Pessac-Léognan and Graves suffered from it all in 2022 including frost Vineyards received the least amount of rain from veraison to harvest compared to the other major appellations as much as -50.7% compared to the 10 year average BORDEAUX 2022 IN BOTTLE SCORE TABLE: Top-scoring wines with 93 points or above Individual appellation analysis and top-scoring wines Among those targeted was Abdourahmane Ridouane, a Nigerien national who has lived in France for 35 years. He is president of the Pessac mosque, in the department of the Gironde3 The Government has initiated deportation proceedings against him though he has absolutely no criminal record On 21 May he was subjected to an individual measure of administrative control and surveillance He was confined to his residence with an obligation to report to his local police station every day or be gaoled On 4 August the Ministry ordered his deportation from France “in absolute urgency” despite the negative opinion issued by the Deportation Commision Abdourahmane Ridouane was taken into custody and placed in a Centre of Administrative Detention until such time as he could be deported to Niger The authorities accuse him of “a constantly virulent contempt for the Government Islamophobic and colonialist” and of defending “an ideology hostile to the values and institutions of the Republic” with on-line posts “participating in the dissemination of messages of an anti-Semitic character and promoting the hatred of Israel and the Jews” The Pessac mosque represents a sadly classic example on account of the racist harassment and administrative persecution which it has suffered. Since 2015, on more than seven occasions, Islamophobic graffiti have appeared on the walls of the mosque4 Complaints have been lodged but to no avail In October 2020, following the murder of Samuel Paty, the police searched the offices of the mosque and the home of its president, but no charges were pressed5 The operation was stymied twice by the courts in particular by the Conseil d’Etat which put an end to that offensive on 26 April 2022 In the words of France’s highest judicial instance the shut-down would have been "a serious and clearly illegal infringement on the freedom of worship” So Abdourahmane Ridouane’s deportation is not an ancillary phenomenon It is a logical part of the inner workings of a system developed long before 7 October and whose vindictive activities continue despite the present political crisis The power structure uses all available means and finds new justifications in current political events be it public security during the Olympics or the repression of anti-Semitism - both perfectly legitimate are being instrumentalised in order to silence any Muslim who speaks out in favour of the Palestinians made to appear as the “enemy within” whose allegedly ambiguous rhetoric necessarily conceals some murderous conspiracy And this allows the Government to guarantee the success of administrative offensives begun much earlier neither Ridouane nor the Pessac mosque had ever themselves been defeated in court Abdourahmane Ridouane considers himself a political prisoner in the hands of a predictive police administration it would be a mistake to believe that this type of repression will remain confined to the Muslim community Republican and neo-liberal authoritarianism is set to prosper The warning expressed by the American writer is still relevant: be very careful,“he advises young Witwer his successor.”The same thing could easily happen to you 1Christophe Cornevin and Jean Chichizola Darmanin deploss a system meant to”hinder“the Islamists”Le Figaro 2“Paris 2024 [Olympic games] : 155 people thought to be “dangerous” or capable of taking action are kept at a distance through administrative measures" France Info TV,17 August 2024 3As president of the association which runs the mosque Abdourahmane Ridouane is its legal and administrative representative and not its religious one 4Margaux Begards “The Pessac mosque was again the object of racist graffiti” 5Margaux Begards 6“The departmental cells for the fight against Islamism and communalism (Clie)” General Secretariat of the interministerial committee for the prevention of delinquency and radicalisation 7“Deportation procedure: continued persecution by the public authorities of the Pessac mosque and its president” Collectif contre l’islamophobie en Europe (CCIE) 8Juliette Paquiet: “Imam deported: who were the latest foreign imams obliged to leave France?” La Croix 9Though he has resigned the Minister of Interior Affairs is demanding the prosecution of an attorney Is this really routine business?"Union of French Attornets 10Philip K A French town has banned foie gras from being served at municipal events becoming the third to do so this year and the fifteenth overall in the country Read more: New York City’s Foie Gras Ban Challenged By State Pessac, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France, has joined municipalities including Bordeaux, Poitiers, and Montpellier in introducing such a ban. The town’s Mayor, Franck Raynal, wrote to the animal rights organization L214 about the matter He cited Pessac’s progress in implementing its animal cause action plan for 2021 to 