Any new/additional buzz around 2025? Seems like rumor mill thinks it is high quality (never heard that one before) but curious if anyone has any more recent info from visits etc.
Waiting for the first Vintage of the decade proclamation ^^
As always will ignore the noise and listen to the signal of WK.
Iâm in Bordeaux at the moment, and over the past couple of days Iâve had lunch with three well-known château owners.
Theyâre good friends, and we were speaking off the record.
When I asked whether 2025 matched the quality of 2022, their answer was: âWeâll say it wasâbut it wasnât.â In their view, 2025 is an excellent vintage, much in the line of 2020. But they agreed that 2022 stands apartâby far the greatest vintage of this century, surpassing even 2009, 2010, 2016, and 2020.
I drank several 2022âs, BTW, and they were surprisingly open. Very primary, of course, but delicious creamy tannins.
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Interesting! My wedding year and I bought a few cases of wines much more expensive than I normally buy, so hope theyâre right 
Canât wait to see how the Bordelais and their sycophants screw it up this year
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I am not sure I would put either 2009 and 2020 in that grouping. 2016 clearly belongs, 2022 was shockingly good, although gathering from vintage reports it should have not been. When I compared a few chateauxâ 2019 to 2020, I preferred the 2019s, but the 2019-2025 vintages are too young to have any real definitive opinions.
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Eagerly awaiting an amusing 2025 Bordeaux EP campaign where pricing will doubtless be detached from secondary market realities, About time the Chateauxâs took up a subscription to Winsearcher Pro to spare them another embarrassing disaster.
pooches everywhere waiting to get screwed in may
i will take this opportunity again - any chateau who want me to help them price their wine to sell out, hit me up with a DM. Price for the service will be relatively low.
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Re-reading some comments this evening. Iâve been an en primeur purchaser for decades, and as the style of wines have changed in Bordeaux so has my interest. Ripe homogenous reds are boring and lack the uniqueness of pre-2003 vintages. Parker convinced a generation of red wine drinkers that any wine with herbal character or pyrazines were evil and just plain unripe trash and so the industry changed to accommodate the American palate and now itâs a contest to see who can homogenize their wines better than the next person. No creativity, no old school character, no conviction. Prices are important, and I have a LOT of Bordeaux in my cellar, but these days when I want elegant expressive red wines I donât often reach for Bordeaux.
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so what do you reach for?
I think 2003 is pretty unique in its own way, and is a case where itâs a vintage effect rather than the hand of man.
I have a lot of diversity in my cellar so I reach for whatever goes best with dinner. Despite my frustrations with Bordeaux and itâs trend there are still some old school producers who I do enjoy. My post above was more intended to imply that price alone is not the problem I see with Bordeaux as a region, but shared responsibility for the Chateaux chasing critics palates and the homogenizing of the wines. The en Primeur system thrived on the wine critics who fell over themselves to praise each wine higher and higher, A+++++++, but I doubt they will take any blame for reporting their opinions. Quality has increased as well, so itâs not all bad, but I would personally like to see more of a style like that of 2000, my favorite vintage of the century with respect to (2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2022) Maybe others prefer the styles like that of 1982, 1989, 1996 & 2000 but if you prefer the more recent vintages thatâs fine too.