Very concentrated cassis, blueberry and pencil lead on the nose, with just a touch of (attractive) wood char. There is something about the blueberry aspect that tells you its fairly alcoholic IMO. Opened this over two nights alongside Lagrange (the St Julien version) and Cantenac Brown (Margaux) - and preferred both of the other wines because I find the alcohol on the GPL a bit intrusive. On the other hand it was clearly the most concentrated of the three. I think that in ten years this maybe splitting hairs: it's an excellent wine I'll be happy to drink, but I'd much rather have a classic wine from a ripe year than I would have a wine that is primarily ripe but only just lets you know it comes from a classic region - and I think this sits right on the fence. 14.5% alcohol is just a fraction too much for Cabernet, IMO. I think Merlot (and Pinot) can 'wear' 14.5% a little better than Cab.
Clos Rene apparently made one great wine in 1947….I’ve never had it unfortunately, but this is a seriously good Pomerol. And the price is peanuts compared with most of the top wines of the appellation. A wave of quite lush red and black are lent complexity by some floral notes (violet, lilac) and it has background chocolate, mocha and woodsmoke. I don’t think it’s hard to see where this is going to go - it’s going to become ethereal. Proper Pomerol in a vintage that is going to offer a very wide window of drinkability. What’s not to like…. I think tasting these 2019s it’s easy to become blasé about how supple and delicious they are and how brilliantly the structures are covered. A Burgundy lovers Bordeaux.
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2019 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste
4/13/2024 - A Renaissance Vintner Likes this wine: 94 Points
Very concentrated cassis, blueberry and pencil lead on the nose, with just a touch of (attractive) wood char. There is something about the blueberry aspect that tells you its fairly alcoholic IMO. Opened this over two nights alongside Lagrange (the St Julien version) and Cantenac Brown (Margaux) - and preferred both of the other wines because I find the alcohol on the GPL a bit intrusive. On the other hand it was clearly the most concentrated of the three. I think that in ten years this maybe splitting hairs: it's an excellent wine I'll be happy to drink, but I'd much rather have a classic wine from a ripe year than I would have a wine that is primarily ripe but only just lets you know it comes from a classic region - and I think this sits right on the fence. 14.5% alcohol is just a fraction too much for Cabernet, IMO. I think Merlot (and Pinot) can 'wear' 14.5% a little better than Cab.
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2019 Château Haut-Batailley
4/10/2024 - A Renaissance Vintner wrote: 90 Points
Not very expressive on the nose, with some dark fruit and spice. Reserved / closed.
Very structured and rather clunky. Muscular, serious, densely packed wine which harkens back to Parker era Bordeaux during which bigger was better.
Not a charmer. Possibly you could call it ‘classic’ but it’s elevated alcohol, extraction and tannin don’t make for a particularly charming drink now.
For the long haul certainly, but I wonder whether what you’d end up with would be worth fifteen years wait. Atypical of 2019 ?
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2019 Clos René
4/10/2024 - A Renaissance Vintner Likes this wine: 94 Points
Clos Rene apparently made one great wine in 1947….I’ve never had it unfortunately, but this is a seriously good Pomerol. And the price is peanuts compared with most of the top wines of the appellation. A wave of quite lush red and black are lent complexity by some floral notes (violet, lilac) and it has background chocolate, mocha and woodsmoke. I don’t think it’s hard to see where this is going to go - it’s going to become ethereal. Proper Pomerol in a vintage that is going to offer a very wide window of drinkability. What’s not to like…. I think tasting these 2019s it’s easy to become blasé about how supple and delicious they are and how brilliantly the structures are covered.
A Burgundy lovers Bordeaux.
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