2019 Bordeaux suggestions

Quick question. I just got into collecting wine and this is my first time buying futures. 2019 is my son’s birth year and I’m 38 so I plan to be around a while to enjoy these. I want to have wines to have to share him and my wife at big events in his life.
So far I have bought
2- Haut Brion
2- La Missiok Haut Brion
2- Mouton-Rothschild
2- Ducru Beacaillou
Also thinking of 2 each of Latife, Margaux? Anything I’m missing especially at a price point less than 1st growth.

Would suggest reading through the EP thread for thoughts and then posting there for advice. Maybe mods can consolidate. Also, other than the first growths, should give examples of Bordeaux you like (or stylistic preference).

The only suggestion I have is that I hope your purchase arrangement allows you to delay until the 25% tariff is gone.
that that is an option. As an importer I am holding all of my Burgundy and Bordeaux purchases in France until that time.
I would expect others in my position are doing the same.

Do you know what wines you actually like to drink now or are you still exploring (Napa, Bordeaux, Burgs, etc?). A general suggestion is to mix it up a bit vs your current concentration Ducru is very different stylistically than the others which is a good grab (Whether or not you will like it is a different question altogether):

Look at different price points, left/right bank, regions, styles, etc.

Also do you want to drink some of the 2019s as they age to become more familiar with the vintage and wines? If yes buy some of the earlier drinkers which gives you an insight- etc.

Some to look at:
-Cheval Blanc as another very different big boy
-Vieux Chateau Certan as a killer Pom and one you are arguably getting a ‘first growth’ for a fraction of the price.
-Smith Haut Lafitte as a ~$100 wine that ages well and can be drink with some bottle age
-Pichon Baron and Pichon Comm (great options across the street from each other yet different styles) ~$125ish
-Canon
-Figeac
-Domaine de Chevalier (~$50)
-Montrose

Good luck!

I’m in same boat with a 2019 baby. I’m looking at…

Lynch Bages
Pontet Canet
Pichon Baron
Leoville Barton
Tour St Christophe
VCC
Pichon Lalande
Domaine de Chevalier
Siran
Les Carmes Haut Brion
Montrose

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I’m around your age, a bit younger, and have purchased a handful of the wines you’ve mentioned (Mouton/LMHB), but to be honest I’m not sure I’ll ever drink them and enjoy them - out of my price range at the moment, I bought them more since it could be a good value play. I did load however up on lower tiers that I would be more than comfortable to drink on a weekly basis and am excited for them to form the basis of a cellar.

Not sure what your vision of your cellar is, but I’m in for ~6 cases across Pontet Canet, Branaire Ducrue, Domaine Chevalier, Leovile Poyferre, lynch bages, Cos d’es. My idea is that I want to be able to pull a good Bordeaux from my cellar in 15-20 years on a regular basis so skewed more to quantity. I also buy through Total Wine so there’s still a handful of wines that I’d like to buy next week when they release more, so will probably add 2 more cases.

In short I guess my advice is to buy a bit more quantity of the cheaper stuff, so that you’ll always have a 2019 Bordeaux in your cellar to drink.

Thanks for the advice. I should say getting into Bordeaux. Pretty big into Napa. Favorites or Myriad, Carter, realm, Colgin in that ball park.

Based on that above, since Mike Smith (Myriad/Carter), Benoit (Realm), Colgin (much more of a nod towards Bordeaux than Mike or Benoit)- I think you would like Abreu Thorevilos and Las Posadas even more but I digress… we have a similar palate (albeit a small sample size) so for what it’s worth St Julien is my least favorite AOC (in general with exceptions) and I tend to shy away from the super delicate, thin, too high acid and/or missing fruit (doesn’t mean they have to be a fruit bomb or overly modern but it has to have a core of fruit. Vintages matter, more so than Napa to the point of Classic vs what you may prefer 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016 2018 (2019 TBD). Lastly prefer my wines to be within ~10-25 years of age (vintage and style dependent) so do buy more wines vs focusing the spend on just the big dogs so you can taste throughout special occasions or because it is Saturday:

St Emilion great place to pick up affordable high quality wines (Tour St Christopre and a host of others), mid priced (Belair Monange, Canon, Valendraud, Troplong Mondot), higher proced (Figeac, Angelus, Pavie) to very expensive (Cheval Blanc (even though in St Emilion very different style), Ausone)- not advocating for or against as the names are for illustration.

Complement that with Pomerol, more affordable (La Gravette de Certan), moderate (Clinet), higher priced (Le Fleur-Petrus, Trotnoy, Vieux Chateau Certan), Insane Prices (Petrus).

Pauillac- Mouton has a great portfolio, plus Pichon Baron and pichon Comtesse Would be great line up.

The same goes for the rest of the AOCs.

I would agree on buying more or many than a select handful of few (assuming there is a budget). I can’t speak to the 2019 vintage but knowing what I know: (1) you already have big dogs and (2) you will want to open wines throughout the years; buy awesome wines through the price spectrum but make sure they are the styles you prefer (make sure the palate suggestions are similar or Understand they are opposite of what you prefer).

