En Primeur – Page 6 – Waud Investment Wines

Pontet Canet 2019 Release

This morning marks the first major Bordeaux 2019 release via La Place, and the official launch of the En Primeur campaign.

Pontet Canet has become one of Bordeaux’s star estates in recent years, relentlessly receiving high scores across the board.

Released to the UK market at £366 per case (6) in bond, the 2019 release price is significantly below that of the 2018, and with James Suckling noting that “2019 seems more precise [than 2018]”.

James Suckling has just now scored the wine at 98-99 points, putting it on par with 2016, making this a really special and interesting release indeed.

2019 as a vintage is already at this early stage receiving good critical attention – and this is encouraging for an interesting campaign for investors.

Jane Anson of Decanter awarded the 2019 vintage a barrel score of 96 points, saying, “This score is two points under the 2016, because it doesn’t have the same concentration of that exceptional vintage, but it’s an excellent Pontet, full of vigour”.

Recent Vintages – Release Prices

	Per Case of 6 (£)
2019	366
2018	519
2017	505
2016	685
2015	396
2014	324

2019 Bordeaux Campaign

You will recall our advice that the Bordeaux 2019 campaign has been shaped by the Covid-19 crisis and the fact that we along with the worlds other wine buyers and experts have been unable to visit Bordeaux and accordingly the normal two weeks of tasting assessment and publicity for the campaign that ordinarily starts in May never happened. Quite suddenly, the growers have decided to start the campaign now with only renowned journalists and a few others having had the opportunity to taste some of the wines posted to them around the world.

As we enter our 6^th Bordeaux EP Campaign – the 2019 vintage is widely regarded as another very good or exceptional vintage, indeed the prevailing weather conditions were favourable. 2019 marks an extraordinary run of 6 good or very good vintages in a row. During the current global upset – price is going to be the main driver with making this campaign a success or not for all parties.

This morning, as I write this report – Chateau Pontet Canet 2019 has just been released at 30% below the 2018 price – this is unprecedented – and hopefully sets the tone for the campaign ahead. This move is also consistent with the reduced price trends of some of the lesser known and non-investment grade wines which started to break cover yesterday and on Monday.

2014 is our best financially performing campaign, so with the 2019 wines being of a higher quality – this is certainly an exciting move and signals a great opportunity for investors.

Following the 2018 campaign, we will receive the same allocations of the blue-chip wines we received last year – so we will have good stocks of Lafite, Mouton Rothschild, Margaux, Canon, Rauzan Segla, Lynch Bages and more.

This years campaign started very late with a jolt and is likely to finish quickly as well, it will probably be done and dusted within the next 4 to 5 weeks – so we need to act reasonably swiftly.

Early signs are that the wines are exceptional, the vintage superb and release prices from the Chateaux, if they follow the early and quite logical trend setters, will give investors a fantastic opportunity to make strong returns over the usual investment window.

One of the three bottles of the 1869 vintage that sold for a record $HK 1.8 million each at Sotheby’s Oct. 29 auction in Hong Kong of wines sourced directly from Chateau Lafite-Rothschild. Each was expected to fetch between HK$40,000 and HK$60,000. Source: Sotheby’s via BloombergWhat The Critics Are Saying

Traditionally, the world’s most renowned wine experts and critics visit Bordeaux to taste the latest vintages in March, alongside the English Wine Trade. However this year – the critics will be sampling the wines from home. We welcome back Neil Martin to the Primeur tastings – he is the critic we follow most closely. It will be especially interesting this year as the 2019 Bordeaux wines are more ‘classic’ in style – which will suit the palate of Martin. The scores to date from other critics such as Suckling have been positive – he has just given Pontet Canet 98-99 points, that is in line with his 2016 score.

At this point – it looks a great opportunity for investors

The Bordelais are not renowned for their ability to read the market and set their prices at a realistic level, this has been a concern for the last two years in particular, however the Global Covid-19 crisis appears to have brought them to their senses! – if you are looking for a place to invest, then the 2019 currently looks like a great opportunity for investors at this stage.

If you would like more information on the campaign – please do keep an eye on our website where we will be posting updates and relevant investor information where appropriate.

At last we are underway!!………………….

Charles Waud
Director, Waud Investment Wines

Wrapping up the 2018 Bordeaux En Primeur Campaign

This was one of the most interesting vintages to come out in the past 5 years. Following great investment years in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 – it was going to be extraordinary to have another belter… funnily enough, that is exactly what happened.

