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Posts Tagged ‘St Estèphe’

Bordeaux 2019 MW Institute: St Estèphe

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

It will be interesting to see the 2018 and 2019 vintages in St Estèphe side by side during their evolution. I’ve previously written about the wonderful qualities of 2018 St Estèphe, but 2019 has also produced brilliant wine in the appellation and qualitatively speaking it’s a bit of a photo-finish. The top properties here are profound. They start with a spellbinding effort from Château Calon Ségur. This property has been on a roll in the past decade with significant investment and an ambitious team let by Vincent Millet. 2019 Calon currently offers up a wonderfully beguiling aromatic display and a layered and deep palate. You can drink this now to enjoy the prodigious fruit aspect almost [though it has the balance to age]. Château Cos d’Estournel offers up a creamy blackcurrant aromatics in a cool, pure style. It’s inky and tight on the palate but shows enormous potential. Château Montrose was extremely backward on the day of tasting but there is super concentration here and evident depth, but the wine has most certainly crept into its shell. It needs five years at least, though it appears to have the structure to last a century!

Bordeaux 2019: MW Institute Tasting Overview

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

Bordeaux 2019, released in the height of the pandemic in June 2020, was perhaps the last sensibly priced vintage from the region. The quality also seemed great. Early on for me it had the poise of the 2016 combined with the richness and flamboyance of the 2009 with greater freshness. There were scores of impressive wines across all appellations, red and white [and sweet]. With the price hikes here with the exceptional 2022s, the 2019 vintage still appears pretty good value. What’s more the wines are drinking well. In October 2023 the MW Institute put on its annual tasting of ninety top wines and very few seem to have shut down [which isn’t the case with 2018s which have crept into their shells]. The quality too has held up in bottle and the vintage seems to have genuinely delivered on its primeurs promise. So, all in all, what’s not to like about this vintage?

Bordeaux 2018: MW Institute St Estèphe Tasting

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

In a warm year St Estèphe is always going to do well. The percentage of clay soils really helps deal with drought and heat extremes, and the proximity of the Gironde river helps ameliorate hot temperature. There is no doubt that this appellation has produced some of the best wines of the vintage. Only four wines from the appellation were shown at the MW Institute’s 2018 Bordeaux tasting [way back at the end of 2022], but they did show two of the possible wines of the vintage. Château Cos d’Estournel is wonderful, full of finesse and poise. It’s currently quite tight and needs some more time, but this is a very refined and polished effort. Château Montrose is monumental. It is beautifully pure and close to perfection. Although the prodigious Château Calon Ségur wasn’t on show at the MW Institute’s 2018 tasting, I’ve been struck by the magical quality of that wine several times. I’ve also recently tasted Château Meyney which has lots of extract and tannin. It needs time but is very impressive.

MW Institute 2018 Bordeaux Tasting

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

There was something magical about the top wines in 2018 when first tasted during primeurs. The finest wines had fabulous levels of extract and exotic fruit profiles that were reminiscent of 2009, 1989 and 1982. Just over a year ago the MW Institute put on their 2018 horizontal tasting of all the principal Bordeaux appellations at four years of age. It was instructive. Some of the wines were developing really well and impressed. Others had firmed up considerably and had shut down. There were quite a few others that now felt a bit ponderous and lacking in freshness. There can be no doubt that this heatwave vintage has yielded some remarkable wines, but overall, the vintage continues to lack the overall consistency of 2019 and 2016 vintages from what I have tasted. So, what were the highlights?

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