2026 “As part of its commitment and keen to be attentive to the breeding conditions for the production of foie gras the City of Pessac formally prohibits the service of foodstuffs based on foie gras during municipal events,” Raynal wrote He is the region’s first conservative mayor to take this stance on foie gras Read more: France Just Suspended Its Ban On Words Like ‘Steak’ For Plant Foods Raynal’s letter said that plant-based alternatives to foie gras would be introduced in schools and municipal catering instead There is growing interest in foie gras alternatives as people seek more ethical food options. French startup Gourmey made the world’s first cultivated foie gras in 2021, using stem cells from a duck egg. The company is now seeking regulatory approval in markets including the UK and US When French Michelin-starred chef Alexis Gauthier turned his restaurant Gauthier Soho completely vegan, he created “faux gras” using plants. Writing in Plant Based News in 2021 he said that the creation actually grew his customer base as people were so intrigued to try it Read more: Planted To Launch Fermented Whole Cut Steak in France We know it can be hard to keep cooking up tasty Browse our selection of vegan recipes below db’s Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay finds the appellation suffered greater mildew pressure than any other – especially for the Merlot The losses resulted in some uneven reds and Cabernet-dominant blends although some wines managed to transcend the challenging weather On a good day it’s about 45 minutes from Pomerol to Léognan though it can easily take twice as long when Bordeaux’s infamous  la Rocade is busy But since en primeur week falls in the second week of the Bordeaux school holidays We arrive here in a rather different vinous universe a typically more even balance between Cabernet and Merlot in the vineyard amongst the reds and a rather greater presence of white varietals (though the whites still represent less than 15% of the total production of the appellation) We’re also further from large bodies of water (the Atlantic Ocean and the Gironde estuary) with a somewhat greater exposure to summer spikes in temperature and Yet a quick look at the meteorological details of the 2023 growing season immediately suggests some similarities with Pomerol and Saint Émilion – certainly rather more so than with the leading left-bank appellations of the Médoc Table 1: Rainfall during the vintage (relative to 10-year average) Source: calculated from Saturnalia’s Bordeaux 2023 Harvest report it was particularly wet here between budburst and harvest with rainfall accumulations up nearly 15% on the 10-year average and with that rain highly concentrated in the months of June and September book-ended as it was by spikes in already above average temperatures it was the catalyst for the problem – mildew Here Pessac suffered more that any of the other leading appellations with the partial exception of Saint Émilion (partial because in Saint Émilion it was only really the somewhat lesser terroirs of the appellation in the south and west towards the river that were ravaged) Pessac is the only leading appellation in which a classified growth produced not a single bottle of grand vin in 2023 is Bouscaut (and the excellence of its white But Bouscaut was hardly alone in its suffering with many of the leading estates in that part of the appellation (above all those south of a line joining Couhins Lurton and Olivier) suffering significant losses one of the distinguishing features of the vintage in Pessac-Léognan is that mildew did not spare the leading properties Pape Clément (35 hl/ha) and Smith Haut Lafitte (26 hl/ha) all returning yields well below the (already below average) vineyard yield for the appellation only Margaux came close to suffering a similar fate Table 2: Average vineyard yield by appellation (hl/ha) Source: calculated from Duanes data compiled by the CIVB Service Economie et Etudes the average appellation yields displayed in Table 2 tell only part of the story Pessac-Léognan was the only leading appellation of the left or right-bank to return below average aggregate vineyard yields – and for the fourth consecutive year in a row That final statistic is a significant cause for concern raising at it does questions about the general productivity of the appellation in a context of dérèglement climatique (or ‘climate weirding’ the point being that this is not just about global warming) that the (red) wines of the appellation are somewhat uneven in this vintage (we will return to the whites presently but the story there is subtly different and rather more positive) That is not at all to say that there are not great wines here But they are often unusual in their composition the qualitative gradient is steep as one descends from the small high plateau at the top the meteorological challenges of the growing season have had quite a significant bearing on the final blends of the leading wines where final vineyard yields were above the appellation average In these cases the high proportion of Cabernet in the grand vin was largely a question of choice reflecting the relative excellence of the respective varietals at harvest But