The 2019 vintage - Small Yield, Beautifully Balanced Wines

Welcome to our 2019 vintage Burgundy en primeur offer. We are really thrilled to offer it as the quality of the 2019 vintage is especially high. Quantities, compared to 2017 and 2018 are down, meaning in turn that the quantities we have on offer are also reduced, a key reason to get in now while the full range is available. (2020 vintage quantities are also down on average). 

2019 Burgundy Growing Season and Harvest

Two features stand out in 2019. The first is that both whites and reds are of very high quality. The season favoured both the Côte de Beaune and the Côte de Nuits, so no singling out by geography is required. Secondly, in terms of style, as Anthony Hanson MW explained to us during our Zoom chat with him recently, while there was summer heat which delivered very good ripeness levels, a lack of rain in July, August and early September also meant that acidity levels were preserved. Stylistically this is important, because while (like 2018s) the 2019s are rich, they are also well balanced. 

Whites, which share this freshness, are not in the nervy, steely style we see in some vintages, but rather, as Anthony described them, they are “broad-shouldered, rich, sumptuous, offering luscious drinking.” We can all enjoy some of that!

Reds have richness and depth, as well as that freshness. Today, most domaines extract gently, carefully, so Anthony feels that while there will be very long-lived 2019s, they are on the whole less likely to shut down than some serious vintages of the past, like 2005. There will be a broad drinking window.
 

Domaines on offer:
Hospices de Beaune, tended at Domaine Michel Lafarge
Hospices de Beaune, tended at Domaine Emmanuel Rouget
Domaine Amiot-Servelle
Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet
Domaine Christian Clerget
Domaine Claude Dugat
Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé
Domaine Confuron-Gindre
Domaine Denis Bachelet
Domaine Emmanuel Rouget
Maison Etienne Sauzet
Domaine Fourrier
Domaine Frédéric Esmonin
Domaine Harmand-Geoffroy
Domaine Heitz-Lochardet
Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat
Charles Van Canneyt
Domaine Jean-Marc Millot
Domaine Launay-Horiot
Domaine Laurent Roumier
Château de la Maltroye
Domaine Paul Pernot
Alvina Pernot
Domaine Perrot-Minot
Domaine Tortochot

Linden's Buying Guide for 2019 Burgundy En Primeur

‘Layered’ buying is my key advice to you as you peruse this offer. Layer, in terms of appellation levels, from grand cru, premier cru, village and regional levels – so that you have a mix of wines to drink, a variety of future opportunities to serve these wines, and a means to monitor the progress of the jewels that sit at the top. Layer too between producers. The outstanding feature of Burgundy today is the new, young generation that is emerging to produce fabulous quality and style. We are proud to be representing a number of them. Do not overlook, for example, the wines being made by Justine Clerget (Christian Clerget), Prune Amiot (Amiot-Servelle), Alvina Pernot (Alvina Pernot), Armand Heitz (Armand Heitz), Philippe Harmand (Harmand-Geoffroy), Alix Millot (Jean-Marc Millot), Xavier Horiot (Launay-Horiot), and Amélie Berthaut (Berthaut-Gerbet). 

Finally, as you will see compared to our already physical 2018s, we provide the best possible prices in our 2019 en primeur release offer, to reward you in this, the earliest buying opportunity. 

Do get in touch with us if you would like help in putting together your order.

For full producer reviews and 2019 price list, please click here.

WHY BUY EN PRIMEUR

The most obvious traditional answer was price. The basic deal was that the best price would be the en primeur or ‘futures’ price – the consumer rewarding the merchant, the merchant rewarding the negocient, the negocient rewarding the châteaux with cash up front, long before anyone would see the finished wine in bottle. This system broke (as it does every few decades or so) with the 2009 and 2010 vintages, where the price of the final delivered wine fell siginicantly below what customers paid en primeur. Price for the 2018s will be something to watch, though fortunately it doesn’t look this year (so far!) like aggressive pricing will be the order of the day.

Of course you are not buying an entire vintage, you are picking out individual wines, so over-performers who nonetheless price ‘normally’ may well prove to make financial sense.

But there are some other reasons to buy en primeur

- Provenance is assured. You will be the first to take delivery of the wine and you will have control over its handling and storage from day one, with all the assurance for preserving condition that that brings. Years down the line that will mean either drinking the wine in its optimal condition, or being able to offer it for re-sale with complete assurance to the next buyer. Everyone benefits from assured provenance.

- Access. This isn’t Burugndy, but it is true that some of these wines appear later in the secondary market in much lower quantities. This is the best chance to ensure you can own what you want.

- Sunk cost. It’s not an obvious one, but taking the pain of the expense now is something akin to savings. The wine will feel like a bonus when it comes to drinking it!

- Choice of bottle formats. If you like to own your favourite wines in a nice mix of halves, magnums and imperials, this is your best – often only – chance to have the wine bottled in formats you want. (Subject to availability and advance ordering).

- If you had a child born in 2018, or got married, this is a very nice way to mark the occasion from the outset – investing in furture anniversaries and birthdays.