Château La Conseillante has made a beautiful wine in 2019. It goes to emphasize just how wonderful this vintage is on the great terroirs of the right bank. It has a boatload of juicy fruit, depth but also remarkable freshness. It is fleshy with a positive finish and the most seductive, sweet tannins. It is a wonderful combination. Although I still have yet to taste many wines from Pomerol in this vintage, La Conseillante looks to be in great shape. Bravo to the Nicolas family and their winemaker Marielle Cazaux. This is finely judged winemaking expressing wonderful terroir.

Again the pattern of the growing season at Château La Conseillante closely follows that of other properties on the right bank in 2019. The weather was mild in February and March and bud break was early. After several cold nights, with concerns about frost in April, normal weather conditions returned in May. Flowering was a little disrupted by rain.

As elsewhere summer came in from the last week of June and lasted until the last week of September. It was hot, with forty-eight days where temperatures were above 30C and nine where the temperature was above 35C. To protect the fruit, de-leafing was light and the canopy was trimmed back to avoid the grapes building up excessive alcohol in the sunny, hot conditions. Vegetation between the vines was also reduced to help preserve moisture in the soil for the vines. Veraison was quick in these conditions and the phenolic ripeness was good. The vintage started with the Merlot between 17-20 September and the Cabernet Franc was picked between 30 September and 7 October. The results speak for themselves.

The following full bottle sample was tasted in June shortly after its arrival.

Château La Conseillante, Pomerol, 2019

Deep and vibrant looking; fresh as a daisy; plums; black cherry; spice; black cherry notes; blueberry tones; mid weight on the entry; nicely poised; the extract is fleshy and tannins ripe; quite fresh tones and zappy on the palate; really nicely done; very positive with a really zappy, fresh finish. Moreish vintage this [and wine]. Half an hour later and the wine opened up wonderfully on the nose; beautiful plum and black cherry fruit on display; soft and delicious and almost Burgundian; love this; has real delicacy and freshness; real zap and bounce; delicacy here which is the hallmark of 2019 – be fascinating to see how this develops. Lovely Pomerol. Joy, bounce, concentration and freshness. [84% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc, 34 hl/ha, 3.67 pH, 3.27 TA, 14.5% alc, 70% new oak]. Tasted June 2020. Drink 2025-2045. 96-98+