2/15/2024 - Lion's Share Likes this wine:

Fresh and intense, balanced and well-integrated. The nose invokes black cherries, plums, and old leather. On the palate notes of tar, licorice and a rusty iron accent become evident, all supported by medium tannins and just the right amount of acidity. The finish, fading to tar and iron, is medium to long. It’s delicious. Drink this when you don’t have to share it.

3/21/2023 - Jeff Leve wrote:

Medium/full-bodied, concentrated, vibrant, fresh, refined, elegant, and completely focused on its purity of fruit. Initially, you find notes of flowers, tobacco leaves, thyme, red pit fruits, mint, and an array of spices. The fruit gracefully unfolds on your palate with nuances of sea salt, herbs, spices, red, and black currants, cocoa, and espresso. The long, seamless, vivacious finish, with its spicy, mint, and oceanic edge takes its time building in intensity and width as it lingers. Drink from 2027-2060.

5/15/2021 - burg72 Likes this wine:

I just had to try the new arrival knowing it is way to young to open!
Decanted for 4 hours which was not enough. Waited for 2 more hours and it started to show its potential. Medium bodied with firm and surprisingly well integrated tannins. Fits perfect with Pasta and I am looking forward to try the next bottle in about 1 year.

11/15/2021 - Cailles wrote:

Bordeaux 2019 - 15 red / 2 white / 4 sweet wines: UCG Arrivage Tasting. A few observations on the red wines: 1) Overall quality: 2019 is indeed another great vintage for Bordeaux reds. The quality was good across the board. 2) Ripeness: 2019 is less ripe than 2015/2018. Out of 15 wines only one (Gazin) showed overripe. But 2016 still wins in this category with the freshest and purest fruit expression. 2019 is in between 2015/2016. 3) Complexity: 2019 will not reach the heights of 2016 but is almost on par with 2015/2018, although the latter one will need to flesh out for quite some time reveal all nuances. 4) Precision: I found superb precision in many wines, however, again not on the level of 2016. 5) Structural frame: The tannins are ripe and very fine, the acidity is generally high (but not as high as in 2016), the texture is nicely airy (unlike with many 15s/18s), no alcohol heat (a problem in 2018) and the wines are very harmonious. 6) Best wines tasted were a magical Canon (96+ pts), a superb Leoville Barton (95 pts). Unfortunately, they were all out of Pichon Lalande - supposedly one of the wines of the vintage.

TN: Tasted twice. This was the best wine at this tasting, no doubt. It is another very strong Canon after the great wines of 2015, 2016, 2018. The 2015 is pure magic and so complex, the 2016 is as aristocratic and classic as a St. Emilion can be these days, the 2018 is the slutty and most ripe one. This 2019 is a mix of the 2015 and 2016: it is a touch more fruit driven and riper, but less so than the 2015 and has the superb, unbelievable elegance no other wine at this tasting managed to achieve. The nose is medium+ expressive with ripe but still very much fresh and pure fruit, crushed rocks, slate, earth, tobacco. Very luxurious and inviting and with very good precision. On the palate the wine is even more elegant with a rainbow of aromas from fine, fresh red berries, darker red berries, some blueberries, some candied strawberries, white chocolate, just hints of baking powder, a nice minerality backbone, earthy notes and again tobacco. The wine is so balanced and harmonious, super luxurious from start to finish. It’s impressive that so many aromas can shine through already at this young age. The structure is impeccable with the finest tannins, a perfectly integrated acidity, a nicely fresh and creamy texture, an airy quality and a good length. This is very promising. How does it compare to the previous great vintages? The 2015 has the same elegance, more complexity but also more ripe- and sweetness. The 2016 will need time to become rounder, but has the same or only slightly higher complexity and the same perfect ripeness. The 2018 is a bit inferior with a touch too much ripeness and sweetness but probably a bit more intensity and expression. A great wine and promise, 96-97+ pts.

6/20/2021 - burg72 wrote:

Not much fun factor left. Will consume my last 2 bottles soon and hope they are in better condition