2019 Pauillac produced several wines that are future candidates for legendary status! From top to bottom, this is one of those vintages where every single producer was able to make absolutely sublime wine! Pauillac deserves its reputation for age-worth wines that can be difficult to enjoy in their youth, often requiring decades to mature. That is not the case with 2019 Pauillac.
The best wines manage to combine an opulent, rich, concentrated character that also has the tannic structure to age and evolve for decades. And it is not just the First Growths. Across the board, as you can see from my tasting notes below, 2018 is a stellar vintage for Pauillac! Even the second wines are outstanding this year. In fact, Pauillac is so strong this vintage, there are 2 wines that are clear candidates for wine of the 2019 Bordeaux vintage!
For a review of the vintage conditions or to look at tasting notes and ratings for more than 750 wines The Complete Guide To all the Best 2019 Bordeaux Wines
2019 Pauillac Buying Guide with in-bottle tasting notes and scores for all the top wines of the appellation. All of the following wines were tasted in non-blind conditions in my home office.
2019 dArmailhac – Medium-bodied, soft, fresh, crisp, and vibrant, the wine is packed with dark currants, freshness, tobacco wrapper, forest leaf, blackberries, and peppery spices. Soft, lifted, balanced, and fresh, the wine finishes with blackberries, currants, spice, and a light touch of savory herbs. Drink from 2026-2044. 93 Pts
2019 Batailley – Fresh, bright, crisp, vibrant, and polished, the wine is packed with ripe, sweet, juicy, creme de cassis, blackberries, tobacco leaf, cigar box, and leafy herbs. Medium/full-bodied, lifted, vibrant, refined, and chewy, the red berry finish builds and lingers with its freshness, spicy, peppery tones, and ripe tannins. As good as this is now, if you age it for a few years, it is going to be an even better experience. Drink from 2027-2055. 95 Pts
2019 Clerc Milon – The large percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon, 72%, (The highest percentage since 1986) seems to have added a lot of complexity here, as it was so ripe. Now, you find a complex array of flowers, spice, tobacco leaf, blackberries, and currants in the nose. Fresh, crisp, soft, sweet, and vibrant on the palate, the wine offers length, purity, freshness, and a finish loaded with sweet red fruits, a touch of peppery spice, and just a hint of savory, leafy herbs on the backend. This is in contention as the best vintage of Clerc Milon ever produced. Drink from 2027-2047. 95 Pts
2019 Clerc Milon Pastourelle de Clerc Milon – Spicy, soft, polished, fresh, and already approachable, the wine is loaded with savory-edged, sweet, ripe, fresh red berries. Medium-bodied, forward and accessible, you can enjoy this on release for all of its up-front, sweet, red berries, or wait a year or two for more secondary notes to emerge. Drink from 2023-2034. 91 Pts
2019 Croizet-Bages – Medium-bodied, fresh, bright, and savory, with a strong, leafy, cedar, tobacco leaf edge to the crisp, red berries, the wine sits firmly on the corner of classic and rustic, with a bit of a softer, riper, polished edge. There is a strong, green, peppery, olive hint in the red currant finish. Drink from 2025-2042. 90 Pts
2019 Duhart-Milon – Flowers, cigar box, and cedar with red and black currants are what you initially notice. Medium-bodied, but with a bit more weight than in many previous vintages, the wine is fresh, elegant, soft, and vibrant, with a savory accent in the refined finish. The wine blends 72% Cabernet Sauvignon with 28% Merlot. Drink from 2026-2041. 94 Pts
2019 Fonbadet – Dark black currants, espresso, smoke, tobacco leaf, cocoa, and flower aromatics crowd into the perfume. On the palate, the wine has depth, weight, and richness, with layers of soft, vibrant, silky, dark, chewy, sweet red berries along with a touch of salt to the tannins and a hint of chocolate in the finish. I do not think you can find a better value in Pauillac today! Drink from 2025-2044. 93 Pts
2019 Grand Puy Ducasse – Flowers, red currants, and cedar create the nose, while layers of soft, fresh, ripe, dusty red and black currants with touches of olives and savory herbs hit your palate. The tannins are ripe. There is good freshness, weight and the fruits express purity. The wine ends with a refined, polished, mildly dusty finish. Drink from 2025-2040. 94 Pts
