Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

The 83 is superb but a somewhat tart finish…close race between this and the 88

The 81 is madeirized. Like literally, it smells like Madeira

The 03 d’yquem is really quite good - how did they get the acidity to balance this richness?

Loving Marcus’ in the moment Mouton musings.

Jim, weren’t some saying 13.5% ABV was too alcoholic a few years ago? Are the goalposts shifting? Or maybe that was Burgundy?

I agrée with Jim, marcs you need a London vacation. Young Mouton bad, old Mouton good, we heard that story many times. Come on, you can’t like the greenish 2000 Pichon Lalande, and absolutely find nothing good or interesting in the 2019 Mouton.

Life is great when you appreciate the little things, find something to appreciate in everything. Always looking to be completely blasted by a wine (or any other things), must be quite exhausting. Red wines of Bordeaux is our thing, we like them, this why we are on BWE.

And yes, 2003 Yquem is great (see the light, at the end of the tunnel).

FYI Team BWE

Orlando Bobby offering up big praise for Durfort Vivians 2019....lovely mix of rose petals and spices

I went ahead and procured a bottle

Jim
Giscours was winner of one of the two 2019 tastings I did last year.
I’m doing another in a few weeks so will try how some wines are going.

I like the 2019 vintage a lot. However some right bank wines were pushing the friendship with hi alcohol, and my some decades of experience with hi alcohol Australian wines makes me suspicious.

I would argue that 2019 is more like 2015 than either 2014 or 2016.
Based on experiences to date, I’d rate 2016 as the best vintage for some years particularly as even the less expensive wines excel in this vintage. 2016 and 2014 are more classical Bordeaux vintages and now 2014 is starting to get more attention.

Cheers
Mark

Another take here from Joss Fowler: https://www.vinolent.net/2023/01/26/201 ... on-thames/

Damn, is any even timid questioning of the Bordeaux hype train going to become a bannable offense around here? If 2019 is truly a 1961/1982/2009 combination and the newly annointed Greatest Bordeaux Vintage vintage ever, and I am sipping a first growth from that vintage, shouldn't the earth move and the heavens tremble? I was hardly even critical of the 2019 Mouton, I found it a soft yummy sweetish wine, deep and dense with fruit richness, highly drinkable, but perhaps lacking a bit of energy for my palate. I questioned whether we could know how it would evolve as compared to the older wines I was drinking. If one isn't going to hold Mouton, a $700+ per bottle wine, to the highest possible standard, then what wine would you hold to such a standard?

This isn't just about 2019 I realize but about the whole enterprise of prediction and forecasting from tasting young Bordeaux. I think we can all agree that even if they can be delicious to drink young, Bordeaux *peak* in terms of complexity and interest at around 20-30 years old, or perhaps 20-40 if one's tastes incline to age. How can you tell what a wine will really be like 25 years from now based on tasting it today? This wine was so soft and delicious now that the structure seemed almost completely submerged, perhaps if I was more experienced with young wines I could taste through to that structure, but it did make me wonder.

JimHow wrote: ↑Thu Jan 26, 2023 1:21 am
Marcus... Take a deep breath. Bordeaux is so great that like NOTHING can match your expectations.... You are expecting Zeus, but you are getting "only" Achilles.... Well, okay, that's pretty good too, you know....

Standing on the slopes of Mount Olympus judging between Zeus and Achilles seems like an absolutely awesome experience to me, and one I am very enthusiastic about!

Whether we like it or not, 2019 is the new paradigm. I doubt there will be many wines made in the future that will have the freshness and sparkle that I loved in the Bordeaux I drank in my twenties. Climate change, the new definition of ripeness, critic buying into the new style, means the wines you are longing for, Marc, are going to be the exception rather than the rule.

I know this; and I have enough suitable wines to last me. I did not buy 2019s to drink, I bought them as an investment, because it was a no brainer. There hasn’t been a vintage when the wines were so relatively underpriced in the twenty first century.

I will be in my eighties when they are ready, although I suspect the 2021 vintage might be more to my liking. Actuarial tables suggest that I should not buy in quantity. And besides they are too damned expensive, but you young whippersnappers looking for Moutons with a nervous system and a bit of energy might look there, but you can wait for prices to go down.

This Southfold tasting mirrors pretty much my impressions from tasting over 200 2019s from November 2021 to March 2022. Some properties aren't mentioned in the English tasting, like La Lagune, Bourgneuf, Beausejour Duffau and Phelan Segur. I think 2016 is equal to 2019.

Be prepared for 2020 vintage. I've already tasted some big and small and this vintage ticks all the boxes and more!!

I don’t remember you making the call that 2019 is the best ever vintage Izak, or equal best with 2016.

Ian,

Haven't I??

From my website:

BORDEAUX HAS DONE A HATTRICK! AFTER EPIC 2018 & 2019 VINTAGES, 2020 IS AN EXCELLENT ONE JUDGED FROM BARREL TASTINGS AND HEREAFTER CONFIRMED AFTER BOTTLING!

THE IMMEDIATE VERDICT IS ANNOUNCED - IT'S TRULY AN EXCEPTIONAL VINTAGE EVERYWHERE IN BORDEAUX
2019 Bordeaux

Everybody said that. Where did you say best ever? Or best ever with 2016?

greatbxfreak wrote: ↑Thu Jan 26, 2023 9:52 pm Be prepared for 2020 vintage. I've already tasted some big and small and this vintage ticks all the boxes and more!!

I’m sad that i did not buy any 2019 Calon Ségur… but glad I bought some 2020!

