Kirwan 2019

The 2019 Kirwan opens in the glass with a reticent bouquet of muddled berry fruit, spices and pencil shavings, followed by a medium-bodied, youthfully firm palate with a delicate core of fruit and powdery structuring tannins. This lacks a little precision and plenitude in this generous vintage. Drink date 2025 - 2045

The 2019 Kirwan has an understated, cedar and graphite-tinged bouquet, a little Pauillac-like in style, nuanced and gaining intensity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with taut tannins, focused, tensile and linear with plenty of sapidity towards its oyster shell-tinged finish. Very precise and very sophisticated, this is the best Kirwan in many years - maybe a benchmark for the estate. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting. Drink 2026-2050.

Blackcurrants with bark, cedar and dried flowers coming through in the nose. Full-bodied with integrated tannins and a long, linear finish. Racy and refined. Sophisticated. Try after 2024.

Well-placed, sappy and succulent damson, blackberry and cassis fruits. This is graceful and well-balanced, with a lingering, gently spiced finish that stretches out with a satisfyingly juicy feel that has deepened over ageing. First vintage where you find a touch of Carmanère in Kirwan. Technical director Philippe Delfaut, this is an upscore this En Primeur.