2019 Bordeaux En Primeur - Week 5 Update

With the Duclot collection case released on Friday, featuring one bottle of all the First Growths (apart from Chateau Latour), along with a bottle of Petrus, Ausone, Cheval Blanc and Yquem all from the 2019 vintage, we mark the end of what has been arguably the most memorable en primeur campaign for many years and for so many reasons. The quality of the vintage, the price reductions, virtual en primeur tastings, very few critic reviews for the majority of the wines, plus the speed of the releases all made for an exciting campaign.

Once Chateau Pontet Canet pulled the trigger and released on the 28th May, the horse bolted and Chateaux were tripping over themselves to release.  The price reductions, spanning from 15 – 30% on some of the top wines in such a quality vintage was an incredibly welcome surprise and certainly spurred people to buy even without critic reviews. The consistency of the top Chateaux these days and a general confidence in the vintage was enough to see many of the top estates sell out immediately on release. Whilst the price reductions were a nod to the current economic uncertainties and an obvious concern over where customers' priorities may currently lie, the uptake and interest proved to be huge.

Chateau Pontet Canet - the first major Chateau to release on 28th May 2020

We have had our highest number of customers buy into the campaign and we have never seen so many wines sell out on release. The latter certainly had something to do with the quantities released on to the market, with many Chateaux holding back larger proportions of stock. But when the prices have been sensible, this has proved too good to miss for most buyers and this added jeopardy only makes the en primeur system more relevant. Already many wines are trading significantly higher than their release price, just days after release.

With all the scores out we have produced a Critic Score Comparison Chart identifying fantastic buys where still available. The list of sold out wines also shows the huge demand we have seen for many of these wines, certainly at their first tranche price.

Highest Aggregate Scores of wines still available

Chateau Cos d’Estournel (Agg. Score: 97.5)

Chateau Angelus (Agg. Score: 97.4)

Chateau Leoville Las Cases (Agg. Score: 97.4)

Chateau Pavie (Agg. Score: 97.3)

Chateau Valandraud (Agg. Score: 96.6)

Chateau Beausejour Duffau Lagarosse (Agg. Score: 96.5)

Chateau L’Evangile (Agg. Score: 96.5)

Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte (Agg. Score: 96.5)

Chateau Troplong Mondot (Agg. Score: 96.5)

Chateau Pape Clement (Agg. Score: 96.4)

Most over-subscribed wines of 2019

• Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou

• Chateau Figeac

• Chateau L’Eglise Clinet

• Chateau La Mission Haut Brion

• Chateau Lynch Bages

• Chateau Margaux

• Chateau Mouton Rothschild

• Chateau Pichon Baron

• Chateau Pichon Comtesse

• Chateau Pontet Canet

Sold Out Wines (at first tranche prices)

• Chateau Ausone

• Chateau Calon Segur

• Chateau Canon

• Chateau Cheval Blanc

• Chateau Clinet

• Chateau Figeac

• Chateau Haut Bailly

• Chateau Haut-Brion

• Chateau La Conseillante

• Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion

• Chateau Lafite

• Chateau Lafleur

• Chateau La Mondotte

• Chateau Larcis Ducasse

• Chateau Leoville Poyferre

• Chateau Les Carmes de Haut Brion

• Chateau Lynch Bages

• Chateau Margaux

• Chateau Mouton Rothschild

• Chateau Palmer

• Chateau Pichon Baron

• Chateau Pichon Comtesse

• Chateau Pontet Canet

• Chateau Rauzan Segla

• Chateau Trotanoy

• Petit l’Eglise

• Vieux Chateau Certan

Over the next few weeks we will be offering our favoured parcels from each appellation as well as a FINE+RARE discovery mixed case and a Quintessential Bordeaux 2019 mixed case with full details to follow over the next few days. In the meantime please check out the full Critic Score Comparison Chart here.