for most of the others it is a more direct consequence of the significant losses suffered on Merlot plots from mildew exposure and the subsequent desiccation and burning of fruit on the vines which was more intense in plots that had already been exposed to mildew damage Table 3: Percentage of Merlot and Cabernet (Sauvignon + Franc) all of the wines listed in the above table are very strong above all in the context of a challenging vintage But in a vintage in which terroir typicity is generally high low yields and more Cabernet-dominant blends have resulted in some wines that might seem just a little anomalous in vertical tastings a decade or so from now it might seem strange that my top wines of the appellation are rated so highly this is something of a vintage of glass ceilings – above all on the right-bank and here again in Pessac-Léognan And when it comes to glass ceilings there are always those who manage to transcend what holds back the rest That is most definitively the case for a truly magical and glass ceiling shattering Haut-Brion But it is scarcely less true for Carmes Haut-Brion even if one has the sense here that the transcendence has been achieved through a remarkable and now characteristic set of technical achievements that it would be difficult for anyone else to replicate but very different from Haut-Brion itself – vibrant vivid and energetic where its stablemate is calm The former is another technical triumph with the most gracious of tannins and a quite staggering form of plunge pool purity in the mid-palate that really sets it apart The latter is archetypally Pessac (more accurately Martillac) in a vintage in which that is actually rather rare There are plenty of other successes in this vintage relatively few of them attain the glory of the 2020 or 2022 vintages it is difficult to beat the trio of C de Carmes Haut-Brion Couhins Lurton and Latour Martillac on the one hand and La Louvière and Picque Caillou on the other Each has negotiated the challenges of the vintage very well and it is difficult to think of wines anywhere in the region capable of offering more for less A guide to Bordeaux 2023 in ten questions Bordeaux 2023 vintage report part I: quality and quantity together, for once Bordeaux vintage report part 2: a vintage of reactivity, vigilance and surveillance We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings we will not be able to save your preferences This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again although there was perhaps a touch more variance compared to other appellations The growing season began with an unseasonably warm winter which transitioned into a warm but humid spring Although the warmth and humidity ensured the region was spared the worst of the spring frosts The excess water and heat meant vine growth was rapid and producers had to be vigilant in managing both the vines and the spread of disease and rot the warm temperatures led to both an early budburst and flowering and the crop look set to be a large one Summer than arrived bringing sizzling temperatures and dry conditions which ultimately led to concerns with drought Both July and August were exceedingly dry and terroir became an important factor as to which vines had easy access to water reserves deep in the soil the clear weather allowed for an early harvest in September with producers able to pick at their leisure the 2020 harvest did stand out for being particularly unusual as the globe found itself in the grip of the Covid pandemic and pickers had to adhere to both social distancing and strict hygiene practices The resulting wines were generally brilliant as the grapes had been intensely concentrated by the drought-stricken summer and The best examples were incredibly sophisticated and although there was an austerity given to them by the firm tannins the fresh acidity and rich black and red brambly fruit kept them accessible Interwoven with the forest fruit were undercurrents of oak and tertiary notes of mushroom Gareth Birchley, Arthur Coggill and Melody Wong tasted 66 wines, with 31 Highly recommended. By late April 2018, London was already melting, and there was wall-to-wall sunshine well into October. Bordeaux had a different spring. Record March rainfall led to humidity in the vineyards and a real concern of rot before the buds had even burst. Unusual as it was, it was July before our cousins in Aquitaine felt the benefits of any kind of heatwave. From then on, by contrast, the stage was set and Bordeaux experienced one of the hottest periods in half a century. Gareth Birchley is buying director at London-based Burns & German Vintners. After arriving in London in 2006, he worked in sales and senior buying roles at Bordeaux Index and Berry Bros & Rudd, before joining Burns & German in 2019. Arthur Coggill is head of business development at London-based merchant Hatton & Edwards. Having joined Goedhuis & Co in a fine wine sales role in 2013, he ran its investment fund Vintage Capital for eight years before moving solely to buying in 2021, joining Hatton & Edwards in 2024. Melody Wong is director of wine at The Peninsula, London. An experienced sommelier and wine buyer, she has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants