Vintage 2019

2019 will go down as one of the best ever vintages in several key winegrowing regions, not least Bordeaux. But what made it so good? Undoubtedly heat and plentiful sun hours played apart – but with the moderating effects of a relatively cool spring and the absence of stress-inducing heat spikes at the end of the season. But 2019 will also forever stand out for its consistency. Almost wherever in the world you look, 2019 produced wines to be reckoned with: stellar Bordeaux and Burgundies, exemplary Barolos, Barbarescos and Brunellos, ripping Riojas and Riberas, gorgeous Mosel and Rheingau Rieslings.

In early 2023, Jancis Robinson MW reported on what she described as one of the best ever Bordeaux vintages – ‘perhaps the best I have ever tasted at this stage’, she noted. Yes it had heat, but the wines somehow retained freshness amid their opulence of fruit and abundance of ripe tannin. In Burgundy, the charmed 2019 vintage told a remarkably similar story: hedonistic wines, both reds and whites, which still managed to retain vital freshness and thus promised excellent ageing potential. The only downside seemed to be low yields. The full-blooded, exuberant wines of the Northern and Southern Rhône in 2019 avoided the raisined, alcoholic excesses of 2003, while in Portugal, a Port vintage was declared – for some houses, the fifth such declaration in a row. Northern and central Italy’s cooler conditions in 2019 produced classically shaped rather than opulent wines, but with great ageing potential. Southern Italy was notable for its success, especially the top producers of Etna.

The charmed vintage extended to the southern hemisphere, with Napa Cabs emerging plush and polished, and 2019 wines almost uniformly lauded in New Zealand and Argentina.