Bordeaux 2019 wines: Our en primeur verdict

Overall red wine rating: 4.5/5

What a year, frankly.

I have never tasted more En Primeur samples, in a more unusual way. The final count is somewhere close to 1,000 wines where in a typical year I will taste around 600 to 700.

The vast majority at my house, perhaps 20 individual châteaux visits, and even one in a local (empty but for us) café.

The timing of the tastings was more spread out than usual obviously, starting from a few weeks into lockdown through to early June, and I re-tasted a far higher number than usual, as samples arrived through different consultants, groups or direct from the estates.

All of which means I can unhesitatingly say that 2019 is a successful vintage in Bordeaux.

Quick links

Bordeaux 2019 vintage: Clues on what to expect – weather, yields, Left Bank wines, Right Bank wines, whites and sweets, the market

Top scoring Bordeaux 2019 wines (coming soon)

Appellation overviews (coming soon)

Left Bank wine of the vintage: Château Latour | Right Bank wine of the vintage: L’Elgise Clinet

Full Verdict

I wrote my first overview of the vintage in mid-April, after tasting around 150 samples and speaking with various stakeholders from professors to winemakers, but 850 samples later my positive feelings about the potential of the year have only risen.