2014 – Classic vintage
2015 – Very Good vintage
2016 – Fantastic vintage
2017 – Classic vintage
2018 – Very Good / Fantastic vintage

Much of the commentary before En Primeur tastings in March and April was that 2018 was going to be up there in quality with 2015 – so therefore a Very Good vintage.

However after the critics scores came in, 2018 has suddenly gone up a level – and considered almost in line with some of the best vintages ever made – 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2016. Therefore 2018 is rated as a Very Good / Fantastic vintage.

Our Buying Strategy

Our selection and buying strategy continues to stay the same. We will only buy wines that we believe will offer our investors a return. Therefore, as the wines were considered to be nearly at the quality level of 2016, the release prices needed to reflect that.

Any wines that came out higher than the release prices of 2016, we tended not to purchase.

We have streamlined the wines that we have purchased to just over 30 wines. We have the all of the First Growths – Lafite Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild, Haut Brion and Margaux (Latour does not partake in En Primeur anymore). We then have a selection of the second wines from these chateaux – Carruades, Petit Mouton and Pavillion Rouge. Then other wines that also have a great track record of performing as real show stoppers and have a large demand on the secondary market; Rauzan Segla, Canon, Carmes Haut Brion, Calon Segur, Armailhac, Beychevelle, Leoville Barton, Lynch Bages and more.

Our Allocations

In this 2018 campaign, there has been a real flurry of interest in a relatively select number of wines. With volumes also down across the board, there was only a finite supply of these wines available, that have subsequently pretty much sold out. Therefore our expectation is that this is one of the drivers that will drive prices up accordingly.

It has been quite a tactical game in choosing the right wines for our customers this year. As our annual spend continues to increase year on year, our allocations of the ‘best’ wines continues to increase at the same rate.

In Conclusion

This has been a very good campaign for everyone that has invested with Waud Investment Wines – and we look forward to keeping you informed on how the wines perform over the next 5 years.

2018 Bordeaux En Primeur Campaign

We are heading into our fifth Bordeaux En Primeur campaign and it seems we are in for another excellent year for the 2018 wines. It seems remarkable that we have had 5 very good vintages back to back.

THE 2018 BORDEAUX EN PRIMEUR VINTAGE REPORT

By Charles Waud, Director, Waud Wines

2014 – Classic vintage
2015 – Very Good vintage
2016 – Fantastic vintage
2017 – Classic vintage
2018 – looks to be somewhere in between 2015 & 2016 – so Very Good / Fantastic.

There was a rainy start to the 2018 growing season, that was subsequently countered by a summer heatwave.
Certain vineyards suffered Mildew that meant there was a localised reduction in production. (Pontet Canet and Palmer that are regular buys for us were heavily hit losing around 70% of their production). A number of chateaux were equally affected by hail.

The quality across the board is exceptionally high, positioned somewhere between 2015 and 2016, (some say that it may even match 2009 and 2010) – and the wines that have been produced will be bold, tannic wines that will offer excellent longevity.

OUR RECENT TRIP TO BORDEAUX

Members of our buying team spent a couple of days tasting the Left and Right banks of Bordeaux at the beginning of April so that we were able to see, hear and taste what is happening with the 2018 vintage. After hearing the hype of the wines being up there in quality of 2015 and 2016, it is pleasing to say that the wines did not disappoint. We visited 24 chateaux over 2 days and the standard was exceptionally high throughout – though it is important to note that we were only visiting chateaux that we deemed relevant for investment grade purchases.

DAY 1 – LEFT BANK

Day 1 was spent in Margaux, Pauillac, Saint Julien and Saint-Estèphe.

The morning session at Margaux was a super start – our 9am Rauzan Segla appointment certainly was a wake up to the taste buds, but they have produced a stonker of a wine that we traditionally have good allocations of.

Chateau Palmer second up was very interesting. Rumours were rife before we arrived about their Mildew problems, and they were refreshingly honest. They received 1 years worth of rain in 6 months, the worst mildew in 50 years, their whole vineyard contaminated – and still managed to produce an excellent wine, which was very unexpected!

The standard continued to improve as we visited First Growth; Chateau Margaux. After trying their Pavillon Rouge and Blanc, we tasted the 2018 Grand Vin – this was superb and one that will undoubtedly receive rave reviews from the critics.

