2019 Bordeaux + Beaujolais + coming Bx trip

[greatbxfreak]

I've just published TNs on 2019 wines that were sent to me in Copenhagen, 127 in all.

These were mostly wines sent from Grand Cercle members, but I managed to also get bottles from Calon Segur, Cos d'Estournel and Domaine de Chevalier, the ones I didn't taste last November in Bordeaux.

I've found several excellent wines among the lower classified and lesser-known properties.

Link to read my TNs - https://www.greatbordeauxwines.com/vint ... rel-bottle
Check out the TNs written in violet at the end of the article.

Next weekend I plan to taste Morgon from several producers in vintage 2018 and 2019, Foillard, Burgaud, Desvignes, Lapierre, Mee Godard and Breton. These are producers with a different approach to vinification and therefore wines have different styles.

In one month's time, it's Bordeaux again. I will come one week before primeur week and have a tight schedule. The last three days of my Bx stay, I will spend in San Sebastian. Have already booked restaurants Rekondo and Ikaitz, and will også try Basque tapas at recommended places.

[JimHow]

Wow, amazing work, Izak, a tremendous amount of information in there. I plan on investing in the 2019 vintage when they hit the shelves in New Hampshire, and I’m going to use your report as a resource.

[Dandersson]

Great write up of the 2019, thank you Izak!

Best, Dan

[dstgolf]

Izak,

Fabulous notes and a huge amount of work. Thanks for the effort and sharing. Looks like Michael Ps Maltus stable of wines are shining.

[Claudius2]

Izak
Again thanks for the notes.
I’ve already bought quite a few 2019’s EP and it seems to be a good decision.
It seems to be a very consistent vintage overall and the lesser wines receive some positive reviews.
I’ll check if some of the higher rated lower priced wines are still available EP as realistically it’s the only way to buy here.
Cheers
Mark

[un bureaucrate]

Thanks for the TN’s! So far, of the 2019’s EP, I’ve only ordered a case of Cantemerle, but intend to pick up a few others over the next year.

Looking forward to your Beaujolais TN’s as well, especially Foillard.

Thomas

[DavidG]

Wow, great report! Judging by your notes. I guessed well on my 2019 en primeur purchases.

Rochemorin has been a Graves value play for me when I can get it locally. I didn't see any particularly Graves-y characteristics in your note on the 2019. I may give it a try anyway if it shows up on shelves at a decent price.

[DavidG]

Lord knows I shouldn’t be buying any more 2019 or younger Bordeaux. Especially Domaine de Chevalier, which used to be a favorite but about 20 years ago started trading too much classical typicity in favor of ripe polished fruit for my palate, and yet still didn’t achieve full blown New World cocktail wine status. I haven’t bought DdC in a looong time. But this note from William Kelley and a love for Pessac-Leognan convinced me to give them another shot:

The 2019 Domaine de Chevalier is a magical wine in the making, wafting from the glass with aromas of wild plums, crushed blackcurrants and violets mingled with hints of pencil shavings, subtle spices and coniferous forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, deep and seamless, with a vibrant core of fruit, beautifully refined tannins and lively acids, it's exquisitely elegant and harmonious, concluding with a long, perfumed finish. Stylistically, this wine exhibits a much closer affinity with the great Domaine de Chevalier of yesteryear than much of what was produced here in the early 2000s. It's a masterclass in what contemporary Bordeaux can deliver, and worth a special effort to seek out. (97 points)

[JimHow]

Well done indeed, David, NH typically stocks DDC, I’ll have to add it to my 2019 wish list.

[DavidG]

Definitely try it. I envy your ability to try a bottle and go back for more at the NH sale prices.

[Claudius2]

Folks
Whilst I bought quite a lot of 2019's on EP, including 6 bottles of Domaine de Chevalier, I am trying hard to NOT buy any more.
My EP purchases will arrive soon and I am going to have to rent another storage bin for them. Oh well.
In any case, my office is starting to look like a storage bin - there is a big wine fridge and numerous open boxes of French and Australian wine all over the place.

The usual importers and retailers have in the last few days been spamming me with offers for newly available 2019 stock and I am quite surprised that prices have remained reasonable. That most certainly was not the case in 2016, where the retail prices were way, way higher than the EP prices.

One last point. The Euro is well down at the moment and is only worth USD1.05 at the time of writing. In fact it is at its lowest USD value for at least 5 years, and about equal to dips in Dec 2016 and March 2015. So if any of you have a nice bundle of greenbacks you don't desperately need, it is a good time now to buy. Having said that, I cannot predict what is happening in Ukraine or anywhere else for that matter which is dragging down the currency, not to mention the lives of tens of millions.

[Musigny 151]

I bought more cases of 2019 than any vintage in the past. These are is probably wines for my descendants, but it also an extraordinary investment opportunity, should they decide they don’t want the wine.

As people are gearing up to decide on 2021, and the probability of high prices, it is becoming increasingly obvious that we are unlikely ever to see prices at the 2019 opening again. Or if we do, the reasons behind it are so horrendous that whether or not you can buy cheap Bordeaux will be moot. For the most part, those early releases have disappeared, and been repriced close to 2020 levels.

I have had the chance to drink the wines, and it is the first time I have bought without tasting. But maybe I will open a few just to get my bearings. Look forward to finally tasting them.

Good notes BTW Izak.

[DavidG]

Well, I may play the finish the basement card to get my long lost walk-in cellar as I’ve filled the two fridges backfilling 2016s and have about 6 cases of 2019s I’ll need to make room for.

[greatbxfreak]

I just returned from Bx after 16 days of tastings of the 2021 vintage and some other vintages.

Before my departure for Bordeaux, I tasted some of Beaujolais Crus, Morgon Cotes du Puy.

2018 - Mee Godard's was great stuff, powerful, luscious and long finish. Jean-Marc Burgaud's version tasted light and four-squared.

2019 - Mee Godard's was again great stuff, Jean Foillard's similar but with more elegance and finesse, very stylish indeed. Jean-Claude Desvignes followed after with fine effort, aromatic, well-structured and with a lingering finish. The last wine in the tasting was Morgon Vieilles Vignes which isn't a Cote du Puy, from one producer included in the "four gang" named Guy Breton. I expected much more than an insipid, diluted, light in colour wine, which became oxidised already the day after.

The next tasting will be eight wines, the so-called luxury cuvees from the winemakers mentioned earlier + some Fleuries.

I'll come back with the review of the 2021 vintage, which for my part, didn't get me excited at all. If prices aren't going down 50%, 2021 isn't worth buying.

[Ognik]

Thank you very much for your great TNs, ....again. So much fun.
Like your 96P Chateau Corbin score.
Great wine. You nailed it.