Feel free to ping me if I can help in any way.

You are going to want some 2019s to drink over the next 10 years. My first Bordeaux futures were for 1981 and 1982 vintages (I was younger then than you are now). In addition to buying a bunch of 1982 classified wines, I bought wines like Gloria, Chasse Spleen, Latour du Pin Figeac, etc., to drink over the first 10 years or so. I recommend that you buy similar wines that you can drink so you don’t touch the big boys. Somewhere in the middle I also bought la Lagune, very cheap at the time, that was wonderful for many years. I have not tasted any 2019s so I cannot make any specific recommendations, but I see that la Lagune is still well priced.

Make sure you buy some 375s!

I’m also looking for Canon, PLL, and VCC this week. Don’t sleep on St estephe! Calon Segur, Cos, and Montrose are all priced well this year

Well, at the very least, you should consult your doctor before you sleep on it.

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Matt, my wife just asked if you would kindly point her to your tasting notes on these. [wink.gif]

Ha!

Not even my worst faux pas of the day, believe it or not.

Link, please?

Highest Score and probably the wine of the vintage:
Chateau Margaux
(98.3 from 12 critics, incl. 6 potential perfect scores)

Next best wines:
Ducru Beaucaillou (98.0, 9 critics, 4 potential perfect scores)
Mouton Rothschild (98.0, 12, 4)
Lafite Rothschild (97.9, 9, 4)
Figeac (97.8, 10, 1)
Eglise Clinet (97.8, 8, 3)

Other wines with an average rating of >97
Le Pin
Haut Brion
Leoville Las Cases
Montrose
Cheval Blanc
Petrus
Vieux Chateau Certan
Pichon Lalande
Palmer
Pavie
Trotanoy
Mission Haut Brion
Canon
Carmes Haut Brion
Cos d’Estournel
Pichon Baron
Pontet Canet
Angelus
Conseillante

I would focus on a few big names with multiple potential perfect scores and a few cheaper ones with great quality price ratios. In addition I would go for wines with lower alcohol (mostly below 14% for left banks, close to 14% for right banks).

My best buys
Margaux (13.9% ABV)
Mouton (13.5%)
Mission (despite the high alcohol level of 14.7%)
Figeac (14.1%)
Ducru Beaucaillou (14.2%)
Pontet Canet (13.5%)
Carmes Haut Brion (13.3%)
Eglise Clinet (despite the 14.5%)
Pichon Lalande/Pichon Baron (14.1/14.2%)

If you like big Napa cabs look to St. Emilion and Pomerol. The right bankers may have more Merlot in the mix but the style is closer to what you’ve been drinking and they maintain a lot of Cab character. I’d look at the following which won’t break the bank. There are also some excellent more expensive suggestions above.
Clinet
Clos Fourtet
Conseillante
Monbousquet

Many of my favorite more classic left bank wines have been mentioned above. I’d add Haut Bailly, Talbot, Gruaud Larose, Cantemerle, and Sociando Mallet. They all appeal to me but are in a different mold than your Napa favorites.

Take Howard’s advice and buy some lesser wines that you can start to explore and enjoy while waiting for the big boys to mature.

Of course by the time the big boys are ready to drink your tastes may have changed. So go slow. The enthusiasm of youth plus a vintage getting great reviews and prices that haven’t been seen in 5 years are powerful stimuli.

Resist the urge to immediately fill the cellar with stuff you love or think you love now or that gets 97 points from all the critics. You can probably sell them if you fall out of love 10-15 years down the road. Buy some of that but leave space for experimentation and a possible palate shift. Over time I’ve paid less attention to scores and more attention to what I’ve liked in the past and whether they’ve changed winemaking philosophy. That approach requires time and experience.

If you want to use ABV as your guide, keep a couple of things in mind. Higher alcohol (say >14%) is often associated with riper, more modern wines similar to your Napa favorites, while lower ABV tends to correlate with more restrained, less ripe wines. The fact that wines over 14% are (currently) exempt from the 25% US tariffs undoubtedly introduces some bias towards producing or labeling wines over 14%.

I hope you have as much fun discovering what you like as I did.

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I should add that for birth year wines I’d get some first growths and Yquem. I’m partial to Haut Brion. Margaux sounds like a winner per the critics. Lafite has the best name recognition if that matters.

Margaux just personally is not a favorite of mine. I cannot remember ever having Margaux at a dinner with other first growths where the Margaux (no matter how highly rated) turns out to be my favorite. Now, Haut Brion, on the other hand, is a very different story.

Agree 100%.

I would expand the comment to include the appellation. While I buy a few here and there, I’m not wedded to any. My only caveat is Palmer, have not had enough to lump it in.

John… It really depends on your age, level of disposable income, the wines you like to drink, at what level of maturity you enjoy your wines at, and what is already in your cellar.

All of that is far too complicated for me to cover. That being said, if I was a wine buyer listening to me, the two best appellations in 2019 are Pauillac, and Pomerol, (on the plateau) I would focus there. All of those wines are extraordinary!