Petrus, Pomerol 2019

The 2019 Château Pétrus is a behemoth, and I can't imagine a better marriage of sexy, opulent fruit with purity, precision, and length. Always all Merlot from a single parcel of clay soils, it takes time to unwind in the glass I followed this bottle for multiple days) and offers a powerful, primordial style in its black cherries, mulberries, smoked tobacco, damp earth, and chocolate, as well as a beautiful floral component that emerges with air.

Dense, concentrated, and incredibly rich on the palate, it has a multi-dimensional mouthfeel and sweet yet substantial tannins. Despite plenty of glycerin and opulence on the palate, which certainly makes it fun to taste today, it has a very straight, classic feel that will demand bottle age. It probably needs to be forgotten for 8-10 years and will deliver the goods over the following 50 years or more.

Drink 2030 - 2082

Olivier Berrouet turned out a fabulous Petrus in 2019. A gorgeous, expansive wine, the 2019 opens beautifully over time. There is a feeling of radiance in the 2019 that is impossible to miss. Hints of rose petal, lavender, mint and cinnamon meld effortlessly into a core of red/purplish fruit. At 14.8%, the alcohol is high, but not intrusive. "We worked very hard to extract as gently as possible," Berrouet explained. Readers lucky enough to own the 2019 should plan on cellaring it for a decade or more.

Drink 2029 - 2069

A seductive and sensual nose full of ripe and sweetly perfumed cherry and blackcurrant notes - which are even more expressive and abundant after an hour in the glass. This is such a beguiling wine, changing in texture and fruit profile several times from a first sip of smooth and streamlined, chalky tannins to one filled with bright acidity and succulent juiciness then shifting another gear delivering a palate full of concentrated dark fruits edged with liquorice and black pepper. 

The tannins are abundant and clearly present, Olivier Berrout director of Petrus says he’s never produced a vintage with such high tannins, but they are wonderfully consistent and well integrated with a lovely powdery element to them. You really feel the structure develop in the mouth, building in complexity and layers with a beautiful perfume and wet stone minerality lingering on the long finish. You have to wait for the reticence and reservation of Petrus in its youth to subside before you see the power and energy here but it’s giving a tantalising glimpse of what its long life holds in store.

Drink 2030 - 2055

50% new oak

A dense, structured Petrus that is full of naturally fleshy but concentrated blueberry, blackberry, cassis and loganberry fruits that feel both fully ripe and fully subdued and closed in on themselves right now. As ever with Petrus, you have to be patient, as everything just slows down and takes its time. The tannins are juicy, with great aromatic persistency, allowing touches of smoked caramel, black truffle, black chocolate and pencil lead through as it opens. As it uncurls things turn spicier and more profound, with edges of mint leaf, fennel, aniseed and eucalyptus. This is a wine with so much to say, and it is in no hurry to go anywhere.

Drink 2029 - 2050

Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.

The 2019 Pétrus is relatively flamboyant on the nose with gregarious black cherries and raspberry coulis scents mixed with autumn bonfire and fireside hearth. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins, well-balanced, and quite fresh with a poised and delineated finish. I adore the pepperiness that lingers in the mouth, a multifaceted Pomerol with a long life ahead.

Drink 2027 - 2060

The 2019 Pétrus is a powerful, heady wine, bursting from the glass with aromas of raspberries, cassis, violets, spices, licorice and kirsch. Full-bodied, fleshy and layered, with an ample core of fruit, lively acids and powdery tannins that assert themselves on the liqueured finish, it's a ripe, high-octane Petrus that reflects the influence of a dry, warm growing season on what is essentially a single cépage Merlot) and a single soil type clay).

Winemaker Olivier Berrouet, following in his father's footsteps, continues to pursue a very classical, elegant style at Pétrus, a site naturally inclined to produce Pomerol's most muscular wine. He considers timing the date of harvest to be of the essence in avoiding excess; extraction is gentle, with daily pump-overs performed by hand during two or at most three weeks of maceration; and the modest 50% of new oak barrels employed at this address from Taransaud, Darnajou, Séguin Moreau and Demptos) are steamed and then soaked with water for 15 days before filling to minimize their impact.

So, I suspect that the 2019 vintage's power and structure arrived against his best intentions. Certainly, with essentially only one cépage Merlot) and one soil type blue clay) and a surface area of only just over 11 hectares, Berrouet doesn't have many options when a warm, dry vintage comes along. Power, rather than opulence, is the order of the day chez Pétrus this year, and while the 2019 is a prodigious wine, it will require notable patience of anyone wishing to see it at full maturity.

Drink 2029 - 2059