"Tout est Grand en 2019!"

These are the words of our dear friend, Denis Durantou, who passed away on the 14th of May this year. 2019 will be remembered by us as his last vintage in a spectacular career spanning four decades. Denis was always succinct because he had so much to do! Reviving the great L’Eglise Clinet, starting new projects, planting new vineyards, running a négociant business. He was a force of nature. It seems fitting to quote his analysis – it captures everything one needs to know using the absolute minimum number of characters… “There was water when it was needed from July to September, a rapid flowering, cool nights, colour change which varied according to the grape varieties but which was homogeneous overall, and a harvest in fine dry conditions. Everything is great in 2019!”

Many will remember waiting enthusiastically for the Wine Advocate to drop through the letterbox, or for a poor resolution scan to be emailed from the States, via Bordeaux. The age of the internet has made distribution more equitable and efficient, but maybe some of the romance and thrill has ebbed away. 

Anyway, enough nostalgia, the scores are in and it’s fair to say that Lisa Perrotti-Brown is a big fan. Her report echoes our thoughts on this magical vintage – extreme peaks and a bit of mediocrity. It’s a fascinating read. For those who do not subscribe, we have quoted some of the most salient bits below. We have also listed the 12 potential 100 point wines.

‘In this vintage of extremes, a producer undaunted by flirting with disaster and with a bit of luck on his/her side could well have sailed over the finish line to glory with all the flair and panache of Alain Prost. Or they could have cartwheeled down the track, combusting into a ball of flames. 2018 offers us the thrill of victory for a number of wineries, the agony of defeat for a few and a whole lot of also-rans…

There were no magic micro-climates in 2018. This simple analysis of the vintage is the same from St Estephe to Castillon. This is one of the great turn-around stories, from despair to elation, but it was anything but straightforward. Nicolas Audebert from Rauzan Segla and Canon coined it the ‘Grand Huit’, or a rollercoaster. Even when summer arrived, this brought its own challenges. Water stress is necessary to make great red wines, however, those without clay subsoils were at risk of hydric stress and the dangers of blocked maturity. 

After a natural crop thinning by virtue of mildew, the vines were not carrying an abundance of fruit. Most vignerons didn’t do much in the way of green harvests and many did minimal canopy thinning. What was on the vine was very healthy with thick skins and wonderful potential. 

It is not every day that I get the privilege of drinking Chateau Lafleur. In fact most days I would consider myself lucky to drink Pensees de Lafleur, or even the Guinaudeau’s superb family estate Chateau Grand Village

So to drink two vintages of Pensees and three vintages of Lafleur in one evening was always going to be a special occasion.

On an uncharacteristically warm February evening a small group of wine lovers and collectors (coordinated by one private client to whom we owe tremendous thanks) gathered at the Cromlix hotel in Perthshire for an intimate dinner with Julie and Baptiste Guinaudeau. Kicking off with a glass of Dom Perignon 1990 from our private client’s cellars, the stage was set for a memorable and eventful evening appreciating the wines of famed Pomerol property, Chateau Lafleur.

We began with a brace of whites. First, A Louima 2012, which was the first vintage of what is now known as Les Champs Libres, from magnum. Les Champs Libres is an ambitious project that revolves around the Guinaudeaus identifying specific plots within their Fronsac estate that would be better suited to growing white grape varieties and replanting these sites with Sauvignon Blanc clones from Sancerre. The result is an unbelievably complex Bordeaux white that easily rivals the top names at a fraction of the price. A Louima 2012 is drinking beautifully – the tropicality and freshness of the Sauvignon balancing perfectly with the toastiness of the oak. Les Champs Libres 2014 at first was the more closed of the two, but as it sat in the glass it quickly came in to its own. Exuberant and supremely well balanced, this is still a baby and requires further cellaring.

We were thrilled to have Omri Ram hosting the Acte Masterclass. Here is a few words from Omri about Acte and his thoughts on the new vintage.

"We just finished the very first ever masterclass of the Acte project with Justerini & Brooks. It is the first time we have presented a vertical of Acte externally. Until now, this has been an academic exercise to help the technical team to evaluate the project.

The thing with Acte is it’s an ambition project. It is a long-term project. It’s creating someone thing from zero. It’s not a new label but a new vineyard. A vineyard that may become a new cru that people will recognise in the future, but it takes a lot of time and decision making.

The genesis of this project starts long before Acte 1 (2009). Years of soil studies, sourcing and negotiation were required to locate the finest, five-star terroirs of Fronsac. The vision was to find the greatest clay and limestone parcels, suitable for making wines in the Lafleur mould. That is not to say Acte is intended to be a replica. Lafleur is a unique terroir in Pomerol. The best soils of Fronsac are more reminiscent of the Cote and plateau of St Emilion. The ambition was to create a new cru using Lafleur genetics and best terroirs in the commune.