Ch Bonalgue 2019 Pomerol

The Wine

Wines of the Right bank are Merlot-based, and without question, these are the highest expression of the grape. With this wine you get a chance to experience the same soils and cultural practices that produced Pomerol's greatest wins (think Petrus, Lafleur and Le Pin) at a tiny fraction of those wines, but one that still earns respect among professional tasters and wine writers.

This wine was recently named one of the 25 best wines of France by James Suckling, and despite his well-known point inflation (he gave this wine 97 points), to be one of the nation's 25 best wines? That says something more than any score can indicate.

The Vintage

Good-to-Excellent. Bordeaux wines from 2019 will keep, and as time moves on and the 2019 wines evolve in bottle, the rating has only been increasing. However, this finding has been inconsistent, with the record-breaking heat favoring vines grown in soils that retain water (a higher percentage of clay) to those that did not (a higher percentage of sand). These conditions favored the wines of Pomerol.

Due to Covid, Bordeaux wines from 2019 were not released in the usual manner or on the standard schedule and was held for quite some time in the cellar prior to its eventual release through alternat channels, forcing the estates to release two vintages at the same time, which dampened pricing in the marketplace.

The Winery

The Pomerol at the pinnacle of Bordeaux Right Bank regions and produces world-class wines prized by collectors. But it is an iconoclast relative within Bordeaux! Drive through the region and you'll notice immediately how it lacks the château that define the mental image of Bordeaux. In addition, it eschews Bordeaux's well-known classification system.

In fact, Pomerol has no formalized wine classification system and is relatively new to the fine-wine scene, an achievement that came with the expected resentment and shade throwing from other regions! This achievement was led by such familiar estates as Petrus and Le Pin, which earn higher bids at global auctions than many of the cru classe estates. But more than that, Pomerol's rise has been due to growers and producers who adopted an innovative mindset that drove improvements in vineyard management and production practices.