Bordeaux 2009 greatest vintage ever tasted since 1982

Wine critic Robert Parker has awarded 19 of the 2009 Bordeaux wines a perfect 100 point score. Even since the en primeur tasting Parker has been lauding the 2009 vintage when he called it unquestionably the greatest Bordeaux vintage he have ever tasted.

The 19 100-pointers are: Latour, Léoville Poyferré, La Mission Haut-Brion, La Mondotte, Montrose, Pavie, Pétrus, Le Pin, Pontet-Canet, Haut-Brion, Pape Clement Blanc, Smith-Haut-Lafitte, Beauséjour (Duffau Lagarrosse), Bellevue Mondotte, Clinet, Clos Fourtet, Cos d’Estournel, Ducru Beaucaillou and l’Evangile.

He stated that the most striking aspect of the vintage is its consistency across producers, particularly cru bourgeois and petits vins. Many chateaux were making mediocre wine in 1982 and and are now making brilliant wine. He said that as big, rich, and as high in alcohol as the 2009s are, they are remarkably pure, well-delineated and surprisingly fresh and vibrant – a paradox, but a wonderful one at that!

Fine wine traders Liv-ex reported that wines from the 2009 vintage accounted for 62% of their trades following Parker's scores, particularly those 100 pointers who are well known but often overlooked. Both Pavie and Ducru increased 18%-19% to £2,130 per case. Pontet-Canet rose 26% to £1,575 per case and Haut-Brion is now £7,500 per case.