A few words from Château Haut-Brion on the 2019 Vintage:
The Growing Season
The mild and dry 2018-2019 winter period led to a
rather precocious budbreak, on March 1st.
Then, in spring, with the cool temperatures, the
vine grew slowly. The flowering was beautiful, with
neither shatter nor millerandage. The vine growth was
supported by consistent, steady rainfall in June, with
the vine developing a very beautiful, uniform surface.
From the end of June, the year 2019 was marked
by several heatwaves. The month of July, which was
particularly hot, ranks as the third-hottest July on
record, after July 2006 and 2013, registering a record breaking
42°C (107.6°F) on July 23rd.
The summer season
In August, the temperature variation between cool
nights and hot days favored the development of
anthocyanins (which color the grapes and tannins).
These periods of intense heat resulted in relatively
slow ripening, on the cabernet francs and sauvignons
in particular, but did not stunt the vine.
Ripening progressed smoothly across all of the white
varieties - which were ready in time for harvesting
season - as well as on the earliest merlots.
In September, the long-awaited rain arrived on the
9th of the month, returning from the 21st to the 25th,
without any consequence on the grape clusters.
In between these two rainy episodes, the dry, hot
continental air accelerated the final ripening stage for
all the red grape varieties.
The Harvest
The harvesting of the reds began a little later, on
September 10th.
The harvesting conditions for the merlots were
particularly beautiful and warm. The perfectly
ripe, sugar-rich grapes yielded wines that are rich,
structured and generous on the palate.
For their part, the cabernet francs were picked
after a period of rainfall that did them good. This
grape variety is surprising for its level of aromatic
and gustatory maturity, as well as for the silken
quality of its tannic matter.
September rains also proved particularly beneficial
to the cabernet sauvignon grape variety, allowing
it to attain perfect maturity.
The red yields were also generous, with a high
quality for all three red grape varieties, on par with
the 2009 vintage.
The harvest took place from September 10th to October 3rd
The Blending
The 2019
blend is 48.7% merlot
, 8.1% cabernet franc
and 43.2% cabernet sauvignon
The 2019 Millesime
The wine is a superb, deep purple-red color. The first nose
is at once intense and subtle. It has a ripe fruitiness, and
swirling brings out its aromatic complexity.
The first expression is incredibly smooth and delicate,
expanding and filling the palate without ever “flexing its
muscles”. The tannins are precise but not aggressive, and
subtly enchanting. The finish is long and fragrant. Once
again, Haut-Brion surprises for its ability to enhance the
complementarity of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet
Sauvignon.
This Haut-Brion 2019 vintage is one of the most successful
vintages produced after a hot and dry summer. This fine
wine has the structure of a 2005, with the freshness of a
2010. A modern, richer version of the 1990 vintage.
Read the full report: Bordeaux 2019 A Vintage Preview