2019 Grand Puy Lacoste – Dark ruby in color, the nose pops with flowers, creme de cassis, blackberry, and cigar box notes. The wine is full-bodied, chewy, rich, concentrated, and packed from stem to stern with more of that juicy, sweet cassis and red currants. There is a depth of flavor here with soft tannins and a creamy finish. This will drink well younger than many vintages of Grand Puy Lacoste, yet it will age for 3 more decades with ease. Drink from 2030-2055. 96 Pts
2019 Grand Puy Lacoste Lacoste Borie – Red currants and flowers are all over the place here. Medium-bodied, soft, fresh, elegant, and best of all, it is fully ready to go. You can enjoy this early drinking Pauillac while waiting for the Grand Vin to develop. It’s also perfect for a nice bistro or café. Drink from 2022-2030. 90 Pts
2019 Haut Batailley – Full-bodied, concentrated, powerful, tannic, and backward, this is going to need time in the cellar before it reveals all of its characteristics. But when it does, expect to revel in layers of ripe, bold, dark currants, blackberry, espresso, bitter chocolate, savory herbs, and tobacco. The wine is rich, full, concentrated, and chewy and should really start showing well with 7-9 years of cellaring. Drink from 2029-2060. 94 Pts
2019 Haut Bages Liberal – Dark currants, blackberries, tobacco leaf, cedar, cigar box, and crushed rocks show easily on the nose. On the palate, this modern, classic-styled wine is fresh and vibrant with a core of chewy, crunchy, dark, ripe red fruits, spices, and leafy herbs. There is length, freshness, and tannins with the structure to age and evolve for 3 decades. It will need a few years in the cellar, so give it some time to evolve before pulling a cork. The wine is a blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot. Make no mistake, this is the best vintage ever produced of Haut Bages Liberal. Drink from 2027-2055. 94 Pts
2019 Haut-Bages Monpelou – Fresh, crisp, bright red fruits with a nice crunch along with a touch of spice and tobacco leaf form the core of this wine. On the palate, the cassis is pure, lifted, and long, with a touch of ripe, cranberry, and herbs finish everything off nicely. Drink from 2025-2039. 90 Pts
2019 Lafite Rothschild – A stunning example of Lafite Rothschild, the wine is deep, ruby in color. The attention-seeking perfume serves up its Cuban cigar wrapper, roses, spice box, cedar, lead pencil and array of red fruits and blackberries easily. The most refined of all the First Growths, the 2019 is a modern version of classic Bordeaux at its best. Perfectly balanced, elegant, and deftly situated on the corner of power and harmony, the finish lingers and expands with its layers of sweet, fresh, pure, bright, crisp red fruits, spice, and herbs. The wine blends 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot. Patient consumers will be rewarded if they are willing to wait before opening a bottle. Drink from 2030-2065. 99 Pts
2019 Lafite Rothschild Carruades de Lafite – Elegant and fresh, this baby Lafite offers flowers, sweet, lifted red currants, red plums, tobacco leaf, and a touch of spicy cranberry on the nose and palate. Medium-bodied, vibrant, crisp, refined, and a bit reserved, the wine finishes a mélange of crisp, fresh, red fruits, spices, and savory herbs. Drink from 2026-2040. 93 Pts
2019 Les Sadons – Espresso, plum and cherry notes with a touch of flowers show up easily on the nose. Medium-bodied, simple, forward, and a bit dry in the chewy, cherry and bright red currant finish. This will be best in its youth. Drink from 2022-2034. 87 Pts
2019 Latour – Deep, dark, garnet in color, the wine is equally dark in its fruit, cigar wrapper, smoke, espresso, leaf, cedar, and spice profile. With elegance, power, firmness, and silkiness, the wine on the palate immediately cuts a wide swatch across your palate. All that regal, ripe, sweet, fruit and crushed gravel stick with you almost seamlessly for more than 50 seconds until you reach the endnote with its salty, mineral-driven kick in the endnote. This is a fabulous Latour that will age for decades. The wine was made from a blend of 92.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7.5% Merlot, 14.1% ABV. The Grand Vin was produced from only 36% of the harvest. Drink from 2030-2070. 99 Pts
