- The Wine Advocate has released William Kelley’s Bordeaux 2019 in-bottle report.
- The vintage was first tasted En Primeur by former editor Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW.
- The report includes five 100-point wines and several upgraded scores.
‘A vintage of pure pleasure’
The Wine Advocate has released William Kelley’s Bordeaux 2019 in-bottle report after the vintage was first tasted En Primeur by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW.
Kelley shared an extremely positive view of the vintage, drawing comparisons with previous years. He described 2019 as the ‘sun-kissed cousin of the 2016’ but ‘more demonstrative out of the gates, and less tightly wound’.
While 2009 and 2010 ‘remain benchmarks’, Kelley said that ‘for many châteaux, the 2019s go further, with suppler tannins than the supple 2009s, and livelier flavours than the lively 2010s’. He partly attributed this to ‘a decade’s progress in agronomy and winemaking’.
Comparing the 2018 and 2019 vintages, he thought that while the former, ‘did produce some exceptional wines’ the ‘2019 will offer more interest to long-time followers of the region’.
He said that the 2019 is, above all, ‘a vintage of pure pleasure’.
Top-scoring wines
Kelley gave perfect scores to five wines, awarding Cheval Blanc, Margaux, Lafite Rothschild, Lafleur and Vieux Château Certain 100 points. While Cheval Blanc and Lafleur had not been given an in-barrel score, this was a clear upgrade for Lafite (97-99). While Margaux (97-100) and Vieux Château Certain (97-100) achieved the top of their original barrel range.
La Conseillante also enjoyed an upgrade to 99-points, having received 96-98 in-barrel.
Meanwhile, with 98+ points, L’Eglise Clinet and Mouton Rothschild ended up towards the bottom of their barrel range.
Price performance since release
As Kelley put it, the 2019 vintage was ‘priced for the pandemic’ so ‘readers who bought en primeur can feel very happy indeed’. Many of the top-scoring wines have appreciated in value since release.
The First Growths Mouton Rothschild (65%), Lafite Rothschild (51%) and Margaux (46%) have seen the biggest moves, along with Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande (56%) and La Mission Haut-Brion (50%).
Kelley remarked that, ‘if the First Growths and most sought-after Right Bank wines have soared in price, there are plenty of châteaux that produced among their best-ever wines of the modern era in the 2019 that can be picked up for less than the price of other acclaimed years’.
Some of his top-scoring wines such as Troplong Mondot and Léoville Las Cases remain available around their release price.
In March this year, the 2019 was the most traded Bordeaux vintage by value and the second-most by volume.
For further insight on the vintage campaign and release prices, see our report Bordeaux 2019: The Magic is Back.
Liv-ex analysis is drawn from the world’s most comprehensive database of fine wine prices. The data reflects the real time activity of Liv-ex’s 560+ merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £100m of bids and offers across 16,000 wines. Independent data, direct from the market.
