Going through my notes you can easily see the patterns. Colour, minerality, intensity, structure, tannin, freshness and classicism are all descriptors that would lead the 2025 word cloud. Overall, it is a consistent vintage when taken together for the reds. Yes, there is some variation but generally the wines had a lot in common. It is an exciting vintage for sure. And there is a distinct style – 2025 reds are typically concentrated, intense, mineral wines with evident structures, fresh fruit qualities and plenty of tannin. Early drinking doesn’t spring to mind in many cases. As I said in my first thoughts, there are also a few wines at the lesser levels that feel a bit dry and puckering, where the phenolics were not ripe owing to the heat and drought of the growing season, and where the selection wasn’t as strict. But these are the exceptions. For the whites, I tasted less comprehensively. Generally, these were better than I expected given vintage conditions which on paper may not have favoured them. I will look at Sauternes and Barsac later. So far, early release prices for the reds have been competitive and encouraging, especially given the amount of recent Bordeaux on the market cheaper than initial release prices. You should certainly consider buying a fair bit of 2025 on a qualitative level. But if you do so now you want to believe you are paying less than you will later. I think this was only last true with 2019 en primeur pricing. So, fingers crossed the prices are right for 2025 and that you’ve enough space in the cellar [or can afford some storage for a few years]. If so, what where the standouts?

I started off with the Grand Cercle tasting on Sunday 19^th April and all the wines were served blind. Here the limestone and clay terroirs shone through. There were very good wines made in the Côtes de Bordeaux which for me included impressive efforts from Clos Puy Arnaud and Château Côte Monpezat in Castillon, whilst Château Carignan, Château Réaut, Château Reynon and Château de Ricaud in Cadillac also showed well. Things got particularly exciting in Fronsac where the limestone terroirs really responded well to the vintage conditions. Here the wines were wonderful in a different way than they were in 2022, with more emphasis in 2025 on zap and freshness, and slightly less high alcohols. Château de la Dauphine, Château Fontenil, Château Villars, Château La Vieille Cure, Château Dalem and Château Les Trois Croix all showed really well.

Things were a bit more inconsistent with the Pomerol and Lalande de Pomerol line-up here, with some properties clearly struggling a bit in the drier, sandier soils. In Lalande de Pomerol I was impressed with Chateau Siaurac and La Surgue and in Pomerol Château Feytit Clinet was quite brilliant and Château La Commanderie had nice zap and freshness.

The St Emilion Grand Cru tasted blind were impressive and clearly many have succeeded very well in 2025. There were excellent wines from Château Soutard Cadet, L-Archange, Château Monlot, Château La Grâce Fonrazade [very impressive], Château La Voute, Château Pas de l’Ane, Château Rollyand [very enjoyable] and Château Argemonia. Lynsolence and Château Godeau were also promising but needed to settle. Château Carteau Côtes Daugay was sappy and vivid. The second wine of Château de Pressac, Tour de Pressac also looks a good buy. There were many outstanding St Emilion Grand Cru Classés tasted blind at the Grand Cercle event. More of these later shown by the Association de Grands Crus Classés de St Emilion – more on that momentarily. The picks tasted blind were Chateau Montlabert, Château de Pressac [very deep], Château Yon Figeac, Château Sansonnet, Château Bellefont-Belcier, Château Laroze, Clos Dubreuil and Château La Marzelle. Château La Croizille, Château Grand Corbin Despagne and Château Rol Valentin also showed well but were fractionally less impressive on the day though doubtless they will settle well.

I ran out of time at the Grand Cercle to taste the wines of Pessac-Léognan, the Bordeaux Supérieur and the wines of Sauternes and Barsac represented by the Grand Cercle. I hope to correct this with further tastings. I did cherry pick a few wines in the Médoc and Haut-Médoc to look at and I was especially impressed with Château Loudenne and Château La Cardonne in the Médoc, and Château d’Arcins in the Haut-Médoc. In the left bank communes, Château Petit Bocq and Château Tours des Termes impressed in St Estèphe and Château Dutruch Grand Poujeaux looked good in Moulis. In Margaux Château Haut-Breton Larigaudière and Château Deyrem Valentin were good and Château Bellegrave in Pauillac was also good. On Sunday evening I was invited for dinner with François-Thomas Bon from Château La Grâce Fonrazade and Château Argemonia where we had a series of interesting wines [the 2016 Château La Grâce Fonrazade red stood out and the 2023 white], alongside the Château Dalem 2022 and 2019 brought by Brigitte Rullier-Loussert. Jean-François Quenin from Château de Pressac bought a magnum of his 2017 which was drinking nicely. It reminded me how many 2017 right bank wines have turned out very well [an atypical year owing to the frost].