We had further tastings at Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, Leoville Las Cases and Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande – highlights for us included Leoville Las Cases Grand Vin, Reserve de la Comtesse and the Grand Vin at Comtesse de Lalande. These are all wines that we have purchased En Primeur previously.

Pontet Canet in Pauillac was next on the schedule – and this has famously been a wine that we have purchased in good volumes. We were looking forward to trying the 2018 vintage given we had heard that they had also been struck hard by mildew. (the curse of being a biodynamic vineyard and not being able to use sprays to control disease and pests). They subsequently lost between 60 – 70% of their production. When trying the 2018 wine, we were very pleased to see that it really was a super wine. Beautiful, fruit forward and fresh. A wine the critics will love – and Justine Tesseron claims it is the best Pontet Canet they have ever made!

After lunch and sampling one of the most incredible cheese boards we have ever seen, we went straight into Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild. The unanimous decision across our tasting panel was that the second wine, Carruades de Lafite, was unbelievably good. This is a wine that is incredibly tough to get hold of – and we will try to increase our allocations year on year. At Mouton, all of their wines showed well, with the Grand Vin marked as one of the wines of the vintage for me. Petit Mouton scored highly, with Chateau d’Armailhac tasting incredibly well too.

Our last 3 tastings of the day were at Chateau Montrose, Calon Segur and Cos D’Estournel. The wines at Calon Segur were very good indeed, with the Grand Vin receiving high scores. This is not a wine we have historically purchased, but hopefully this year the release price will be more sensible and we will try and take an allocation. Cos D’Estournel performed typically well, with the Grand Vin there receiving one of the highest scores over the 2 day trip.

DAY 2 – RIGHT BANK

Day 2 was the turn of the Right bank to impress, visiting Pomerol and Saint Emilion. After travelling around the flat and expansive left bank the day before, it was a treat to see some far prettier views here.

We were looking forward to returning to Chateau Canon as our first tasting of the morning, for a wine that has a cult following. It seems to do very well on the investment side of things as the release price has tended to be relatively low in comparison to many other wines of similar quality. There is also scarcity of this wine, so sells out incredibly quickly! The 2018 Canon was excellent and we will try to get our hands on as much as possible here.

Next up was Chateau Ausone where we were pleased to try a large selection of wines. Fonbel, Simard, Moulin Saint Georges and La Clotte were all pretty impressive, but the Ausone wines really stood out.

We then arrived at Pavie. I had heard this was a challenging wine to taste En Primeur, but I was really surprised just how hard it was! This was a real tannin fest – so you can see how their wines have such good ageing potential.

Troplong Mondot was next up on the itinerary – trying their Mondot and Grand Vin – these wines really did impress and are wines that we have in other vintages across our various syndicates.

Last up before lunch was Chateau Figeac. After arriving in the pouring rain, we managed to get inside before getting very wet! This wine was worth the trip – beautiful, vibrant, fresh, balanced with round delicate tannins – this is a wine we hope to buy this year before it moves to ‘Premiers Grand Crus Classes A’ in a couple of years time.

After lunch, it was the turn of Vieux Chateau Certan (VCC). We only tried one wine here, but it was certainly worth it. Another purist’s wine that will age beautifully – a wine that we will want in our allocation.

Our final three tastings of the day were at La Conseillante, Cheval Blanc and Angelus. All super wines, with the Cheval Blanc Grand Vin being the wine of the trip for me. A wine that we previously haven’t purchased, but we will be keeping an eye on it for 2018.

IN SUMMARY

As you have seen from my match report from the two days in Bordeaux, the standard of wines were really quite excellent, a noticeable step up on the 2017 wines from last years trip. The critics will shortly be publishing their scores, but I would expect some pretty high scores across the board for the investment grade wines that we concentrate on.

TOP 10 WINES OF THE TRIP

Cheval Blanc (Right Bank, Saint-Émilion)
Mouton Rothschild (Left Bank, Pauillac)
Figeac (Right Bank, Saint-Émilion)
Margaux (Left Bank, Margaux)
Rauzan Segla (Left Bank, Margaux)
Chateau d’Armailhac (Left Bank, Pauillac)
Petit Mouton (Left Bank, Pauillac)
Canon (Right Bank, Saint-Émilion)
Calon Segur (Left Bank, Saint-Estèphe)
Carruades de Lafite (Left Bank, Pauillac)

OUR INVESTMENT AND PURCHASING STRATEGY FOR 2018 WINES

Brexit has obviously been at the forefront of everyone’s minds and following the EU’s decision on the 10th April to push back the exit date to the 31st October 2019, we can now enjoy a period of stability for the 2018 campaign.

