Jane Anson’s top fine wines of 2019

Some of my top fine wines for 2019 were drunk when travelling abroad, shared by generous hosts. Others were opened over lunch at home with friends or family, or chosen from wine lists in local restaurants. One, however, was served at an unrepeatable charity dinner.

It’s a French-heavy list this year. In 2018, there were just four French wines on my list, with others from America, New Zealand and Spain, but this year I don’t seem to have ventured as far afield in my choices. There are, however, only three from Bordeaux.My top wines of the year don’t constitute a list of 100-point wines; this list is more about emotion than just excellence. I’ve picked wines that remind me of moments that mattered, and have stayed in the memory.

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I could have easily picked some of the wonderful Riojas that were on display in Shanghai at the Decanter Fine Wine Encounter last month, and an Opus One vertical that I attended in Germany was also tough to leave off – but Opus made it into last year’s list, as did two Riojas.

From £15 to north of £10k

Price-wise the wines range from just over £15 for the Loire white, although I paid double that in a restaurant, to somewhere north of £10,000 for the Mouton Rothschild 1945.

This year’s list comprises:

• Two white wines, Le Méal from the Rhône and a wonderful Chenin Blanc from Vigneau-Chevreau in the Loire;
• Two Bordeaux from the 1940s;
• Three from the Northern Rhône, including two Côte Roties from two decades apart;
• Last but not least is a Penfolds Grange, which alongside the northern Rhône suggests that Syrah / Shiraz has clearly worked for me in 2019.

Where I drank the wines

A trip to New York with Decanter Premium in February yielded a number of amazing wines also, as we showcased a line-up of Pomerol and Pauillac 2009s that more than demonstrated what a brilliant vintage this is. In the end, though, I chose the Grange from that week, which was opened over supper with new friends.

In Bordeaux, first growths still delivered some of the most memorable bottles. While Haut-Brion and Lafite made last year’s list, La Mission Haut-Brion and Mouton Rothschild feature this year.

Despite the fact that many ‘super seconds’ are increasingly breathing down their necks, there remains something special about first growths, in particular. This select band creates a sense of occasion when you open them, and that keeps them in the memory when you look back at your year.

And frankly, I doubt I will ever get to try a Mouton Rothschild 1945 again, so bear with me please celebrating its memory one more time.

Much of my 2019 has been spent researching and writing Inside Bordeaux, the marathon book of around 700 pages and 65 maps that is due out in April 2020.

Some of the wines featured below have helped me along the way. The Clos Manou, for example, was part of the breadcrumb trail when discovering the pre-Phylloxera vines across the region, while the two 1940s wines underlined once again just how unusual a place Bordeaux is for its ability to power through the decades.

There was a delicious Larcis Ducasse 1945 that didn’t make the list but was definitely a strong contender.

Over the next few weeks, as we end not just the year but the decade, I’ll be opening a few bottles of Champagne. AR Lenoble is the favourite in this house at the moment. I dare say that there will also be a few other good wines poured.

Domaine Pavelot Pernand Vergelesses 1er Cru Sous Frétille is already in the fridge waiting for its moment, and a few more Stéphane Ogier wines are likely to be brought out, with his La Belle Hélène leading the way.

Because that’s the other great thing about bringing together your wines of the year; they whet your appetite for the wines to come…

See Jane Anson’s top 10 fine wines of 2019

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