After seeing multiple 2022 Bordeaux tasting notes from @Martin_Zwick, I got a bit curious. I was hard-pressed to believe the top wines were drinking this well. Curiosity got the better of me, so after opening a Chateau de Pez earlier in the week. I decided to open this and it did not disappoint. I have never had a young Bordeaux, particularly one of this caliber, that drank so well upon release. Most have tannins or something that needs to get resolved. The tannins are almost always off-putting to me and very drying.
I didn’t even need to put this into a decanter. Upon opening, the nose revealed little. I got a bit nervous that I’d made a mistake and was about to decant it, but tasted it first and it was really incredible. Pretty black cherry, plums, cassis, pencil shavings, and wonderful tobacco notes with a great mineral streak that runs through the wine. Incredibly long finish that keeps you coming back for more. The craziest thing to me are the tannins - they are hardly even noticeable and there is such wonderful freshness and acidity. It combines power and freshness in such an awesome way. Just can’t believe how seamless everything is right now. I would have never opened this had it not been for these tasting notes and I don’t regret it all. If anything, I’ll probably grab more. Really awesome stuff.
Fascinating.
I wonder if that portends less aging potential, I guess we won’t really know until way down the road.
So what is it about the 2022 vintage which permits such easy early drinking?
It might fall apart before age 100.
HAPPY, I am not a wrong-way driver „Geisterfahrer“.
Having the same experience with 2019s as well.
I’ll probably fall apart before 75
Really? That is also surprising to me
Abundant but very high quality tannins; above-average pH; unusual sweetness of fruit; and, generally speaking more reductive and precise winemaking and bottling practices that retain more of that fruit immediately after bottling.
Thanks!
@William_Kelley In addition to what you mentioned, were successful producers using less (or no) press wine in 2022? Wonder if that free run juice was plump enough.
I opened a 2022 Tronquoy over several days and it started out just as good as it finished. Just the most intense fruit, color, and concentration. Nothing harsh at all (St. Estephe!). It was somewhat ethereal.
2022’s are just so different generally from 2019/2020 which are much closer together structurally.
“High quality tannins” is the critical factor in my opinion.
There are various different strategies with press wine, which are related to extraction strategies, so the percentage employed is per se not hugely meaningful.
I think about this wine a lot.
There are multiple changes that have taken place over the years that make Bordeaux pleasurable, (Not mature, but easy to enjoy) with very little aging time.
Some the more important changes are: selection, canopy management, better control of oxygenation, gentler extractions, barrel aging, and most importantly, the harvest dates with the ability to focus on parcel by harvesting, inter parcel picking, and even row, by row, with the ability to vinify each picking according to its individual needs.
Thanks!
A good explanation of the modern tendency of Bordeaux to drink well young, perhaps (I am too ignorant to judge), but not an explanation of what makes 2022 different in this regard (assuming you agree that it is different in this regard).
You are right. It must be senility slipping in.
With 2022, you have a hot, sunny, and very dry year that shaped the vintage. Water deficits played a big role. Water was 50% less than the 10 year average. While temperatures were hot, it’s important to note that the heat was not constant, it came in 4 waves.
All of that, and more is what makes 2022 a precocious vintage, which is what Bordeaux wants to, and has achieved.
For much more detail ….