Bordeaux 2019: Broad Impressions
At this point in my primeurs report I usually stop to summarise the vintage, and given that we all like to think of Bordeaux vintages as being ‘left bank’ or ‘right bank’ years, I usually take a look at how the vintage has gone on each side of the Gironde, as well as down to the south of Bordeaux, in Pessac-Léognan and Graves.
This year I will not at this moment provide that level of detail to my report, principally because at the point of publication of this introduction I have not yet tasted sufficient wines (more detail on that below) to start carving up the region in that manner. While I have tasted a large number of right-bank wines, including some top names (and excluding others), my (still ongoing) exploration of the left-bank appellations has been less detailed. There, while I have tasted the wines of many leading estates, I also have some gaps yet to be filled.
I will thus conclude with just two point, the first one related to the dry whites. The technical analyses suggest this is a low-acid vintage, and the majority of the dry white wines I have tasted have clearly read the script. While they have beautifully ripe and expressive aromatics, and fabulous textures, many of the dry white wines seem very deficient in tangible acidity, more so than I recall in any other recent vintage. Admittedly, there are a significant number of cru classé châteaux in Pessac-Léognan still missing from my notes. And some whites, such as those from further north on the Médoc peninsula, or from cooler limestone terroirs on the right bank, buck this low-acid trend. In general, though, my tastings so far tell me this is not a vintage in would recommend adding any of the dry whites to your cellar.
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