2019 Les Forts de Latour – Cedar, tobacco leaf, cigar box, black currants, mint leaf, and blackberries come through on the nose. On the palate, the wine is elegant, fresh, lifted, and packed with sweet deep red fruits, spice, oregano, and leafy notes. The finish offers richness, length, and vibrancy. The wine is a blend of 65.8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31.9% Merlot and 2.3% Petit Verdot. 14.3% ABV. Drink from 2027-2044. 95 Pts
2019 Pauillac de Latour – Cigar box, cherry blossoms, and black with red, earthy currants are quick to find. Medium-bodied, with a plushness and polish to the tannins, and fresh red fruits that provide richness and length on the palate with ample bright, red fruits in the finish. The wine blends 55.8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38.8% Merlot and 5.4% Petit Verdot, 14.8% ABV. Drink from 2025-2040. 93 Pts
2019 Lynch Bages – Even better in the bottle than it was in barrel, clearly, the 2019 Lynch Bages is in contention for the best vintage of Lynch Bages ever produced! And that is really saying something considering all the fabulous wines that have come from the property over the last several decades. Almost opaque in color, the wine explodes from the glass with black currants, espresso, blackberries, wet earth, tobacco leaf, forest floor, and cedar. As if that wasn’t enough for your senses, your palate is coated with layers of perfectly ripe, rich, dense, dark, red fruits, touches of spice, plums, blueberries, licorice, espresso, and a tiny touch of dark chocolate on the backend. This is intense, concentrated, long and expansive, and importantly, a great candidate for long aging. Drink from 2030-2065. 98 Pts
2019 Lynch-Moussas – 2019 is a powerful, concentrated, tannic, backward, crisp, chewy, almost austere, classic Pauillac. Once past the tannic backdrop, you find a big, juicy blast of peppery, tobacco-stained cassis and blackberries. Long, structured, and firm, with a savory edge to the spicy, earthy, red currant, and cranberry finish, it is going to need cellaring before being fun to taste. The special label trumpets the Casteja family owning the property for 100 years. Drink from 2028-2050. 93 Pts
2019 Mouton Rothschild – Mouton Rothschild hasn’t skipped a beat since the sublime 2009 vintage! 2019 continues its winning streak with one of the wines of the vintage. Almost opaque in color, the nose resonates with its showy display of Asian spices, cigar wrapper, fresh herbs, cigar box, blackberries, crushed stone, and cassis. Full-bodied, richly concentrated, opulent, and equally refined, the multi-layered display of flawlessly ripe berries, elegant textures, balance, freshness, and flamboyance is what the great vintages of Mouton are all about. The finish crosses the 60 second mark with ease. Drink from 2035-2070. 100 Pts
2019 Mouton Rothschild Petit Mouton de Mouton Rothschild – This is so good, it is difficult to believe, that it is only a second wine. Texturally, the wine is rich, plush, polished elegant, and fresh. You find layers of blackberry, currants, and cassis paired with wet earth, flowers, and tobacco leaf with a cool hint of spice on the nose and palate. The finish steals the show with its layers of ripe, sweet, lusciously textured black and red fruits. The wine can be enjoyed in its youth, but patience will be rewarded with all of its yet-to-come secondary nuances. Drink from 2025-2042. 94 Pts
2019 Pauillac – Dark in color, the wine is rich, concentrated, full-bodied, and fleshy. From start to finish, the wine is packed with deep, dark red fruits, chocolate, smoke, and cigar wrapper, Rich, round, fleshy and mildly polished, the wine finishes with layers of sweet, ripe, fresh currants, soft, round tannins and freshness. Drink from 2026-2047. 94 Pts
2019 Pedesclaux – Cedar, cigar box, currants, smoke, and tobacco leaf notes are all over the place. The wine hits your palate with a big gulp of chewy, dark red fruits, blackberry, herbs, and cassis. The finish is fresh, fruit-filled, long, and generous with a supple textured endnote. The wine blends 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. I like how they continue increasing the amount of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend here. This is a Pauillac on the rise. 93 Pts
