Chateau Branaire-Ducru 2019

Beautiful blue fruits, tobacco, damp earth, and floral notes all emerge from the 2019 Château Branaire-Ducru. It's medium to full-bodied, flawlessly balanced, has silky tannins, and shows the quality of the vintage perfectly. A blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, it will benefit from 4-6 years of bottle age and cruise for two decades or more. It reminds me of the 2009.

• Drinking Window: 2024 - 2046
• Review Date: June 2020

Tobacco, mocha, cassis, blackberry and flowers are what you initially notice. This is a sensuous, medium/full-bodied, silky, fresh and pure wine exuding sweet, ripe, black plums, juicy blackberry and cassis from start to finish. The lift in the endnote gives you ample time to enjoy all the purity in the fruit, which is just great. Produced from a blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 4% Cabernet Franc, the wine reached 13.7% alcohol with a pH of 3.65. Harvesting took place September 19 to October 9. The Grand Vin was produced from 55% of the crop.

• Reviewer Name: Jeff Leve
• Review Date: June 2020

94–96. Barrel Sample. This is a richly perfumed wine that has bold tannins and dense black fruits. There is a fine line of juicy acidity cutting through all the richness to lend freshness against all the concentration. This is for long-term aging.

• Reviewer Name: Roger Voss

The 2019 Branaire-Ducru unwinds in the glass with aromas of raspberries, blackcurrants, sweet soil tones and hints of cigar wrapper, rose petals and cedar. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, it's youthfully tightly wound, with terrific concentration, tangy acids, powdery tannins and a long, saline finish. While this is a little reserved out of the gates, its energy and classical proportions will richly reward bottle age.

• Drinking Window: 2029 - 2065
• Reviewer Name: William Kelley
• Review Date: April 2022

The 2019 Branaire-Ducru is rich, layered and sumptuous. Black cherry, licorice, spice, leather tobacco and tar build effortlessly in the glass. The 2019 impresses with its density and pure power, which makes it perhaps atypical for Branaire by its historic standards, but it may be the direction the château seems to be headed in. The aromatics are a bit closed right now, but time in bottle should help take care of that.

• Drinking Window: 2029 - 2049
• Reviewer Name: Antonio Galloni
• Review Date: February 2022

Nuanced and complex on the nose, this smells rich and full of life. Juicy from the start with a brightness to the fruit. Harmonious with round, slightly chewy generous tannins. Has real aromatic interest, a lovely freshness and then a cooling effect on the finish. Well packaged and shiny. Glamour but also depth, precision and definite approachability.

• Drinking Window: 2027 - 2040
• Reviewer Name: Georgina Hindle
• Review Date: January 2022

The 2019 Branaire Ducru has a fresh and vibrant bouquet, very well defined with beautifully integrated oak, quite precise graphite-infused black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with a ferrous opening, gritty in texture, quite edgy and sharp with an almost citrus fresh, tensile finish. Very fine. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.

• Drinking Window: 2025 - 2045
• Reviewer Name: Neal Martin
• Review Date: February 2023