One of the pieces of information I wait for every year is the results of Southwold tasting of Bordeaux wines, and the 10 years on which follows it. Due to covid these haven’t happened for a while, but I just found a brief article on Farr Vintners social media confirming normal service has been resumed.
The wines seem to be performing adequately, with St Emilion (not my personal favourite) performing best. I didn’t buy anything EP, and the commentary is that the wines were considerably over priced for the quality.
More detail should follow over the next few weeks as individual tasters publish their notes.
I should add that as well as the big boys who attend the tasting I often enjoy the perspective of Joss Fowler on his Vinolent website who gives a straight forward and honest perspective on the tastings.
Thanks Paul - it’s always great to see who comes out on top blind. Presumably you saw Farr’s report already:
A bit surprising that they have 2017 as the 2nd weakest vintage of the decade leading up to it, as I’ve tasted a few 2017s (at the lower end) and while not exciting they’ve been very enjoyable. Of course not worth the EP price but I’ll take a flyer when they come up on clearance.
For those that subscribe to Jancis Robinson some detailed notes have emerged. The right bank was preferred to the left bank, and Margaux and St Estèphe seem to have particularly struggled. Plenty of reasonable performances in general, but as ever, the prices would need to be right to make it tempting.
I always love reading notes from this event. I’ve tasted half a dozen 2018s single blind now and I’d generally agree that there’s some good juice made. DDC is shockingly good, juicy yet supple and almost ethereal. Rauzan was perhaps a bit below my expectations, but still very very good. Beau-Sejour Becot Becot was the one wine that failed to impress.
Love these annual reports, Paul. Thank you very much for sharing them. I just identified a few wines that I need to order! I have only had a few 2019 wines so far, but my little anecdotes parallel what I just read, especially on the right bank wines. I still prefer the more classically structured 2016 wines, but these 2019 wines are very appealing.
I am pleased to have picked up a reasonable quantity of 2019s EP, including Meyney and Langoa that are particularly recommended. I need to look at more Margaux though given the emphasis in this report. I bought 6 Ferrière which I know you loved, but nothing else, and I have read elsewhere that even properties like Marquis de Terme got it right in 2019.
Just ordered the Chateau Les Cruzelles Lalande De Pomerol based on your link, the Southwold group was pretty hot on this wine, and @William_Kelley was as well. Earlier I grabbed a sixer of the 2019 Moulin St-Georges, and really dug the bottle I tried.