Best Bordeaux 2019 wines: Top scoring wines

From more than 900 wines tasted over the past few months, Jane Anson said that she can ‘unhesitatingly say that 2019 is a successful vintage in Bordeaux’ giving the overall red wine rating 4.5 out of 5.

Scroll down to see tasting notes for the top-scoring En Primeur 2019 wines

2019 was a hot vintage with all the potential successes and pitfalls that this style of year brings with it; rich fruits, concentration, high alcohols, plenty of tannins.

In terms of comparisons, Anson said the split has been between 2009/2015 or 2010/2016, but while she would put 2010 and 2016 as ‘the best vintages of the past decade, 2019 is not so far behind in the best places’.

Below is a list of red wines scoring 98 and above plus brief individual appellation overviews and their respective top scoring wines, as well as full tasting notes for all 98+ point wines at the bottom of the article.

While many will look to the highest scoring wines as a guide to the vintage, Anson wanted to highlight that wines scored 95+ are ‘truly exceptional’ and that the 94 point mark is ‘a brilliant spot that indicates extremely high quality, and often where you’ll find some of the best buys in the vintage at this level’.

Look out for Jane’s top value en primeur wines coming soon.

Scores

Several in-barrel wines make the 98-100 (99) points bracket. All 98s could also see their scores raised when tasted in bottle.

The 98-100 red wines are:

Château Latour

Château L’Evangile

Lafleur

Château L’Eglise Clinet

And the 98s, which could easily also head upwards:

Petrus

Château Mouton Rothschild

Château Lafite Rothschild

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Château Ducru Beaucaillou

Château Léoville Las Cases

Château Margaux

Château Palmer

Château Montrose

Château Cos d’Estournel

Château Pavie Macquin

Château Beauséjour Duffau Lagarosse

If you pick one appellation: Pomerol If you pick one wine: L’Eglise Clinet

Individual appellations & top scorers

Pauillac

Anson: ‘Plenty of excellent wines in 2019 Pauillac. Overall the appellation has performed better than 2015, similar to 2018, perhaps still a little below 2016 which remains the benchmark of the last five years in this corner of the Médoc.’

Top scoring: Mouton Rothschild, Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Pichon Comtesse, Pichon Baron, Lynch Bages.

St Julien

‘Extremely consistent, a truly great year here, with lots of high scores at the 95-plus range.’

Ducru Beaucaillou, Las Cases, Léoville Barton, Léoville Poyferré, Lagrange.

Margaux

‘Unquestionably an extremely successful vintage in Margaux; but it is not my favourite of the Haut-Médoc commune AOCs in 2019.’

Palmer, Margaux, Brane Cantenac (one of the best ever), Issan, Rauzan Ségla.

St Estephe

‘Better balanced in my eyes than the 2018 vintage, as St Estèphe was a little atypical last year with lots of extremely concentrated high alcohol wines. There is less of an extreme feel in 2019, which might not suit everyone, but I found a ton of wines to love, and can thoroughly recommend it when looking for value.’

Cos Blanc, Cos d’Estournel, Phelan Segur, Montrose.

Pessac

‘An attractive vintage in both Pessac and Graves, but with a little less consistency than in some vintages (as with Margaux for me, two appellations that outperformed their Left Bank siblings in vintages like 2015).’

Malartic Lagraviere, Haut Brion, La Mission Haut Brion, Haut Bailly, Carmes Haut-Brion, Pape Clément, Smith Haut Lafitte, Domaine de Chevalier.

St Emilion

‘Another excellent St Emilion vintage after 2018, in most cases just as good as last year.’

Angelus, Cheval Blanc, Tropling Mondot, Beausejour Duffau Lagarosse, Pavie, Rocheyron, Canon, Valandraud, Trotte Vielle, Pavie Maquin, Canon la Gaffeliere.

Pomerol

‘A clear contender for appellation of the vintage, with so many successful wines to choose from.’

Lafleur, L’Evangile, L’Eglise Clinet, Petrus, Trotanoy, La Fleur Petrus, La Conseillante, Vieux Château Certan, Clinet, Feytit-Clinet

Sauternes & Barsac

‘Among the best estates I found 2019 to be not only rich and concentrated but also precise, with high aromatics and balanced overall. Some great wines to choose from – and as ever some truly excellent dry whites.’

Extravagence de Doisy Daene, Doisy Daene, Doisy Vedrines, de Fargues, Lafaurie Peyraguey, Coutet, Guiraud, Sigalas Rabaud, Raymond-Lafon.

Introduction copy by Georgie Hindle.

Best Bordeaux 2019 wines: Top scores

Jane Anson does not give out 100-point scores to wines tasted en primeur, but scores of either 98 or 99 (98-100) mean that they are at the top of the scale, and may be upgraded when re-tasted in 16 months time after bottling towards the end of 2021.

See all the wines rated 98 points and above

Search all Bordeaux 2019 En Primeur ratings published so far

Read Jane Anson’s full report on Bordeaux 2019 wines

Back to the main Bordeaux en primeur page