2019 Pedesclaux Fleur de Pedesclaux – Soft, polished, fresh, and fruity, the elegantly-textured, red currants already shine nicely on the nose and palate. Medium-bodied and fully ready-to-go, this is perfect for ordering in a café or bistro. Drink from 2022-2030. 90 Pts
2019 Pibran – The red fruits come with a savory, earthy, spicy edge which is quite nice. The red currant core of fruit here is ripe, a bit rustic and loaded with nuances of olives, tobacco leaf, cocoa, cigar box, and currants. In other words, classic Pauillac. This is one of the best vintages of Pibran ever produced. And if you are seeking a classic Pauillac that won’t break the bank, look no further. Drink from 2025-2045. 92 Pts
2019 Pichon Baron – Power and refinement, the hallmarks of all the great vintages of Pichon Baron are what you find here. Almost opaque in color, the wine exudes blackberries, black currants, tobacco leaf, cedar, wet forest, black pepper, and hints of flowers. On the palate, the wine is multi-layered with waves of dark red and black fruits, regal tannins, and a seamless finish that refuses to quit. Rich, luscious, concentrated, and with a remarkable purity of fruit, this is going to age and develop for decades. Yet, as its tannins are so soft and right, for a wine at this level of quality from Pichon Baron, it will drink well relatively early. With Cabernet Sauvignon checking in at 87% of the blend, this is the highest percentage of Cabernet in the blend in the history of the estate. Drink from 2030-2060. 98 Pts
2019 Pichon Baron Les Griffons dePichon Baron – Black currants, blackberries, flowers, espresso, wet forest leaf, and cigar box aromatics show up with ease on the nose. Classic Pauillac in style, the wine is fresh, vibrant, sweet, chewy, and mildly reserved, finishing with currants, blackberry, and touches of espresso, spice, cocoa, and a dab of dark chocolate and savory herbs on the backend. Drink from 2025-2040. 93 Pts
2019 Pichon Baron Les Tourelles de Longueville – Medium/full-bodied, regal and just about ready to go, give it a few years in the cellar to release all of its black currant, tobacco leaf, cedar, forest leaf peppery herb character to shine through. There is ample depth of flavor, body, and loads of ripe, sweet, fresh currants to make this interesting and fun to drink while waiting for the Grand Vin to develop. Drink from 2023-2036. 92 Pts
2019 Pichon Lalande – Absolutely compelling from the initial swirl, sniff, and sip. It takes no time to recognize this as being an incredible, future legendary Bordeaux! The perfume is mesmerizing with its display of flowers, spices, tobacco leaf, cassis, plum, and blackberries. But it is the texture, with its layers of silky, perfectly, ripe, sweet fruits that steals the show. Rich, full-bodied and concentrated, the decadent finish, with all its multiple layers sticks with you for at least sixty seconds! Drink from 2029-2055. 100 Pts
2019 Pichon Lalande Comtesse Réserve – Medium-bodied, elegant, soft, ripe, and supple, the fruit is fresh, elegant, and creamy. There is a sweetness and lift to the berries as well as a polish to the tannins and loads of energy, silky textures, and a touch of spice in the finish making this gorgeous to drink today and for at least the next 15 years or more. As the quality here continues jumping in class every year, this is becoming a true Pauillac brand, instead of a second wine. Drink from 2023-2037. 93 Pts
2019 Pontet Canet – It is the purity of the fruit, along with the soft, silky, polished layers of freshness that matter here. The wine kicks off with an array of flowers, plums, currants, and blackberries along with spice, savory herbs, tobacco leaf, and a touch of cherry. The wine exudes its red fruit quality with ease, leaving you with an elegant, refined, soft, polished, mid-palate, and a long, vibrant, fresh finish that provides you with a gorgeous display of purity in the fruits. Please allow the wine some time for aging before pulling a cork. Drink from 2030-2060. 97 Pts
2019 Tour Sieujean – The nose, with its creme de cassis, oak, toast, and cedar accents is typical of Pauillac. The wine is medium-bodied, soft, bright, and fresh, with a touch of salt in the creamy finish. Drink from 2024-2036. 89 Pts
With this article, we complete our coverage of 2019 Bordeaux with tasting notes and ratings for 775 wines.
