French wine critic Jean-Marc Quarin and Falstaff’s critics Peter Moser (Editor-in-Chief Austria) and Dr Ulrich Sautter (Editor-in-Chief Germany) share their views on Bordeaux 2020.
- The first major release of the campaign – Cheval Blanc – receives Jean-Marc Quarin’s highest rating.
- Falstaff’s Ulrich Sautter finds potential for perfection in Le Pin and Lafleur.
- Petrus and Ausone are among their favourites.
Right Bank preferences
The starting gun to this year’s En Primeur campaign has been fired, with the release of Cheval Blanc yesterday (11 May). As usual, critical assessments (and fair pricing) are vital for the success of releases.
Among the first to release their Bordeaux 2020 reviews were French critic Jean-Marc Quarin and the critics at Falstaff – Peter Moser, judging barrel samples in Vienna, and Dr Ulrich Sautter tasting in Bordeaux.
While no wines have received a perfect 100-point score from Quarin, his two highest-rated wines with 99-points were Ausone and Cheval Blanc. He described the latter as “unimaginable” and “an elusive, contrasting rendering with a crazy personality”. Early reports already suggest strong appetite among the trade.
Common ground
Unlike Quarin, Falstaff’s Ulrich Sautter found two potential candidates for a top score, awarding Le Pin and Lafleur a barrel range of 98-100 points. For him, Le Pin represents “a union of opposites: freshness and ripe fruit, creaminess and substance, minerality and mildness” and describes Lafleur as “intense but at the same time so fine and so creamy”.
Petrus also features among the highest-rated wines by the critics, achieving 98 points from Quarin and 97-99 from Falstaff.
Quarin and Falstaff also seem to concur on the quality of the First Growths Mouton Rothschild (JMQ 97, Falstaff 97-99) and Lafite Rothschild (JMQ 98, Falstaff 96-98).
You can now compare their full critic scores on our grid.
Our Bordeaux En Primeur 2020 page contains everything you need to know about this year’s campaign. You can also sign up for our daily En Primeur email alerts using the form below.
