2019 Capbern
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Tasting notes
The 2019 Capbern has improved since I tasted it just after bottling. Finally, it has developed a more elegant bouquet, mainly black fruit fused with cedar and undergrowth scents. It has mustered more classicism. The palate is medium-bodied with a strong graphite element on the entry, fine depth, quite fresh with a structured, gritty finish. Fine. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Decanter
More reviews and scores
Tasted blind. Big and bold and voluptuous – much riper and more alcoholic than stereotypical St-Estèphe. A bit charred on the end. Closer to a late-20th-century red than a bordeaux! Very unexpected! (JR)
I love the nose on the 2019 Château Capbern, a medium to full-bodied, spicy, rich, tobacco and cedar pencil-filled beauty with ripe yet building tannins, a great mix of richness and freshness, and a blockbuster of a finish. It's incredibly impressive, and while it offers pleasure even today, it deserves 5-6 years of bottle age, and I can't imagine it not evolving for two decades.
The 2019 Capbern is a wine that I did not score out of barrel because of some disquieting overripeness on the nose. Now in bottle, that is less evident, but I find it a little flat compared to other vintages, missing a little energy. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins and a bit hard. I am seeking more flesh toward the finish, which feels slightly astringent.