and top hotels across the UK. In 2022, she was nominated in the GQ Food & Drink Awards Best Sommelier category. “Building H” is one of the most emblematic projects of the “Opération Campus”, a program initiated by the University of Bordeaux to increase the international visibility of the university campus and create genuine living environments. Located at the heart of a cluster of academic buildings, it comprises three functional entities: the Maison de l’Économie, with its research and training facilities mainly designed for economics lecturers, researchers and postgraduate students; the administrative offices of the Law/Political Sciences and Economics/Management faculties; and shared campus facilities including a lecture theatre with over 200 seats. The building’s understated, rational architectural style sets up an appropriate dialogue with its built environment and the surrounding landscape. To give it a more human scale, we opted for sequenced massing comprising three distinct blocks whose shape and height are designed to gently and harmoniously echo those of the surrounding buildings. © Jean-François TremegeIn order to make full use of its bioclimatic properties and limit heat loss through the envelope, the building is compact, highly insulated, and airtight. In addition to the airtight façades, summer and winter temperature control is reinforced by fans in the offices and classrooms. In addition, openable windows in the offices and circulation areas provide thorough ventilation for cooling at night. © Jean-François TremegeHigh-density wood wool insulation used for the exterior façade provides a significant thermal phase shift that delays the arrival of thermal waves inside the building, while concrete used for the interior provides passive cooling. Designed to be durable, comfortable, and upgradeable, Building H has a concrete post-and-beam structure based on a strict grid, providing a high degree of modularity and functional reversibility. Similarly, the floor plans follow a 1.2-meter grid throughout the building, facilitating future functional permutations, relocations or extensions. © Jean-François TremegeThe façades, designed as standard curtain walls, are made up of a vertical complex running in front of the concrete floors, providing a great deal of freedom in terms of the position and size of the windows. They follow the same grid throughout the building in order to offer maximum adaptability. Made of three main materials—pale concrete, metal, and glass—, the façades form a uniform architectural whole. They are faced with horizontal and vertical concrete slats (standing proud of the façade itself to allow water to drain off and to make it possible to clean the windows from the inside) behind which alternate glazed sections and unglazed sections (which are clad in anthracite thermo-painted metal). © Jean-François TremegeThese slats are designed to provide effective protection from sunlight coming from the south, east, and west. On the ground floor, they also form a sheltered walkway along the future promenade parallel with the tramway on the esplanade. Sunshades with adjustable slats and protective glass provide additional protection from exterior heat and ensure optimum interior comfort. © Jean-François TremegeOverall layout serving quality of use. The sequenced massing makes the different programs easily legible and allows each section to function independently. Representing the principal functional hub, both for its innovative research activities and for its visibility from outside the campus, the Maison de l'Économie takes place in the tallest section (4 stories) in the middle of the building. © Jean-François TremegeThe three-floor section west of it houses the administrative offices and classrooms. The two-floor section on the northeast corner facing the political sciences building houses the IT rooms, the VIA Inno* facility, and service areas. The partitions between the offices and circulations have glazed frames providing both natural light and visual transparency The light-filled interior lends itself to work and well-being highlighted by the pale colors used for the interior finish You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email Despite Pessac-Léognan suffering some substantial losses due to mildew – including from some of the leading estates – db’s Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay finds some great wines here even if the overall quality of the reds is uneven and yields are down See here for Colin’s appellation-by-appellation analysis for Pessac-Léognan for a full picture of the 2023 vintage in this appellation I have again decided to provide an indicative rating for each wine alongside the published comment All such comments and ratings are necessarily subjective (they cannot be anything else when one thinks about it) I would urge you to look at the two together and My aim is more to describe the wine in the context of the vintage the appellation and recent vintages of the same and similar wines reflect my subjective evaluations and relative preferences between wines I hope that my comments give you at least enough information to be able to recalibrate my ratings