trotanoy, a snippet behind, each with 99. Yet l’Eglise-Clinet, la Conseillante, Clinet and Vieux Château Certan register on Martin’s excitement barometer as they do almost every year on mine. Given that we champion Gérard Perse’s stable at Langton’s, the astute buyers among us will note Perse’s team’s mission to eke out greater freshness from the sumptuous satin veil and welted chords of darker fruits that often mark his wines. Pavie 2019 is possibly the best yet produced.
Many Right Bank wines are powerful and seductive. Galloni lauds both la Fleur and Cheval Blanc with 100 point scores, with the recently elevated Figeac and Trotanoy, a snippet behind, each with 99. Yet l’Eglise-Clinet, la Conseillante, Clinet and Vieux Château Certan register on Martin’s excitement barometer as they do almost every year on mine. Given that we champion Gérard Perse’s stable at Langton’s, the astute buyers among us will note Perse’s team’s mission to eke out greater freshness from the sumptuous satin veil and welted chords of darker fruits that often mark his wines. Pavie 2019 is possibly the best yet produced.