On Monday 20^th April I stopped off to catch up with David Suire at the over-achieving Château Laroque. Laroque 2025 is very impressive [classical in the very best sense] and certainly worth getting [recently released and competitively priced]. Further detail on this later. David also showed Château Larcis Ducasse. This is super in 2025. Again, details later. I then spent the rest of the day at a walk around event in Bordeaux in Hangar 14 by the banks of the river Garonne tasting the wines represented by the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux [UGCB]. I missed the sit-down press tasting the previous week but events like these [though crowded] do give you the chance of chatting directly with the reps and the chateaux proprietors. I also had various catch ups with the wonderful Gavin Quinney of Château Bauduc who always has interesting observations on Bordeaux, which he shares on his Bauduc Blog.

In Graves, I thought Château de Chantegrive had succeeded with a zappy white alongside Château Rahoul, who had also made a good red. Across Pessac-Léognan the reds were very intense and concentrated. Again, more detailed notes to follow but I was especially impressed with Domaine de Chevalier, Château de Fieuzal, Château Larrivet Haut-Brion, Château Latour-Martillac, Château Malartic-Lagravière and Château Pape Clément [sadly Château Smith Haut Lafitte, Château Haut-Bailly and Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion didn’t show at the UGCB]. Of the whites Château Pape Clément, Château Malartic-Lagravière, Château La Louvière, Château Latour-Martillac, Château Larrivet Haut-Brion, Château de Fieuzal and Domaine de Chevalier showed very well.  Generally these were full but lacked some of the zap of cooler years.

In Moulis and Listrac I enjoyed Château Fourcas Dupré and Château Fourcas Hosten in Listrac and in Moulis Château Poujeaux reigned supreme but Château Chasse Spleen was also classical. In the Haut-Médoc Château Beaumont was sappy and fresh and the St Laurent trio, Château Belgrave, Château de Camensac and Château La Tour Carnet were excellent. In the southern Haut-Médoc Château Cantemerle really impressed [yields at Cantemerle were only a meagre 30hl/ha] as did Château La Lagune, though the blend is Merlot dominant here as some of the Cabernet Sauvignon didn’t reach sufficient ripeness, indicating the toll the heat and drought took, especially on lighter soils.

The Margaux appellation impressed and this was interesting given the heterogeneity of the terroirs here. Again, more detailed notes will follow but Château Angludet, Château Cantenac-Brown, Château Dauzac, Château Kirwan, Château Lascombes, Château Marquis de Terme, Château Prieuré-Lichine, Château Rauzan-Gassies, Château du Tertre and Château Siran all impressed. The very top properties for me were Château Giscours [beautifully pure expression], Château Brane-Cantenac [super intense] and Château Rauzan-Ségla [exceptional concentration and minerality].

The wines of St Julien were uniformly intense, concentrated and structured. As usual they were homogeneous and all top quality. The question is more how many decades will they need to lie in the cellar before they are ready? This is especially true of Château Lagrange, Château Langoa Barton, Château Léoville Barton and Château Léoville Poyferré. These wines will be peaking in the 2040s from what I’ve seen. Château Gruaud Larose has made a wine fit for its 300^th anniversary [there is a specially embossed bottle here for 2025] and it is quite possible that this wine will still be alive and kicking for the 400^th anniversary! Château Talbot looks a good buy potentially. It reminded me a little of their superb 1986 [although the winemaking is quite different today obviously].

In Pauillac too there was plenty of structure, extract and tannin in evidence but generally extraction appeared very well handled in the cellar. At the very top here were monumental wines from Château Lynch-Bages and Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande [Château Pichon Baron didn’t show here sadly nor Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste]. Lynch Bages and Pichon Comtesse are exceptional. That said the quality was generally very high and I can thoroughly recommend Château Batailley, Château Clerc Milon, Château d’Armailhac, Château Duhart Milon [super refined], Château Grand-Puy Ducasse and Château Haut-Batailley. Château Lynch-Moussas and Château Croizet-Bages have also turned in good wines. To be honest I ran out of steam to taste the St Estèphe UGCB wines but I hope to add these to my notes soon.