and to align them more closely to your own palate To give an example: if the idea of the ‘new classicism’ leaves you cold you may well wish to discount the (typically high) ratings I have given to wines described in such terms my ratings span a considerable range (from the very top of the scale downwards) I have decided not to publish scores for classed growths (or equivalent wines) that I have rated below 90 (here the range 89-91) and for crus bourgeois (or equivalent wines) that I have rated below 89 (here the range 88-90) the wine would have scored below these thresholds Where my written assessment of the wine might also have proved unflattering to the property I have simply chosen to publish neither the commentary nor the rating élevage is likely to be very important in determining the quality in bottle of these wines I am no soothsayer and cannot predict how that will turn out (another reason for the use of banded ratings) But all en primeur ratings should be treated with caution and taken with a certain pinch of salt C de Carmes Haut-Brion (Pessac-Léognan; 60% Cabernet Sauvignon; 38% Merlot; 2% Petit Verdot; pH 3.60; 13% alcohol with the 25% whole bunch fermentation reducing the degree of alcohol from 13.8%; tasted at Carmes Haut-Brion with Guillaume Pouthier) and with a redder-hued feel to the fruit than Les Carmes itself Lots of graphite too and absolutely no trace of the wood pixilated and detailed and yet soft and with a shimmering texture like a pile of silk sheets placed one on top of another but seen first from the top There’s a pleasing grip too from the tannins which are ultra-finely grained and which seem to massage the fruit shaping a lovely fantail on the saline mineral finish Carbonnieux (Pessac-Léognan; 60% Cabernet Sauvignon; 30% Merlot; 5% Petit Verdot; 5% Cabernet Franc; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin) on the palate over a moderately broad frame accentuating the sense of density and concentration but I find this a little ungainly in comparison with other recent vintages even if the tannins remain relatively fine-grained Les Carmes Haut-Brion (Pessac-Léognan; 50% Cabernet Franc/Bouchet; 30% Cabernet Sauvignon; 20% Merlot; a final yield of around 50 hl/ha down from a potential 55 hl/ha due to shrivelling of the grapes just before harvest; pH 3.62; 13.5% alcohol – 14.3% before the 60% whole bunch fermentation; tasted at the property with Guillaume Pouthier) The impressive concentration here was achieved by creating the conditions for hydric stress within the vineyard – cutting the leaves in the form of a Christmas tree to increase transpiration unusually so for the vintage with palpably visible density we have the sensation of silk inter-layered with cashmere due to the entirely passive immersion maceration practiced here graphite as if from the nuclear reactor core with a plunge-pool mid-palate reminiscent texturally of Pichon Comtesse an impression accentuated by the amplitude The calcaire character of the tannins is much in evidence here A wine that transcends the challenges of the vintage – that’s what Guillaume Pouthier does La Chapelle de La Mission Haut-Brion (Pessac-Léognan; 48.3% Merlot; 39.4% Cabernet Sauvignon; 12.4% Cabernet Franc; 14.3% alcohol; tasted at Haut-Brion) A lovely loganberry and raspberry fruit – all perfectly ripe and highly pixilated Le Clarence de Haut-Brion (Pessac-Léognan; 55.5% Merlot; 40.9% Cabernet Sauvignon; 3.6% Cabernet Franc; 14.2% alcohol; tasted at Haut-Brion) A little more opulent when tasted after La Chapelle the fruit a shade darker and more stony in texture with damsons and cherries rather than brambles and blackberries much more opulent and seductive than the slightly austere La Chapelle Couhins (Pessac-Léognan; 51% Merlot; 45% Cabernet Sauvignon; 4% Petit Verdot; an anomaly in a way the French National Institute of Agricultural Research; tasted from a sample sent to me in Bordeaux) graphite and just crushed black peppercorns with a nice sense of energy and forward momentum over the palate; decent concentration too The tannins are fine-grained though they seem to grow in size of their granularity over the palate making this quite a chewy mouthful on the finish Couhins Lurton (Pessac-Léognan; 85% Merlot; 15% Cabernet Sauvignon; 14.5% alcohol; tasted at La Louvière with Jacques Lurton and Claire Dawson) Not much mildew here or in any of the Vignobles André Lurton vineyards Slightly closed aromatically and tight as it often is Almost all of the Cabernet Sauvignon from the vineyard is in this Speculoos (if you’ve ever had one you know what they are!) More cassis and blackcurrant is released with aeration in the mouth with a dense yet limpid and crystalline core especially as the cassis notes come through in the mid palate this might well warrant an upgrade after élévage De Cruzeau (Pessac-Léognan; 50% Cabernet Sauvignon; 50% Merlot; a final yield of 45 hl/ha; 13.5% alcohol; tasted at La Louvière with Jacques Lurton and Claire Dawson) quite leafy but not at all green or herbaceous; a little gamey Some cedar is released with gentle aeration quite saline too but this lacks a little delineation and mid-palate detail but it’s not at the level of the 2020 or 2022 Domaine