Bordeaux En Primeur 2019 has all but come to a close. The campaign was marked by its unusual nature yet navigated the treacherous waters of the global crisis and delivered some attention-grabbing moments.
Critics views that emerged throughout the campaign suggests little doubt that Bordeaux 2019 is a serious vintage and it seems that many of the chateaux were serious about the price. These two elements resulted in some spectacularly successful releases, that began with Pontet Canet on the 28th of May.
To start off the final week was Lascombes 2019, which opened at £577 per 12×75, a decrease of 13.4% on the 2018 price of £666 per case. No release this week offered the 30%+ discounts of earlier in the campaign but Rauzan Segla came closest, offered at £684 per 12×75, down 24% on the 2018’s opening price of £900 per case. The same price as 2017 (£648).
Monday also saw the release of Smith Haut Lafitte at £813 per 12×75, a 16.9% decrease on the 2018 opening price of £978 per case. Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc released down 8.7% on 2018. The smaller discounts for white wines was a trend we saw throughout the campaign.
Tuesday turned out to be penultimate day of the campaign, with notable releases from Canon (Saint Emilion), Vieux Chateau Certan and Carmes Haut Brion. Le Pin was released on Wednesday, down 5% on 2018.
While Bordeaux’s market share did drift (48.7%) the secondary market for the 2019 vintage continued to expand. 2019 took 27% of the trade by value for the region. The favourite sub-regions were Pauillac and Pessac-Leognan which accounted for 55.7% and 21.9% of the weeks Bordeaux 2019 trade, respectively.
The USA (8.2%) more than doubled its previous week’s share as Screaming Eagle and Caymus saw activity.
Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2019 was the top traded wine by value this week. The wine released on June 9th at £3,588 per 12×75 – it has since risen 10.4%.
Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac 2019 also joined the top wines. The wine was released on the first day of this week, June 22nd, at £1332 per 12×75 and has since risen 18.9%.
Screaming Eagle, Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 was the second most traded wine by value and is unique in that it was only released in magnum (150cl) due to the 2017 wildfires in the area.
The end of EP coincided with English Wine Week which also had to be pushed back from its original dates. English sparkling wine, Gusbourne, Blanc de Blancs 2014 has seen trade this month.
Critical Reviews
Many Bordeaux 2019 reports landed amid the releases, a unique addition to this year’s campaign. Lisa Perrotti-Brown of the Wine Advocate released a series of Flash reviews throughout and published her full review late last week. “The Miracle vintage” was her title. Jane Anson, writing for Decanter, posted her scores and notes on over 1000 wines during the campaign. Wine Enthusiast’s Roger Voss found the wines “benefitted from staying in a barrel a month or two later than normal”, adding, “the wines turned out to be rather good”.
Looking for more?
Our Bordeaux 2019 pages contain everything you need to know about this year’s En Primeur campaign; analysis tools, critic scores, reports and more.
