Bordeaux 2019 bottled mini report

£5.00

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The Grands Crus Classés of the left bank and Sauternes (and a few others)
As the En Primeur circus gears up for the first taste of the 2021 wines next month, here I present my notes for the 2019 Left Bank wines which I was able to taste at the end of last year and the beginning of this.

I believe that as all these wines are now finished and in bottle, it is a fairer assessment of them than at En Primeur stage. Not least, because hardly anyone got to taste them En Primeur, the event in April 2020 being cancelled for obvious reasons.
The bottled wines of a vintage bypassed by the Primeur system, however, have thrown up some real surprises. I tasted almost all these wines entirely blind, and with others. While there are few
surprises at the very top of the list, we agreed on the extraordinary quality of properties such as Langoa Barton, Marquis de Terme, du Tertre and the continued place in the very top flight of
Pichon-Baron and Lynch Bages. Even among these limited tastings, I found 20 wines with 95+ points, which is very high for me.
These are wines for the medium to long term, although the tannins are more ripe and open than those of 2020 which will take longer to come around in bottle. Purchasing some now may prove to
be a shrewd investment for your palate, irrespective of their future financial performance.

Rod Smith MW