de Chevalier (Pessac-Léognan; 65% Cabernet Sauvignon; 25% Merlot; 5% Petit Verdot; 5% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 30 hl/ha due to some mildew losses; 13% alcohol; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin) We really jump in quality when we get to this in the Pessac flight at the UGCB tasting – very much above the glass ceiling all supremely crunchy and crisp and coated in dark chocolate a little mocha and with a parfumier’s essence of petunia too A hint of wood-smoke and a touch of nutmeg Long and chewy with the grippy tannins framing a lovely fantail 35% of them new; 13.5% alcohol; Thomas Duclos is the consultant here since the 2019 vintage) but with a little coaxing and aeration it starts to open and unfurl red cherry and dark plum fruits and a little sage and bay leaf the tannins and the acidity working together to bind the fruit to a very well-defined and very linear spinal column angular and granular tannins on the finish La Garde (Pessac-Léognan; 57% Cabernet Sauvignon; 43% Merlot; tasted at Belgrave) lithe and quite succulent but with good Pessac terroir-typicity a hint of oak smoke and a generous but never dominating spiciness Lovely and on a sustained upward trajectory now Haut Bailly (Pessac-Léognon; 58% Cabernet Sauvignon; 34% Merlot; 4% Cabernet Franc; 4% Petit Verdot; a final yield of 40.5 hl/ha; 14.3% alcohol; 50% new oak but you wouldn’t have any idea) with some still co-fermented with the Cabernet Franc That macademia nut salinity and creaminess that is present also in the second wine Darker stone fruits – damsons and black cherry blackberry and black currant (but just a touch) A nice lift from the Petit Verdot and the Cabernet Franc bringing both peppery notes but also a certain currant leafiness (white currant quite opulent for the vintage but with a lovely up-thrust in the mid-palate – a kind of structural freshness conveyed by the Cabernets and the Petit Verdot in a sea of Merlot There are some similarities here with Carmes Haut-Brion in a way in terms of the composition if not the minerality nor the fruit profile Very long and gently tapering on the finish Haut Bailly II (Pessac-Léognan; 64% Merlot; 34% Cabernet Sauvignon; 2% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 40,5 hl/ha; 33% new barrels; 14.5% alcohol; tasted with Veronique Sanders at Haut Bailly) This now incorporates the fruit from Le Pape like salted macadamia nuts – and with something of their creaminess too One can feel the quality of the fine-grained tannins with impressive delineation and fresh and sapid Haut-Bergey (Pessac-Léognan; 53% Cabernet Sauvignon; 27% Cabernet Franc; 12% Merlot; 8% Petit Verdot; a low yield and rather more Cabernet in the final blend due to significant mildew losses here) but once that clears we hone in on a very pure very precise almost pixilated purple fruit with lovely floral notes that reappear on the soft and delicate yet quite dense Here the sapid fresh black cherry fruit predominates This lacks the complexity of some and is clearly not the wine they would have wished to make but I rather like the fruit profile and the slightly more austere texture Haut-Brion (Pessac-Léognan; 52.3% Merlot; 38.6% Cabernet Sauvignon; 9.1% Cabernet Franc; pH 3.7; 14.6% alcohol; tasted at Haut-Brion) Aromatically restrained and yet enticing and gorgeously tempting It invites you in but only for a first visit as it’s not yet ready to share all of its multiple secrets I love the intensely dark berry fruitedness – mulberry And more wild briary fruit notes with aeration Floaty and crystalline despite the concentration which is substantial at a level above La Mission in this vintage Larrivet Haut-Brion (Pessac-Léognan; 75% Cabernet Sauvignon; 20% Cabernet Franc; 5% Merlot reducing overall yields to 35 hl/ha; 13.3% alcohol; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin) oak smoke and crushed black stones and assorted black berry and stone fruits A little hedgerow floral note too and a hint of cordite with fine-grained tannins enrobing the predominantly stone fruits Long and with a tight and well-defined dense central core Latour Martillac (Pessac-Léognan; 66% Cabernet Sauvignon 20% Merlot and 14% Petit Verdot; a final yield of 33 hl/ha with mildew losses on the Merlot; 13.5% alcohol; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin) A lovely intimate aromatic profile of dark berry fruits – wild blueberry and mulberry There’s also a very fine-grained quality to the tannins here giving this a rare clarity and luminosity impressive given the layering and density of the fruit La Louvière (Pessac-Léognan; 60% Merlot; 40% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 50 hl/ha; pH ; 13.5% alcohol; tasted at the UGCB press tasting and then at La Louvière itself with Jacques Lurton and Claire Dawson) but really only around the extremities for now as the core is so dense as to remain a little impenetrable A lovely gracious fruit with the Cabernet Sauvignon singing Cassis and leafy notes rise from the dark waters of Merlot like sirens beckoning the sailors towards the rocks Impressive but this will need a little time Malartic-Lagravière (Pessac-Léognan; 53% Cabernet Sauvignon; 42% Merlot; 