Bordeaux 2019: A Potentially Difficult Debut

If Bordeaux offered its 2019 vintage right now for 30 to 40 percent less than last year’s offer of en primeur or futures, would you buy?

I am sure you haven’t thought much about the 2019 vintage in Bordeaux. Buying futures is the last thing on the minds of most wine lovers as the world deals with COVID-19 and the global economic crisis. And most people would rather spend money on wine that’s in the bottle and ready to drink than one that is aging in a barrel in a winery.

However, I have tasted about 450 barrel samples (with more to come) of 2019 Bordeaux in my wine bar in Hong Kong, James Suckling Wine Central, and I was happily surprised with the quality of the samples – the wines are outstanding quality, from simple Bordeaux to cru classe. They were jet freighted from Bordeaux and thanks to wine’s tax-free status in Hong Kong they usually arrived at my tasting room within two or three days. They were left a day or two to rest at 18 C and then tasted. I also conducted many Zoom interviews and tastings with enologists and estate owners.

Bordeaux 2019’s balanced, linear quality

The 2019 vintage is not an exceptional year like last year’s 2018 from barrel when Bordeaux winemakers pulled off a near miracle in their vineyards, picking ripe and opulent grapes in a late, dry and warm harvest following months of problems, including hail and mildew. But so many of the 2019 wines are at the same level of quality as 2018, albeit with less exuberance and plushness in fruit and tannins. The wines seem more typical for Bordeaux – which is a good thing – with a balance of alcohol, cool and blue fruits and fine linear tannins that are refined and driven.

“I prefer 2019 to 2018 as the wines have this depth and density of the 2018 or 2010 (maybe a little less power) with the sensuality and sexiness that you really liked in 2015,” said Thomas Duclos, one of the most popular consulting enologists in Bordeaux at the moment who makes refined and polished wines. “The great evolution of Bordeaux in recent years seems to me to be this ability to make great wines more accessible in their young years. And I think 2019 is a very good example of this.”

The few dozen or so winemakers I spoke to or corresponded with seem to agree, comparing 2019 to the great 2010 vintage but without the austerity and intensity. Some say 2019 is close to the excellent 2016 vintage but with perhaps slightly less tannin concentration. They all agree that the quality is very close to 2018, 2016 and 2015.

“The wines of 2019 compared to 2018 are a little like how 2016 was to 2015 and 2010 was to 2009,” said Michel Rolland, the veteran consulting enologist who made many excellent wines in the vintage. “The style and the quality of the 2019s seem to be relatively uniform and homogenous.”

A consensus of opinion

It’s this consensus on the quality of the vintage and the general nature of the wines that is interesting to me as a longtime wine critic and journalist. It doesn’t happen very often. And the consistency in the quality of the wines from straightforward wine merchant blends to complex grand chateaux samples highlights this agreement. It means that the wines will be excellent in bottle regardless of when they sell.

The wines I tasted so far are very familiar and Bordeaux-like. The sleek tannins and pure fruit character are what I expect in Bordeaux. It’s hard to say this was a cabernet sauvignon or merlot vintage or that it was better for the Right Bank or Left Bank. They are all just really good quality wines and some are fantastic. I only wish I could taste more of the truly great names.

“The wines in 2019 are the perfect wines for greedy wine lovers,” said Hubert de Boüard, whose family owns one of the top growths of the Right Bank, Chateau Angelus, and who is also a leading consulting enologist in Bordeaux. “The wines are already really tasty and they are sexy wines. In 60 percent of the wines I made I prefer the 2019, and in 40 percent I prefer 2018.”

Many of the enologists I spoke to said the blending was relatively simple compared to past years, which highlights that the average quality of the grapes picked was very high and that nearly all areas and terroirs produced very good to outstanding quality grapes.

“The blending session was quite easy,” said Emmanuel Cruse, part owner of Chateau d’Issan and the winemaker also for Pedesclaux. “To be honest, things like ’15, ’16 and ’18 were more difficult to choose. ’19 was quite easy to make.”

The growing season was certainly less challenging than 2018, which was particularly marred by mildew. The only tricky parts were some heat spikes in July, drought conditions for some of the summer and rain during the harvest in mid-September. Some wine producers say that this rain actually help refresh the vines and grapes to balance out some of the very ripe fruit character.

“If we didn’t have the rain in September, we would we would have lost some quality right away,” admitted Cos d’Estournel Technical Director Dominique Arangoits. The Cos 2019 is the best wine of the 2019 vintage I have tasted so far. “It would have been hard to change. The style of the wine fruit could have been affected. The water brought a freshness. It is part of the miracle of the vintage.”

The buying conundrum

The question now is if people will buy 2019 Bordeaux as futures or en primeur under the current societal and economic conditions. Most of the dozens of winemakers and wine merchants in Bordeaux I spoke to say they will release prices for wines in June and all agreed that prices have to come down. Price decreases from 2018 futures mentioned range from about 10 percent to 40 percent.

“If we want to have success with en primeur (in 2019) then the price must be down,” said de Boüard. “I don’t know [if it should be] 20 percent. I don’t know 15 percent. I don’t know 30 percent. It depends on the brands.”

Some wine merchants who specialize in en primeur in London and Hong Kong apparently sent a written appeal to Bordeaux vintners urging them to not sell en primeur this year. It’s certainly understandable. But some merchants I spoke to say their customers are interested in buying 2019 futures.

“I have customers now who are asking me for 2019 Bordeaux,” said Eric Desgouttes, general manager of Hong Kong’s Kerry Wines. “Why shouldn’t we offer the wines for sale? Let the market decide.”

The last time the en primeur market faced such difficulty was with the 2008 vintage in 2009 during the global financial crisis. Almost all the top names in Bordeaux dropped their prices. Some first growths such as Mouton Rothschild cut their prices for 2008 en primeur in half compared to 2007. The price was 100 euros to the wine trade in Bordeaux.

I still remember what the late owner of Mouton, Philippine de Rothschild told me at the time for a story in The Wine Spectator: “I want to show that I did not ignore the crisis in the world. I know that people have less money. It was my honor and duty to say that this is what I think. I am not dreaming and I am in reality.”

It might seem surreal to think about selling 2019 Bordeaux now as futures, against the grim backdrop of COVID-19 and the damaged global economy, particularly in the United States and Europe. But the wines I have tasted so far from 2019 seem good to excellent and comparable in quality to 2018, 2016 and 2015 – all excellent vintages.

And if you love wine you should find it reassuring to remember that wine has always been made, sold and drunk even during terrible moments in history, from wars to pandemics. So, the market will indeed decide if now is the time to buy 2019 en primeur when the wines begin selling in a few weeks.

“Prices have to come down enough to make people happy,” added de Boüard. “This is a good deal for Bordeaux and you can fall in love again with Bordeaux.”

– James Suckling, CEO & editor

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