We have long been banging the drum about the 2019 Bordeaux vintage, and with good reason: tasting 2019 clarets is a pleasure. It is a vintage that makes you smile and every time we open one it only affirms our view that this is a truly great year across the board in Bordeaux.
Those of us lucky enough to have tasted 1982s in their youth draw the comparison with that vintage; those of us a little younger think of a purer, slightly more lifted version of 2009. The wines are already delicious, and they are wines that speak of their terroir.
There are outstanding wines in each appellation and at every level in 2019 and, with such a gluttony of choice, we have put together some mixed sampler cases. These cases offer a great opportunity to taste the wines for yourself.
The first three are based on Neal Martin’s in bottle reviews and scores (February 2022). We have also put together a "Stars of the Southwold Tasting" case, which contains a bottle each of the 2019 Southwold Tasting's most notable performers. Availability is limited and each case is packed to order so please allow a week for delivery.
2019 Haut Batailley – “a wonderful Pauillac that will give 30 or 40 years of drinking pleasure”
2019 Langoa Barton – “A delicious, classically-styled Langoa-Barton. Very fine.”
2019 Gloria – “The 2019 Gloria personifies classic Saint-Julien”
2019 Lafon Rochet – “disarming, fragrant, beautifully defined blackberry and crushed violet scents”
2019 Siran – “One of the best Siran releases in recent years”
2019 Montlandrie – “Make sure you have some of this excellent Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux”
2019 Batailley – “One of the best Batailleys, maybe the best, in recent years”
2019 Lagrange – “great depth, perfectly judged acidity and a brilliantly focused finish”
2019 Brane Cantenac – “The palate is beautifully balanced”…”excellent”"
2019 Malartic Lagravière – “wonderfully balanced, with great length and nobility”
2019 Gazin – “a superb Gazin and a great Pomerol”
2019 Tour St Christophe – “a Saint-Émilion that is in for the long haul. Great potential.”
At the annual "Southwold Tasting" in 2023, 300 wines from the 2019 Bordeaux vintage were tasted by a panel of 20 wine experts including 10 Masters of Wine. The verdict was that 2019 is a great vintage for the red wines of Bordeaux and this tasting case contains 1 bottle each of 6 of the most successful wines of the vintage. Excluding the "First Growths" Troplong Mondot, Domaine de Chevalier, Leoville Barton and Lynch Bages were the top-scoring wines of their respective communes. Gloria was judged to be the "best value" wine of the entire tasting with Haut Batailley "best value" in Pauillac.
