First let us express our best wishes for you and your families, keeping safe is everyone’s top priority at the moment. Hopefully we are easing back towards normalcy with the upcoming releases from Bordeaux.
Although the annual round of en primeur tastings in Bordeaux was cancelled, everything possible is being done to help the campaign go ahead. From what we understand from our conversations with producers and négociants, the campaign will kick off later this month, probably on the 25th. While there was a good harvest in 2019 the amount of wine offered will be less than last year. This “first tranche” will be priced attractively, with many wines likely down 15-20% from last year, although of course some houses will maintain their pricing. We understand that the quality is high and every effort has been made to allow critics to taste the wines from the safety of their own homes. In some cases, such as Château Lafleur, no samples are being sent, and visitors to the Château will be able to taste samples until early 2021.
While we do not yet have a timetable of when further reviews of these samples might be published, only James Suckling has published scores thus far, we thought it would be useful to convey the overall impression of the vintage that we have been able to compile.
It is a very good to excellent vintage for red Bordeaux, in particular the Cabernets, and an excellent vintage for dry whites. As has become the norm, February and March were warm. May was wet and in late June and July the region experienced a hot spell, whilst August was hot and sunny. Most Merlot was harvested from the 10th -20th of September and the grapes were thick skinned and displayed higher sugar and acidity than 2018 adding freshness. The Cabernet berries, both Sauvignon and Franc, were smaller than 2018 and were able to ripen fully in the Autumn sunshine.
We look forward to sending a more detailed vintage report as a follow up to this thumbnail sketch together with a more detailed wishlist before the campaign commences. We would like to ask you to consider the attached wishlist to help us in our discussions regarding purchases. As usual Armit will not offer all wines, only those we think show great quality and/or great value for money. Please let your account manager know your thoughts and we will try to be as helpful as possible.
The Armit Team