On my third day on Tuesday [21^st April] I focused again on the Right Bank. I attended the Association de Grands Crus Classés de St Emilion tasting held at the beautiful Château de Pressac, followed by the UGCB St Emilion tasting at Château Valandraud and the UGCB tasting of Pomerol wines at Château de Beauregard. I then finished off the day with visits to the Thienponts at Château Pavie Macquin and the Nieppergs at Château Canon-La-Gaffelière.

At the Association de Grands Crus Classés de St Emilion, I was once again reminded of the success of the right bank in this vintage on the best terroirs. Here was a range of high quality, intense and concentrated wines that also showed freshness and vitality. In addition to the wines tasted blind earlier at the Grand Cercle event discussed earlier, here I was also especially impressed with Château Tour St Christophe, Château Cadet Bon, Château Chauvin, Clos Badon, Clos de Jacobins, Château Corbin, Couvent des Jacobins, Château Dassault, Château Destieux, Château Péby-Faugères, Château Fonroque, Château La Couspaude, Château Ripeau and Château Villemaurine. At the UGCB St Emilion tasting at Château Valandraud there was an impressive array of St Emilion Premier Grand Crus Classés represented. These wines were seriously good. The top picks here were Château Larcis Ducasse [again], Château Pavie Macquin, Clos Fourtet and a fabulous effort from Château Valandraud itself. Just behind these [only fractionally] were super wines from Château La Gaffelière, Château Canon-La-Gaffelière and Château La Dominique. Château Franc Mayne, Château Larmande and Château Soutard were also very good. The lunch at Château Valandraud was excellent. The 2017 Valandraud was superb.

Over in Pomerol at Château de Beauregard, the 2025 UGCB Pomerol tasting showed that the quality of the best wines was high. Château Clinet and Chateau Gazin were in super shape and Château Petit-Village and Château Le Gay also really impressed. Very good wines have also been produced at Château Le Bon Pasteur, Château La Pointe, Château Le Croix de Gay and Château Beauregard. Château Rouget and Château La Cabanne showed good fruit but were both a bit dry on the finish but will doubtless round out during élevage. Up at Château Pavie-Macquin I met up with Cyrille and Nicolas Thienpont to re-taste Pavie-Macquin [exceptional wine, consistent notes] but also to taste the rest of the Thienpont range. The quality and consistency here always impresses but 2025 stands out too. Their Côtes de Franc properties Château Puygueraud and Château La Prade both impressed with plenty of flesh and extract as well as freshness and life. Château Alcée in Côtes de Castillon is also spicy and attractive in 2025. Very vivid wines here across the board. We finished with the Puygueraud white and Château Les Charmes Godard [white]. Both had zap and life.

Last stop during my primeurs trip was to Château Canon La Gaffelière to taste the Niepperg range with Stephan and Ludovic von Neipperg. First up here was an earthy, textured Clos Marsalette from Pessac-Léognan, followed by a vivacious and appetizing Château d’Aiguilhe from the Côtes de Castillon and zappy and appetising Clos de l’Oratoire, their St Emilion Grand Cru close by to Château Soutard and Château Balestard La Tonnelle. Château Canon-La-Gaffelière was tasted for the second time [again consistent notes and a wine of delicacy] followed by their Premier Grand Cru Classé La Mondotte which was very precise, layered and intense. The Niepperg’s then went through their range using mature vintages. The 2014 d’Aiguilhe was drinking wonderfully, as was the 2019 Canon La Gaffelière and the 2016 La Mondotte. I’ll post in more detail about all of these wines in coming posts. My evening was rounded of with dinner at Château de Pressac with the ebullient Jean-Francois Quenin and his wife with côte de boeuf cooked on an open fire and another glass of the 2017 de Pressac.

To recap, Bordeaux 2025 is an exciting vintage overall. Lots of stylish, intense and impressive wines have been made. Many are classical and will need time in bottle, but the tannins are generally ripe, the acids fresh and the alcohols often around 13.5%, which means these are wines of minerality and vitality. Here’s hoping primeurs pricing proves sensible so we can be encouraged to buy this promising vintage at a price which rewards early purchase!