Browse using the new Vinous website now. Launch →
Bordeaux at the Crossroads: 2023 En Primeur
France: Bordeaux, featured
, April 2024
Tasting Bordeaux en primeur is largely the art of shutting out extraneous noise and concentrating just on the wines. This year, the noise is especially loud as estate owners, winemakers, consultants, négociants and other professionals debate the merits of 2023 within the context of today’s global market. Many of these views are fueled by agendas, which is certainly understandable. For this taster, it’s only about what is in the glass. When all is said and done, 2023 has a lot to offer. It is not a great vintage across the board, yet plenty of wines merit serious attention.
The Dalmatian Vintage: Bordeaux 2023
France: Bordeaux, featured
, Apr 2024
The 2023 Bordeaux vintage is born in tumultuous times, at a pivotal moment for the region. When that is all stripped away, what do the wines offer in a growing season that swerved one way then another? The answer depends on which château you’re looking at.
Past Becomes Now: Lafite-Rothschild 1874-1982
France: Bordeaux, featured, Verticals & Retrospectives
, Apr 2024
Lafite-Rothschild can age for decades, but it can be a difficult wine to understand. This vertical stretches back to the 19th century and features some riveting examples of the First Growth and vintages that were reminders of how precarious it can be opening ancient Claret.
Cellar Favorite: 1993 Domaine de Chevalier
Cellar Favorites, France: Bordeaux, cellar favorite
, Apr 2024
Last October, I was in Bordeaux during the autumn Porte Ouverte days, when locals can tour châteaux and attend evening dinners, many of which are inexpensive to take part in. I was tasting the 2021s on the same day as Domaine de Chevalier’s soirées, and proprietor Olivier Bernard invited me, along with around 200 other guests. With so many people, you need a large bottle!
Cellar Favorite: 1990 Latour à Pomerol
Cellar Favorites, France: Bordeaux, cellar favorite
, Apr 2024
The 1990 Latour à Pomerol epitomizes everything one could wish for in a mature Pomerol, but without paying a king’s ransom. Despite the highly regarded growing season, I approach this with modest expectations because these were not halcyon days for the estate.
An Exploration of Time: Gruaud Larose 1831-2018
France: Bordeaux, featured, Verticals & Retrospectives
, Mar 2024
Do you want one of the most comprehensive reports on Gruaud Larose ever written? Do you want to know its history and first-hand information from proprietor Jean Merlaut? Do you want 70 tasting notes stretching back in time to 1831? You’ve come to the right place.
Test of Endurance: Bordeaux 2014 Ten Years On
France: Bordeaux, featured, Verticals & Retrospectives
, Mar 2024
The Bordeaux 2014 vintage has reached ten years of age, an ideal opportunity to look back, both in blind and sighted tastings, and see how the wines are evolving. As usual, there were plenty of surprises, not always positive, however.
Cellar Favorite: 1948 Coufran
Cellar Favorites, France: Bordeaux, cellar favorite
, Mar 2024
I do not wish to sound like a broken record, but allow me to reiterate the most sage advice I will ever dispense on old bottles of wine. Provenance is key. Perhaps even more than producer or vineyard, how that bottle has lived its life determines how it will show once released from incarceration.
2021 Bordeaux: L’Enfant Terrible
France: Bordeaux, featured
, Feb 2024
After three highly successful vintages, Bordeaux owners and winemakers were presented with a highly challenging growing season in 2021. En primeur tastings presaged a vintage with a high degree of variability. Extensive tastings from bottle confirm that initial first impression. Within that context, though, readers will find a wide range of compelling wines that merit attention.
Cellar Favorite: 1973 La Fleur-Pétrus
Cellar Favorites, France: Bordeaux, cellar favorite
, Feb 2024
The latest in the series of “Don’t dismiss a poor vintage ‘til you’ve tasted it first” is a bottle of 1973 La Fleur-Pétrus that was poured blind at the excellent Lorne restaurant in London in January. Several years earlier, at the inaugural “Grouse Club”, Lord Bruce had left us dumbfounded by a 1973 La Fleur-Pétrus from his legendary cellar. This bottle left us equally lost for words.