2019 Tasting dinner - several wines

[Claudius2]

The tasting was at a French restaurant and this was the place I've had several tastings before.

All reds were double decanted and were surprisingly open by the time we started sipping them.
All served in Riedel glasses.

Francis Orban Cuvee Prestige NV
Grower Champagne that I've had a few times.
The nose reminds me of toasted nuts, lemon sherbet and brioche.
Light to medium bodied, with soft and slightly sweet fruit.
Fruit flavours are of citrus, brioche and almond.
It is actually pretty good - well balanced and very drinkable, just lacks a bit of intensity in the mid palate.
Very good+

Laville Haut Brion Blanc
Okay, I have never had a taste for Sav Blanc and don't mince my words describing it.
From the first time I ever drank NZ SB in the late 70's, I could not believe that anyone actually enjoyed this stuff....
In this case, there is some fruit character not just vegetative and gooseberry notes.
The wine shows pungency on the nose and palate, but there is some ripeness and citrussy fruit.
I think its about 80% SB and the rest mainly Semillon, thus I do get some of the lanolin, straw and citrus from it.
I found it okay. Others seemed to like it more.

Laville HBB 2020
The host said this was rather closed up, though in this case, I preferred the 2020.
Not as pungent or acidic, with more typical semillon fruit characters - some citrus, lanolin and that straw/hay character that seems to only relate to semillon.
Quite drinkable now and possibly a way to avoid the dreaded green characters.....

Ch Rouget Pomerol
Nose of soft Merlot fruit - plums and redcurrants, touch of dusty oak.
Medium bodied palate with low-medium acid, quite well balanced but maybe a touch one dimensional at this stage.
Red and black fruits on the palate, with a touch of anise and leather, some creamy oak.
It improved with air and started to show well with food.
Very good, has more potential.

La Pointe Pomerol
Never been much of a fan of this estate, but this vintage was better than any I can recall.
Soft plummy Merlot fruit on the nose with red fruits and some oak.
Medium bodied palate with moderate acid and reasonable intensity.
Red and black fruits with some spice/pepper characters (Cab Franc?) and creamy oak.
It improved with air and was quite a nice wine.
Very good.

Clos Rene Pomerol
Not sure when I had ever tried this wine before.
Nose was soft, though with brighter acidity than the prior wines.
Palate was softly fruity, with red fruit and plums, some vanilla oak and reasonable finish.
The acid adds some length to the wine.
Good to Very good. Needs a bit more fruit intensity for better marks.

]La Croix Ducru Beaucaillou 2nd wine of Ducru B.
Very dark colour, being blue/red with a black-red core rather than the pink/purple colour of the Merlot based wines.
Nose was fruity but a touch stalky, Some dusty ok.
Palate was medium bodied, with quite firm acid and low tannins.
There is some good cabernet fruit though I find the stalky characters throw it slightly out of balance.
Good+ though it may settle down with time.
The Grand Vin of the castle of beautiful pebbles I would expect to be a much better wine.

Langoa Barton St Julien
Showed very well at the previous tasting and did not disappoint.
This is the best wine I've ever tried from this estate, and offered a more complete profile than the La Croix DB.
Incidentally, the prices were similar and as such, I think this s a much better buy.
The nose shows rich, ripe cabernet fruit, some soft Merlot, being more powerful and structured than the Pomerols.
Medium bodied, with nice balance, showing some ripe tannins and oak.
Surprisingly accessible, I'd be happy to gulp it down now.
Whilst there is some evident tannins, the ripe fruit seems to offset them, though don't think it lacks structure.
Excellent. Will last well.

La Lagune Haut Medoc
Similar dark blue/red colour as the Langoa, some viscosity and dark red/black core.
Nose of red and black fruit, a touch more acid/mineral tones compared to the LB.
Palate was very cabernet with cool dark fruits and cedar, some juicy ripe red fruits in support and a touch of oak.
Pleasant acid balance and good length, it is a nice wine with maybe slightly less tannins, depth complexity compared to the LB, though I liked it a lot.
Excellent-

Ormes de Pez St Estephe CB.
Nice black/red colour, not so much the blue/red as the St Juliens or Haut Medoc. Maybe not as much cabernet?
Soft and open profile on the n9ose with red fruits, some plumminess, a touch of cedar and mineral.
The palate is quite smooth, with medium intensity and some tobacco - a character I did not notice in the other wines.
Medium intensity and decent length, low to medium acid and ripe tannins.
Very good and competed well with the other Medocs, maybe just lacking some power and intensity.

In general, these wines were surprisingly drinkable, and the double decanting has opened them up a lot.
I preferred the left bank wines to the right bank, though they all showed well.
There is a softness and ripeness to all the wines that makes them approachable now, though the left bank wines were well structured, the tannins being fine and ripe and balanced by the fruit.

The general view was that the Langoa Barton was the best wine, which I agreed with though only by a tiny margin over the La Lagune.
Tastings like this often show the distinct characters of each wine and how they contrast with others, yet in this case, they really showed the vintage.
2019 is ripe, well balanced, with moderate acid and tannins, and typically medium bodied.
Not sure I can think of a Bordeaux vintage where the wines are so approachable at this age.

Will it be a legend?
Well it is an excellent vintage and a very consistent one, with good wines on both banks, though so far, I see it slightly more favouring the left bank as the cabernet based wines show a more complete profile. I would however say that 2019 reminds me of 2009, 2015 and even 1985, yet 2016 is more close to 2000, 2005 and 2010. So time will tell but they are off to a good start.

I tried the La Croix BD again later (one taster did not turn up and I scavenged their serve) and the stalkiness had settled a little but for my money, I'd but Langoa Barton or La Lagune in preference at a similar price.

Cheers
Mark

[Comte Flaneur]

Interesting impressions Mark, thanks

After the recent Southwold tasting here in Blighty in which the 2019 Langoa was a standout I managed to acquire three bottles in a consortium, so pleased to learn it stood out in your tasting.

[Claudius2]

Comte
I bought 6 bottles myself and 9 of the La La Lagune, the latter at a lower price.
I’ve never been a fan of Langoa Barton until this vintage but it is worthy of a third growth now.

Have another tasting of 2019s on Thursday so I’m starting to get a good view of them though I’d like to try some of the top wines - L’evangile would be the most expensive.

Cheers
Mark

[Jay Winton]

I bought a couple 2019 La Lagunes at, of all places, Trader Joes in DC. Price was $50pb, IIRC. I think this estate continues to be fairly priced in the world of classified Bordeaux.

[Musigny 151]

I am glad the Langoa is accessible as I bought halves of this.plan to try one soon

[AKR]

Nice to see La Pointe in there. I have not had any of their wines in a long time, maybe not since the 1998 near release.

[Claudius2]

Nice to see La Pointe in there. I have not had any of their wines in a long time, maybe not since the 1998 near release.

Arv,
I have only had this wine a few times and never been overly impressed. The 2019 is a very nice wine.
My view is that if you cannot make good wine in 2019, then change the winemaker. Secondly, the style of the wines are very consistent and show the character of the vintage very well - some may in fact argue that the Chateau style is not as evident in 2019, yet I'd argue that with time, individual differences will show through.

cheers
Mark