Ian,

Where did I write best ever??

Well I do remember that you gave the vintage a very good write up

The difference between barrel tasting and out of the bottle is enormous. It is why Parker et al only had a range from the preliminary tastings, because it is easy to get an idea but impossible to be definitive. That comes with bottle tasting, but even that is still not entirely reliable.

Moreover tasting 2019s from samples sent by FedEx is far harder than normal when they are drawn the same day or the day before. I am ok with Izak saying it was an extremely good vintage and being much more definitive out of bottle.

Thanks Musigny 151.

One important thing - due to covid I tasted 2019s from barrel only at my home in Copenhagen, none in Bordeaux.

Then I got sent bottled wines again to Copenhagen from November 2021 to March 2022 and they were as excellent as from barrel.

On Tuesday this week, Grand Cercle was in Copenhagen, presenting 2020 and 2019 vintage from 32 properties. Some properties had 2018 and 2016 with them. Many excellent wines like f.i Reaut and its luxury cuvee Carat, La Dauphine and Tour des Termes from St.Estephe.

I posted a note on 2019 Gloria here around Christmas. Nice wine at an excellent price.

Bill

Nicklasss wrote: ↑Thu Jan 26, 2023 10:58 pm

greatbxfreak wrote: ↑Thu Jan 26, 2023 9:52 pm Be prepared for 2020 vintage. I've already tasted some big and small and this vintage ticks all the boxes and more!!

I’m sad that i did not buy any 2019 Calon Ségur… but glad I bought some 2020!

The 2019 CS ABV is not too far off 15%...don't be too upset missing it. The 2020 is almost a percent lower at 13.8%
Alcohol levels are down in 2020...

Another report. Seems to be fairly universal that this is a truly spectacular vintage.

https://vinumfinewines.com/bordeaux-201 ... d-tasting/

Man, this is all a pleasant surprise, I knew the reports of 2019 were generally positive, but I didn’t expect this positive. I’m very enthusiastic about that Giscours the other night, it’s a beauty.

JimHow wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 3:17 pm Man, this is all a pleasant surprise, I knew the reports of 2019 were generally positive, but I didn’t expect this positive. I’m very enthusiastic about that Giscours the other night, it’s a beauty.

If you liked 19 Giscours, I predict you would love 20 Giscours as well.

Was at the UGC tasting— Giscours showed very well out of Margaux (granted, among the Chateaus that showed up). I didn’t taste 2019 Giscours, but I loved 2020 version. Fresh and vibrant. I felt 2015 has more power and a bit oomph to it, but 2020, for me, is more fresh, crisp with great balance, which I dig... Two different wines, and gotta love them both two different ways...

And was impressed by 2020 Siran too...

But overall, if you like old school style lower abv with more freshness, 2020 is the one for you, especially the left bank in general, Estephe and Pauillac in particular (assuming the showed up Chateaus are indicative of the appellations in general)...Of the Chateaus tasted, the surprise was the right bankers, with 14+ abvs, unlike those of left bank...

Jim, you’re still a young whippersnapper, I think you need to get some of that 2020 Bordeaux in your cellar! Shouldn’t be too long before they start showing up. Hopefully NH has more 2020 offerings than they did 2019s.

Mmm doggie!

Bordeaux index has a few cases of Montrose for $165 a bottle.

I was going to buy more at $152 yesterday in NH but I held off, at least for now. I have six bottles. It is a spectacular wine. I've got my eyes on some 2014 Montrose for $140.

You should buy more. One day you will be able to trade them for Lynch Bages 1989

No need to trade 19 LB for 89.
Think 19 LB is/ will be a better wine.

Wow! That’s a bold statement Ognik. I hope to find and try the 2019 Lynch Bages someday!

The 20 Lynch Bages was one of the stars of the UGC.

Ognik wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:39 am No need to trade 19 LB for 89.
Think 19 LB is/ will be a better wine.

Not according to the esteemed Mr Kelley: "Lynch Bages '19 is on the level of 2010 and 2000 (the best bottles) but not on the level of 1989."
Only one man's opinion of course!

JimHow wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:53 am Wow! That’s a bold statement Ognik. I hope to find and try the 2019 Lynch Bages someday!

I plan to bring along a few 375s on March 25 so we can huddle around Our Benevolent Dictator and he can come to a verdict as to whether this wine is a worthy successor to the 1989

A historic event it will be!

Usually NH has lots of Lynch, of all the years for them not to have any.

Tasted LB 19 en primeur 6/20 and was blown away.
Not as sophisticated as the Pichons ok, but lots of wild dark power. Will work that out. 50yrs + to go.
The best Lynch for ages.
Load the truck.
I m sure you ll remember this advice....

Ognik

You heard it here first over two and a half years go - when it was 30% cheaper - I bought multiple case of 375s and 750s

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9050&p=84598&hilit= ... 019#p84598

I didn’t buy cases, but I did buy some 2019 Lynch based on Ian’s enthusiastic review. Glad to hear confirmation from Ognik. Mine will rest a while.

Blanquito wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:08 am The 20 Lynch Bages was one of the stars of the UGC.

Agree..

It depends on how the wines were showing at that time and how long the bottle had been opened, but Lynch showed really well (even better than the Pichons that day for me) and it has 13 abv

The notable thing is, 2020 Duhart has only 12.5 abv...

And here I was thinking the exact opposite; the Baron was my wine of the tasting and liked it more than the Lalande, the Lynch was good but a little closed down in comparison and as such, didn’t really register for me.