If you are already familiar with Bordeaux en primeur, chances are you’ll have several 2022 vintage reports in your inbox by now, and more to come over the next few weeks. If you are not, you can read our short explanation of what en primeur is here, and otherwise the essential information to note is:
- The best estates have made excellent wines once again in the Bordeaux 2022 vintage
- Appetite for Bordeaux continues to grow, in the context of soaring prices and reduced supply from other, more volatile regions such as Burgundy & Champagne
- Top Bordeaux wines have drinking windows spanning over 50+ years
Bordeaux 2022 – now…
This time frame is a key component in explaining Bordeaux’s global success. The region’s track record has contributed big time to its popularity, and still the wines somehow manage to get better, more approachable, and yet longer lasting with each new vintage. 2022 is no exception – the vintage is a poster child for modern viticultural and winemaking capability, and above all a homage to the region’s fantastic terroirs, which allowed vines to remain green through the record heat and drought of the growing season.
2022 is another glorious chapter in Bordeaux’s history, and should be considered in its own right. Is it as good as 2009, 2010, or the recent trio – 2018, 2019, 2020? Absolutely yes (and in some cases, it’s better), but the beauty of Bordeaux lies in the possibility of comparison.
…and forever
Our role as advisors is to think objectively about how to futureproof a collection. Objectively, if there is one region that is sure to stay relevant for at least the next 50 years, it is Bordeaux. Any collectors in possession of verticals of its top estates in the future will have a time capsule of winemaking at its absolute best on their hands – an invaluable piece of history.
And though we make sourcing choices on behalf of our clients firmly with our heads, this one is also personal. We’ve already waxed lyrical about our undying love for Bordeaux in the recent article, Perennial, and we find ourselves coming back to the region time and time again, with good reason – it is fine wine’s past, present, and future.
With this in mind, we will be participating strategically in this year’s Bordeaux en primeur campaign. Anyone who wishes to do the same, either adding to existing collections, or creating new ones with a solid Bordeaux foundation should let us know now, so that we can provision beyond our own personal selections.