Bordeaux 2019 Cru Bourgeois at Four Years
Fresh back from Bordeaux, where I passed the best part of two weeks ruminating over the 2021 vintage now it is in bottle, I naturally have a small barrel-load – perhaps even a foudre-full – of updated 2021 tasting notes, from the first growths of Pauillac, Margaux, St Emilion and Pessac-Léognan (and similarly exalted names in Pomerol), all the way down to the region’s too-easily-overlooked cru bourgeois properties, which offer a different take on value and price to their more famous cousins.
Before I launch into my fresh review of the 2021 vintage, however, I want to stay at the ‘value’ end of the Bordeaux spectrum, with three tasting reports on recent releases from the many of those Médocian cru bourgeois properties.
Last November I set down with Franck Bijon, long-time manager of the AGF Allianz estates which include Château Arnauld (which is on top form at the moment), Château Larose Trintaudon, Château Larose Perganson and Château Tour de Pez, but since 2021 he has also held the office of president of the Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc. Franck brought with him a selection of wines from the region’s three most recently bottled vintages, these being 2019, 2020 and, linking in with my comments above, the 2021 vintage.
I start here with refreshed opinion, notes and score on close to thirty wines from the 2019 vintage, beginning with a very swift recap on this successful vintage.
