Last autumn I had the chance to do two horizontal tastings of Bordeaux 2021 and 2023. It was educational. On first release neither vintage had the rush out to buy feel of the exceptional 2022s. The 2021 vintage followed on from three very good vintages of greater quality [2018, 2019 and 2020] and the 2023s were definitely in the shadow of the widely acclaimed 2022s. So how are both vintages fairing now that the 2023s are finally in bottle and the 2021s have had a few years in the cellar? I found the 2023s generally much finer and more consistent than the 2021s. They have really grown during élevage and offer generally supple, delicious wine. The 2021s felt generally more disjointed, were less rounded, and had greater awkwardness to their tannin profiles. This was partly a result of where they are now in maturity, still only a few years in bottle but having lost that fresh flush of early youth, but also partly owing to the difficult growing season in 2021 that didn’t offer the best chance of full tannin ripeness. If you were going to opt for one or the other, it would definitely be the 2023s for me, but there are exceptions. That said for drinking now [given the bargain basement prices of mature Bordeaux at the moment] I’d be taking a keener look other vintages first. The 2019s, 2018s, 2016s and 2015s are all drinking well and even the 2010s and 2009s, now really on song, are often cheaper to buy today than they were fifteen years ago! Bordeaux is currently a bargain hunter’s dream!

I will follow up with details notes and thoughts on the wines I’ve tasted by vintage and appellation. A couple of caveats. I didn’t have the time to taste the 2023 right bank wines at the UCGB London tasting or the reds of Pessac-Léognan in October, although I have covered the right bank in detail during my primeurs trip a few years ago, coverage you can find here. With the MW Institute tasting of 2021s in the same month I also failed to get to Pomerol before the wines were cleared away [my mistake for arriving too late and not getting a shift on!].