I think Jancis Robinson and the Southwold group may disagree!
Anyway some early Suckling notes on Ausone: very flamboyant and fruit forward yet nicely framed with fine tannins and acidity.
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Critics already are pumping this vintage…notably Suckling who mentions he has never tasted anything like this since his first EP in 1983
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Saw some of his comments as: “Best ever vintage” for some producers
= Highest EP pricing ever!
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Below an expert with a few quotes from reputable French wine critic JM Quarin on 2022. He seems pretty extatic about the vintage (and perplexed), the style he describes doesn’t seem that appealing to me but the wines must drink great.
I first noticed it when I tasted the first batches back in October, intrigued by what I had seen out in the vineyards, where the vines seemed to have held up so well. But I could never have imagined how incredible the results would be. This vintage surpasses all known points of reference . There is no obvious logical or scientific explanation for this level of quality, and many winemakers have been humble enough to hold up their hands and admit that they are stumped. How did the vines pull this off in such extreme weather conditions?
Never before has there been so much dark fruit in the nose, both on the right and left banks* These wines are powerful, full-bodied, frankly unctuous, fruity, long-lasting and never sickly-sweet.Another feature which appears consistently across the vintage is a rich, deep aftertaste , framed by extremely caressing, aromatic tannins which feel like they are wrapped in silk.The pH levels are low in the best terroirs on the right bank , perfectly counterbalancing the high alcohol levels.*
It’s a fact, and it’s unprecedented: 80% of the wines I have tasted are the best the estates have ever made. (i.e. highest En Primeur score ever)
100-point wines: until now, I have given 5 estates the highest score possible. Will the number of wines ranked 100/100 in 2016 (7 in total) be beaten?
For point of reference, Quarin doesn’t score particurarly low but isn’t among the highest scoring critics out there. 2015 he was 94.8 for a selected group of roughly 80 top wines (vs Sucklings 97.4, Leves 96.9, Gallonis 95.9, TWAs 95.5, Martins 95.0) or in 2016 at 95.9 (S 97.3, L 97.0, G 96.3, TWA 96.3, M 95.6). And he is not one to overly love too “extreme” styles… (he consistently scores Pavie low and is no longer welcome at the winery. At some others too).
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Thanks for this, which estates did he score 100 points to?
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Do you have the source for the critics average score by vintage?
Not yet published. One thing, he was the first major critic raving endlessly about the new Carmes HB (which was one of his 7 perfect 2016 En Primeur scores). Prior to that I’ve never read about or drunk Carmes.
The raw data is from the respective critics, the selection of the estates from me.
Sherry Lehman timing was complete off. Just think how much money they could have got up front for the vintage.
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We will see if the hype churns up the pricing, likely a yes.
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Ouch, too soon! 
At the UGC tasting of the 2020 vintage, I asked three of the houses how 2022 was, and they each said, “VINTAGE OF THE CENTURY!” and I laughed each time and each time they looked very disappointed in me.
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The wine equivalent of shouting wolf
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I am pretty sure they said that about the 2017 vintage, which was far from the vintage of the century.
Let‘s be fair. They didn‘t. But they have good marketing lingo for all types of vintages, obviously. In 2017 it was „it‘s a classic vintage“.
But I‘m very curious to learn more about the style of 2022, as it‘s becoming more and more obvious that‘s it‘s a special vintage. Quarin‘s description doesn’t sound overly appealing to me.
Do we know how large a vintage it is?
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From Jancis:
Bordeaux produced 410 million litres of wine in 2022 (108 million gallons), and, although this was more than in 2013, 2017 and 2021, this was a relatively small crop… Bordeaux 2022 harvest may be up 9% on 2021’s 377 million litres, and sits neatly in between that and 2020’s 440 million litres. However, 2022 was down more than 15% on the 10-year average from 2011–2020 of 487 million litres (equivalent to 650 million bottles). That 2011–2020 decade included three smaller crops in 2013, 2017 and, to a lesser extent, 2020. In the noughties, the average annual production from 2001 to 2010 was over 580 million litres, equivalent to over 770 million bottles – over 40% more annually on average than for 2022."
That includes all grapes and all wines in the region.
Her whole report (often culled from Gavin Quinney) was interesting, so I attached a link below.
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Greetings from Bordeaux! I’m loving 2022. The wines I’ve tasted are superb, with some well-known names making the best wines in the history of the estate,
Overall, the wines are rich, deep, creamy, ripe, lush wines with alcohol but no heat or jam.
This is based on tasting almost every top wine in the Left Bank, numerous Cru Bourgeois, most Pessac Leognan GCC and a bit from the Right Bank with more to come.
I post fun, almost daily video clips on Insta with comments, if you’re bored.
Mark G… Yields vary, averaging 31 hectoliters per hectare.
Andy SC, I think I was before JMQ on 2016 Les Carmes. If not before, about the same time. Some board smart members took my tips
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Rich and lush with no jam is what I’m trying to get my head around. What might be a rich lush jammy wine from the past and a rich lush wine with no jam from the past that it would contrast with?
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