Our strategy for wine purchases will however remain the same. We will continue to only purchase wines for our clients that we expect to offer good returns. This is primarily going to be with Bordeaux 2018 EP wines – however if we see other opportunities with other investment grade wines, such as Opus One from California and Sassicaia, Solaia and Masseto from Italy, we will look to add these to your portfolio.

Our intention is to provide our investors with a sound investment return over five years – at which point they can hold, sell or start to drink the wines as they wish – a nice problem to have for these great wines from Bordeaux!

Fine wine sales of Bordeaux investment grade wines have being going on for centuries, so we have every confidence that Brexit will not affect the value of our wine investments in the long run.

INVESTING WITH WAUD INVESTMENT WINES FOR 2018 CAMPAIGN

If you are interested in investing in the 2018 campaign, or would like more information, please contact charles.waud@waudwines.com or call the office on +44 20 7940 5516 to speak to one of the team.

Investment Wine Evening @ UBS

Last night we had the last in our series of three investment wine evenings discussing the upcoming 2018 Bordeaux En Primeur campaign. With 45 guests attending, we started with our traditional Mas de Daumas Gassac Rose Frizant, before sitting down for the investment presentation. After a welcome from our UBS host, Nick Williams, Jeremy and Charles Waud talked the group through the investment wine concept, what En Primeur is all about, a review of how some of our portfolios are performing and explaining our buying strategy for our individual investors and syndicates.

Following the presentation we enjoyed Pontet Canet from three different vintages – 2015, 2014 and 2006. All fabulous wines from the left bank in Bordeaux.

For those that stayed for the long haul, we once again opened up our ‘Club Claret’ from Montagne-St-Emilion, Vieux Chateau Saint Andre 2014 (the owner of this vineyard was the head winemaker from famed Petrus) that went down incredibly well.

Many thanks to our host company UBS for inviting us to present at their fabulous offices – we look forward to returning in the future.

If you are interested in receiving more information about the Bordeaux 2018 En Primeur campaign, please do get in touch with Blakely Hehir on +44 207 940 5516 or by emailing blakely.hehir@waudwines.com

Investment Wine Evening – Bordeaux En Primeur 2018

We hosted our first Waud Investment Wines campaign evening for the Bordeaux En Primeur 2018 season last night at JM Finn’s head office in Coleman Street.

This is the run up to our 5th consecutive campaign with Bordeaux En Primeur and we were pleased to have nearly 50 guests in the room – a mixture of current Waud Investment Wine investors as well as potential investors going forward.

After a fizz reception where we were enjoying our Mas de Daumas Gassac Rose Frizant 2017, we sat down for the 45 minute presentation where we covered who Waud Wines are, what En Primeur is all about, what our investment strategy is, what are we doing in preparing for potential Brexit outcomes, review how some of our current portfolios are performing as well as discuss the early findings of the 2018 vintage in Bordeaux – all very exciting stuff!

After talking about the investment side, it was then a treat to taste three different vintages of Chateau Montrose from Saint-Estèphe. We enjoyed bottles of 2015, 2014 and then 2008 in magnum – all very different in style and interestingly different guests did have a preference for the different vintages – there was no stand out winner.

For those that were staying for the long haul, we then showed our ‘Club Claret’ from Montagne-St-Emilion, Vieux Chateau Saint Andre 2014 (the owner of this vineyard was the head winemaker from famed Petrus).

If you are interested in receiving more information about the Bordeaux 2018 En Primeur campaign, please do get in touch with Blakely Hehir on +44 207 940 5516 or by emailing blakely.hehir@waudwines.com

Bordeaux 2017 En Primeur Campaign

The 2017 campaign is finally starting to gather some pace. Following two fantastic days in Bordeaux at the beginning of this month, it was pleasing to taste some very good wines indeed.

Before we arrived, much had been reported about Bordeaux being hit hard by the frost and that this would have a major effect on the quality of the wines, as well as the release prices. In fact, for the premier Chateaux where we concentrate our purchasing, this really was not the case as it showed that the top vineyards with the best terroir were hardly touched at all by the frost.

(Gavin Quinney’s diagram below shows that St Julien, St Estephe and Pauillac on the left bank had minimal damage – as well as Pomerol and Saint Emilion on the right bank having between 10%-50% of crop damaged)

What quality level are the 2017 wines?

