January 20, 2024 - Tasted blind in a Cab showdown. Opened six hours prior to slowly oxygenate. Got mostly ripe red plum and some leather. It’s a bold wine with a punch of both tannin and acid, which I enjoy. It was very good but clearly could use a little time to develop.
November 6, 2023 - PNP out of 375. Very tight. Tasted of wood and vanilla, with fruit hiding well beneath. Are 2019s shutting down? Or just bottle variation?
October 31, 2023 - 2019 Bordeaux Tasting, MW tasting (Vintner's Hall, London): 59% CS 36% Mer 4% CF 1%PV, 14.50%
Big bold in the nose, very fresh, red and black fruit, earthy, spicy notes, some floral notes, fine oak frame adding coffee and chocolate layers
Palate showing the same flavors, elegant tannins, earthy, some herbal notes, capsicum, the oak might need some time here, long finish
Give it time
August 13, 2023 - Dan Murphy's random tasting (Dan Murphy's, Martin Place): From Enomatic. Blackcurrant, cream, sweet spice, slight plum. Juicy acidity, black hued fruits, cream, cassis, woody drying tannins persist long is slightly too much for the fruit but this is very good.
July 23, 2023 - What a wine. Plenty of body and heft to go around. This is built for the cellar or a decent. I decanted it for a couple of hours, and it opened up, not all the way but enough to be enjoyed. There is plenty of fatty laced dark fruit with super silky tannins. I actually fell asleep around 10 pm, woke up around 7, and had a whole glass left and gave it a quick sniff, and it opened up even further. So I waited till about 3 Pm and drank it, and it was still outstanding. This wine has an awesome QPR coming in at $99 on sale at my local chain store and I bought them out, and another of the same store has 7 left in stock and I will be buying them up.
July 6, 2023 - Egged on by JG to pull a 375 now as I was hording them for some reason.
Anyways here goes… PnP and then time in the glass.
This wine is not shutdown. A few swirls in and it springs to life. Not like the structured beast I expected.
30 minutes in: Deep dark fruit, blackberry, black cherries, black raspberries, coffee, dark chocolate, earth… very well balanced structure. Slight bitterness of the tannins but already so beautiful only noticeable towards the finish. Gorgeous wine in the making.
No harm opening now if looking for a sneak peek.
Edit: at almost three hours, the wine becomes a bit more red fruited with sour, not unpleasant, dark fruits. Blackberry is still there just not as Prominent as early on.
April 19, 2023 - Starts out with lovely fruit of red and black currant and blackberry. Fruit is so ripe it gives illusion of glycerin. Cedar and vanilla round out wine. It is extremely smooth, seamless, lush and concentrated. It is great now, and I would love to see how this ages.
Interestingly there is a tiny QR code on the neck of the bottle. If you scan it it verifies the authenticity of the bottle. Great feature.
April 13, 2023 - Couldn't wait to open a bottle. Maybe it begins to close down. Typical "2019-fruit", more red than black fruits, Merlot is present. Warm, but not alcoholic or heat. It's just ripe in a good way. Not much complexity at the moment, but will come. I will wait at least 5-10 years. You can also drink it easily now, but give it many hours of air! 93 now but potential for much more!
April 4, 2023 - Unfortunately I forgot to takes notes on this bottle. From memory it was enjoyable but was slightly disjointed in this youthful stage. A recent Clinet & VCC 19 is a better choice if given the option.
From 375.
Hold
March 19, 2023 - Lovely, but alongside Lynch-Bages '19 and Pichon B '19 this was a clear step down in complexity and power