Coutet 2019

The pale lemon-gold colored 2019 Coutet is a thrill ride from the get-go, exploding from the glass with fantastically intense scents of tangerine peel, lime blossoms and lemon marmalade over a core of pineapple upside-down cake, candied ginger, ripe apricots and clover honey plus suggestions of chanterelles and musk perfume. The palate is equally electric and exhilarating, prancing around the palate with a whole myriad of candied citrus, stone fruit and citrus flavors, charged by a racy backbone of acidity, finishing beautifully textured and with an epically long firework display of minerals. Apart from all that, it is pretty darn delicious. 2025 - 2055

The 2019 Coutet has quite a flamboyant, Germanic bouquet with petrol-infused botrytized fruit, though it lacks a bit of complexity and nuance. The palate is well-balanced with orange zest, marmalade and quince on the entry. Moderate depth, and quite linear towards the finish. It doesn't quite deliver the panache of the best wines of 2019 and there has been better Coutet's in recent years, but there is potential here. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting. Drink 2025-2048

The 2019 Coutet has a very intense bouquet of wild honey, saffron, dried pineapple chunks and a touch of cold, wet stones, all imbued with palpable joie-de-vivre. The taut, fresh palate is underpinned by a silver bead of acidity (always one of this Barsac's leitmotifs), offering clementine, peach and nectarine toward the persistent finish. A joy. 2024 - 2055

The 2019 Coutet has a luscious bouquet with scents of dried honey, honeysuckle and orange pith, intense and well defined. The palate is built around Coutet's trademark line of acidity, an underlying zestiness cutting through the unctuous honeyed fruit with a welcome orange rind and marmalade note on the persistent finish. Excellent. 2024 - 2055