Following 2015 and 2016 that were deemed by critics across the board as ‘Exceptional’ vintages, 2017 will be referred to as ‘Classic’. 2017 was being compared to the 2014 vintage – and once Jeremy and I had been to taste the 2017 wines, we both agreed that 2017 wines offer more structure, fruit and richness than the 2014 wines – indeed, closer to the style to the highly acclaimed 2015 wines.

Highlights from our recent EP tastings in Bordeaux

During two very full days tasting with our partner négociants, we sampled just shy of 100 wines that fit into our investment wine purchase criteria. The stand out wines for us were; From the left bank – Chateau Margaux (notably including their extraordinary pure Sauvignon Blanc which they make just 12,000 bottles of – Pavillon Blanc), Cos d’Estournel, Pichon Longueville (Comtesse de Lalande), Lafite, Mouton Rothschild, Leoville Barton and Chateau Beycheville.

One of our favourites, Pontet Canet in Pauillac currently displays a lovely palate but is rather closed on the nose and it is hard to determine the potential at the moment – whilst we will have a good allocation and it will probably turn out very well, the pricing will determine our level of appetite this year, but indications are that we will invest much more modestly with the 2017 vintage.

We also had a fantastic tasting and were very taken with the wines of Ducru Beaucaillou in Saint Julien – a wine we have not considered for investment before. Chateau Palmer in the next-door property to Margaux has many people in the trade excited and this wine has just released at 20% below 2016 prices and is being rated by some at as high as 97 points. For us, whilst very good, it was a little obvious and didn’t quite have the delicacy and finesse of its neighbour!

From the right bank, we were again impressed by Chateau Canon and Clos L’Eglise.

How do we think the campaign is going to pan out?

As with every Bordeaux EP campaign, it comes down to the quality of the wines and then the release prices. There was much discussion when we were in Bordeaux around the 2017 pricing expectations, and in conclusion, consensus was that prices should come somewhere between 2014 and 2015 release prices. If this turns out to be the case, we are in for a very exciting campaign as predicted.

Today (Mon 23th Apr) was the first proper day of the campaign and pleasingly Chateau Palmer, hailed as one of James Suckling’s wines of the vintage, released their 2017 wine below the price of their 2015 vintage as noted above. Hopefully this sets the tone for the other Chateaux.

Our Investment and purchasing strategy for the 2017 wines

We continue to only purchase wines for our clients that we expect to offer good returns. Even when a wine is considered fantastic at 98 points for example, if the release price is higher than for their 2016 wine, we are unlikely to buy for our syndicates, and we will direct our funds where we feel better investment value is to be found.

Our intention is to provide our investors with a sound investment return over five years – at which point they can hold, sell or start to drink the wines as they wish – a nice problem to have for these great wines from Bordeaux!

Investing with Waud Investment Wines for 2017 campaign

If you are interested in investing in the 2017 campaign, or would like more information, please contact charles@waudinvestmentwines.com

Investment Wine Evening – Barclays

Last night we held the last of our 3 Investment Wine presentations at Barclay’s world HQ offices in Canary Wharf. We were delighted to have been invited to host in their stunning atrium on Level 30, with views looking out over London.

With 30 guests, made up of original Waud Investment Wine clients, some Waud Wine Club members and staff and clients from Barclays, we had a very enjoyable couple of hours. We tasted our Champagne de Castelnau NV brut on arrival, followed by Pontet Canet 2014, 2015 and the blind mystery wine was Pontet Canet 2006.

Many thanks for Barclays for letting us host with them, and we look forward to returning with bigger numbers next year.

If you are interested in investing in the 2017 campaign, or would like more information, please contact charles@waudinvestmentwines.com

Château Lafite Rothschild 2016

Château Lafite Rothschild has finally released their second tranche (we saw no sight of tranche one as the vast majority négociants sat on their allocations as quantities were tiny!) The combined first & second tranche price translates to a release offer of £2,925.00 IB per case of 6. We are pleased to have taken our full allocation – with potential to take more further down the line.

100 James Suckling “Even stronger and more toned than the excellent 2015, this Lafite shows incredible power yet also finesse. Full-bodied, superfine and chewy wine. Muscular yet agile. Goes on for minutes. Stunning. Perhaps the greatest Lafite since the legendary 1959?”

