Notes here on sixty-nine St Emilion 2025s. Looking back at the tastings the striking thing is the consistency. This is a seriously good vintage in St Emilion. The hot and dry vintage conditions have reigned in the alcohols [more on this paradox below] and the evident freshness and structure in the wines has given so many a vital intensity. It is a fascinating vintage to compare with 2022. It doesn’t have the heavenly quality of that vintage, but that is not to damn 2025 with faint praise. If 2022 is a vintage for the heart, 2025 is very much one for the head. In that sense it is a bit like 2009 versus 2010 – but with right bank winemaking and viticultural approaches now very different from those heady, extractive days. These are classical, moreish wines, which are impeccably balanced in the main. So, 2025 is a very exciting vintage indeed on the right bank. It is also one with a lot of value to be had. This is firstly as a lot of less famous estates have made super wine. Secondly, so far many of the best properties are releasing at sensible prices that might encourage an early purchase. This is good news for those of us who got a bit burnt with the pricing of 2022. So, what are the highlights overall from the tastings?

Super winemaking here, as ever. The Neipperg’s have retained delicacy here in what is a very structured, dense vintage. On the right bank, Château d’Aiguilhe in Castillon looks to have been particularly successful in 2025. It is layered and vibrant and sure to be worth adding to the cellar. So too the St Emilion Grand Cru Classé Clos de l’Oratoire which has appetising aromatics and is textured and zappy on the palate. Château Canon La Gaffelière has more delicacy and verve. It is not the most outwardly concentrated Premier Grand Cru Classé that I tasted during primeurs but it has super balance and drive. There is intensity but this is not over extracted [and there is a lot less over-extraction going on generally nowadays on the right bank]. Well-judged in my opinion. Finally La Mondotte is opaque and really deep. This is a layered wine which is focused and intense. Super stuff.

Château Larcis Ducasse has one of the most enviable terroirs on the Côte Pavie. Not only do the vineyards fully face the sun, but beneath the terraced millefeuille of limestone and clay soils are natural springs that originate deep below that keep the vines roots nourished even in the hottest and driest of years. It’s a grand terroir that has succeeded exceptionally well here in 2025. This will be long-lived Larcis. The wine is reminiscent of the 2015 and the 2005 for me. There is super purity as you’d expect but this is a structured and formidable Larcis that needs time. David Suire, the man with the Midas touch at Château Laroque, has been working at Larcis Ducasse for 25 years, first alongside Nicolas Thienpont and now, since the retirement of Nicolas, on his own as director with the Gratiot-Attmane family.

Château Larcis Ducasse has one of the most enviable terroirs in Bordeaux. Perched up on the slopes of the sunny Côte Pavie in St Emilion, this ten-hectare hillside vineyard lies on a natural south facing staircase of soils which are a mixture of clay and limestone. This solar aspect is tempered by natural water sources that run deep beneath the limestone, water springs which can nourish the deep-rooted vines in the driest of summers. But how does it fare in a less solar vintages? Great terroir usually confers advantages in all seasons. Even in a wetter, less sunny vintage like 2024, a hillside vineyard allows for freer drainage and drying winds, tempering humidity and rainfall effects. For over twenty years Nicolas Thienpont has been the winemaker here at Larcis Ducasse, working with David Suire alongside. In July 2024 Nicolas retired and David Suire stays on as director for the Gratiot-Attmane family. Château Larcis Ducasse has been on a roll here in recent years with fantastic wines in my book in 2023, 2022, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016 and 2015. So, what is the verdict on Larcis Ducasse 2024?