98-100 James Molesworth “Potentially an 100 point wine, this is a dense, serious and impressive selection. There is a classical structure to this wine, with dark tannins and acidity working in tandem. At the same time, the wine has immense, opulent fruits that are a characteristic of this vintage. It’s a wine that will last for many generations”

98-100 Jeff Leve “Silky, luscious, refined with profundity and sophistication, the fruit has the concentration, depth, structure and tannins to fill your mouth with flavor, coating your palate with deeply energetic fruits. Balanced between concentrated and fresh, this is regal but not stuck up. There is no attitude here, just pleasure. While intellectual, this does not loft past you”

99 Jane Anson / Decanter “An awesome Lafite, this is elegant to a fault. It has the classicism of the very best vintages, and the pulse of electricity that runs through it is clear from the first moment you taste it. You are absolutely in Pauillac here, the epitome of what the left bank can deliver in terms of elegance and density: menthol edged tobacco, charcoal and cassis with both a subtlety and an intensity at once. It totally expands through the palate and pulls itself out, stretching out in front of you. It’s a serious wine, but seamless. Concentrated, pure and fresh, everything is in its place.”

96-98 Neal Martin “The 2016 Lafite-Rothschild is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot picked from 23 September until 12 October with the Cabernet Sauvignon (and unused Petit Verdot). It has 13.3% alcohol, a pH of 3.65 and the IPT of 74. Matured in 100% new oak, it has a fresh and vibrant bouquet whilst retaining the classicism of this First Growth. This is more subtle than Mouton-Rothschild or Latour, which is always the case at en primeur, yet there is a brooding intensity that draws you in as it unveils some gorgeous blackberry and graphite aromas. The palate is just superb. This has more density, more vigor, more depth and you could even argue more ambition than the 2015 Lafite-Rothschild showed last year. It gently grips the mouth with unerring focus and symmetry, just a touch of spiciness developing with a long, saline finish that lingers two minutes after the wine has departed. Lafite-Rothschild always develops and meliorates in barrel during its élevage and I suspect this will ultimately turn out to be a regal Lafite-Rothschild”

For all Bordeaux En Primeur enquiries, please contact charles@waudinvestmentwines.com or call +44 20 7940 5516

Château Montrose 2016

Unquestionably, one of the great second growths, Château Montrose have released a second tranche @ £750.00 IB per case of 6.

Given the resounding praise by all the critics, the first tranche was snapped up incredibly quickly, so we are pleased to have taken 20 cases in the second tranche.

97-99 Points Neal Martin “The 2016 Montrose is a blend of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 7% Cabernet Franc (no Petit Verdot this year) picked between 23 September to 14 October and matured in 60% new oak. It has a very sophisticated bouquet with blackberry, briary, a touch of blue fruit and violets. Sometimes this Saint Estèphe can be a little broody at en primeur, but this certainly is more expressive, maintaining very fine delineation and precision, unfolding with each swirl of the glass and revealing a hidden graphite/marine influence. The palate is very fresh on the entry. The first facet of this wine that strikes you is the freshness that lasts from start to finish. This is an animated, vivacious Montrose that starts in almost understated fashion yet builds in the mouth towards what is almost a sensual finish, not a descriptor often applied to Montrose. It is a disarmingly and hauntingly beautiful 2016, extremely long and the aftertaste lasting two or three minutes. NB This is one example where I felt my second visit, over a fortnight after the first, revealed a wine with much greater potential, and I therefore raised my banded score accordingly”

97-98 James Suckling “A solid and tight Montrose with a linear structure of ripe tannins that gives wonderful length and energy. Full-bodied, yet reserved and toned. Stone and mineral character underneath is impressive. Beautiful center palate. The class and focus are marvelous. Better than 2015. This is what Montrose is all about.”

18.0 Jancis Robinson “Very dark blackish crimson. Great, fresh, minerally savour on the nose. Lots of intensity initially. Sweet start – quite a surprise in a way – and then lots of structure. Doesn’t quite hang together yet but there is masses of potential. Sweet, fresh ink. Good raciness. Quite muscular but not at all heavy. An edge of acidity is evident without the strong stoniness of St-Estèphe. Just a little bit stringy on the end. Lots of life and freshness (clays help). Pretty glamorous. 13.2%”

For all Bordeaux En Primeur enquiries, please contact charles@waudinvestmentwines.com or call +44 20 7940 5516

Archive for the
‘En Primeur’

Pontet Canet 2019 Release

2019 Bordeaux Campaign