4% Petit Verdot; 1% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of just under 39 hl/ha; 13.5% alcohol; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin) with a very pure cassis and black berry fruit less oak that it used to have a lovely intense purity sandalwood and walnut oil too and a glorious florality – a little violet and lilac that carries over on to the palate really radiant and softly flowing over the palate La Mission Haut-Brion (Pessac-Léognan; 52.7% Merlot; 29.6% Cabernet Sauvignon; 17.7% Cabernet Franc; pH 3.7; tasted across the road at Haut-Brion) with great depth and density in the context of the vintage This reaches a level well above the glass ceiling for more earthly terroirs So much grace and also considerable age-ability Its slightly more open-textured than Haut-Brion with plunge-pool crystallinity in the mid-palate and so delicately balanced Olivier (Pessac-Léognan; 50 % Cabernet Franc; 45% Merlot; 5% Petit Verdot; a final yield of 45 hl/ha; 14% alcohol; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin) wilted strawberries and assorted fresh redberries (including redcurrant brining its signature freshness) Lighter than some but more dynamic as a consequence The acidity is a little elevated on the finish but I like the direct fresh fruit-forward style Pape Clément (Pessac-Léognan; 50% Merlot; 45% Cabernet Sauvignon; 3% Petit Verdot; 2% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 35 hl/ha; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin) Heady and exotic with red cherries and kirsch alongside darker berry fruits There’s a lovely hint of cedar already and a subtle rose petal note that if anything is stronger on the palate with plenty of depth and substance but a very open and crystalline mid-palate I’ve struggled more with this in recent vintages even if I appreciate the quality; this I really like and I detect a subtle change in directionn Picque Caillou (Pessac-Léognan; 60% Cabernet Sauvignon; 35% Merlot; 5% Petit Verdot; a final yield of 45 hl/ha; 13.5% alcohol; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin) with fresh and baked plum and damson alongside assorted crushed predominantly dark berries – a fruit cocktail in effect On the palate a very pure cassis fruit presented in a tight and compact frame and well delineated over the no less well-defined central spinal column sapid and with impressive precision and clarity this is another fine wine from Picque Caillou De Rochemorin (Pessac-Léognan; 54% Merlot; 34% Cabernet Sauvignon; 10% Petit Verdot; 2% Cabernet Franc; pH 3.52; 14% alcohol; tasted at La Louvière with Jacques Lurton and Claire Dawson) Quite spicy and peppery from the Petit Verdot almost all of which was used in the final blend Quite substantial and very authentically Pessac Fresh and lifted and with charcuterie rather than gamey notes with a red and darker berry fruit and a little plum skin The acidity is well distributed like the tannins over the palate Chiselled with quite a tight and narrow frame There’s a nice sapid juiciness on the finish with little ripples of freshness alternating with the grip of the tannins producing a pulsating effect Very good for a Merlot-dominated Pessac in 2023 The sustained improvement of recent vintages continues Smith Haut-Lafitte (Pessac-Léognan; 70% Cabernet Sauvignon; 23% Merlot; 6% Cabernet Franc; 1% Petit Verdot; a final yield of just 26 hl/ha; organic and biodynamic and with a special lable to commemorate the visit of King Charles III; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin) a unique wine in the context of the appellation and the vintage lashings of cedar and a very authentically smoky and gamey Pessac note Slightly wild and uncompromising in its exuberance I love too the way the hint of oak works to reinforce the florality a wine that really transcends the limits of the vintage – glass ceiling shattering Long and quite opulent in a vintage where that is rare amidst the picturesque splendour of the Pessac-Léognan appellation lies a hidden gem awaiting discovery: Château La Garde Since its acquisition by Maison Dourthe in June 1990 the estate has been dedicated to harnessing the exceptional quality of their terroir nurturing a natural harmony between vine and environment the estate has shown unwavering commitment to the quality of its wines and has made significant investments akin to that of the esteemed classified growths of the region culminating in a new state-of-the-art winery and visitor centre which opened in 2021 the vineyard is a testament to geological diversity with a rich and unique mosaic of 27 different soil types all farmed with a commitment to sustainable viticulture From Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon thriving on deep gravel and gravel on clay to Merlot flourishing on limestone and deep clay-limestone substrates The new winery takes the estate to a whole new level of precision and distinction with innovative technology enabling parcel-by-parcel vinification and gravity-fed processing Red wines are crafted with the utmost care and precision fermented in stainless steel tanks and matured in French oak barrels are pressed under inert gas and aged in oak vats and barriques ‘Our ambition is to enable the wines of Château La Garde to compete with the greatest wines in the world,’ says Valentin Jestin Our ambition is rooted in a deep conviction that we have a unique terroir of very high quality.’ La Garde is a wine with a true sense of place ‘What we create at Château La Garde is precise ‘it is made up of the best that the Bordeaux terroirs can offer.’ Château La Garde’s global brand director The early campaign flurry of releases continues Pessac-Léognan and Sauternes all set to be released today (Friday 3 May) following the crucial release of wines from Domaines Baron de Rothschild yesterday Prior to the publication of appellation-by-appellation profiles here are my tasting notes where they have not already been published Bouscaut blanc (Pessac-Léognan; 61% Sémillon; 39% Sauvignon Blanc – I think as the technical sheet adds up to 120%!; a final yield of 40 hl/ha; 13.5% alcohol; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin) but the quality of this must provide at least a little compensation One notices immediately that this is less oaky than it often is or used to be Decent concentration in the mid-palate but so charged is it with fresh citrus acidity A subtle change in style with rather less oak and more personality as a consequence Calicem (Saint-Émilion; 100% Merlot; the 8th production of this wine from a single parcel adjoining Angélus and Beauséjour this has a very consistent personality now; Thomas Duclos consults here; a final yield of c 30 hl/ha from vines of around 60 years of age; vinified in 500 litres new oak barrel from 4 tonnellerie and with pigeage à la main; pH 3.65; 14% alcohol) with a very pure blend of red and darker berry fruits the pleasing ripeness imparting a gentle natural sweetness that is not surprising when you consider where the parcel is located beautifully-filled with plump and plush berry fruits the calcaire tannins gathering on the finish to give this a delightfully powdery chalky finale One of the strongest monocépage wines of the appellation Couvent des Jacobins (Saint-Émilion; 84% Merlot; 11% Cabernet Franc; 5% Petit Verdot; a final yield of 40 hl/ha; tasted first at the Association des Grands Crus Classes at Dassault then with Xavier Jean in the historic cloister of the Couvent itself) An amazing ascent to the summit is underway here and this is still a work in progress but it’s perhaps the finest I’ve yet tasted from Couvent with Thomas Duclos playing an important role as consultant a little violet and a gracious plump stone and dark berry fruit – damsons and blueberries a little bramble too; a nice combination of cracked peppercorns too The Petit Verdot brings a little strictness of the mid-palate and maybe needs a little more time to fully bed in superb in its tannin management and incredibly refined The best yet from here and a veritable coup de coeur Doisy Védrines (Sauternes; 85% Sémillon; 12% Sauvignon Blanc; 3% Muscadelle; a final yield of 9 hl/ha; 14% alcohol; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin) with just enough bite from the zesty citrus elements to rein this in A vintage in which the terroir character of each wine is very present La Lagune (Haut-Médoc; 65% Cabernet Sauvignon; 35% Merlot; strong mildew pressure was well-managed the team now highly experienced in an all too familiar fight; a final yield of 30 hl/ha; 13.5% alcohol; tasted at the UGC press tasting at the Cité du Vin and with Caroline and Delphine Frey at the property; certified organic and biodynamic) There is no Petit Verdot in the grand vin this year giving this perhaps an additional harmony at this nascent stage We could easily be in Margaux here as this has a lovely highly expressive but still delicate and refined wild florality to it Beautifully expressive and vivid aromatically We are not so much in the parfumier’s boudoir as in the field from which the flowers themselves were sourced This has quite a tight frame accentuating the impact on the attack and the density and concentration of the mid-palate Well-structured and with significant aging potential despite the elegance that is already present Puyblanquet (Saint-Émilion; 80% Merlot; 20% Cabernet Franc; just 11 of the 19 hectares here are in production with significant replanting underway; just in front of Pressac next to Boutisse; 14.2% alcohol; tasted at La Gaffelière) Beautiful in its intensely dark fruited aromatic profile Luminous at the core and with lovely powdery chalky tannins on the finish March was a starry month for Bordeaux’s Pessac-Léognan but most wine lovers didn’t even realise it Backstage at the glamorous 95th Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood nominees and winners sipped La Clarté de Haut-Brion a white wine made by first growth Château Haut-Brion in Pessac-Léognan Yet few wine lovers outside France know that appellation name or that in 1987 it was carved from the northern part of the wider Graves region south of Bordeaux who became the president of the Syndicat de Pessac-Léognan last year Pessac-Léognan should be one of the best-known names in Bordeaux like Margaux in the Médoc and St-Emilion on the Right Bank You could argue it’s the most dynamic wine spot in Bordeaux As we are beginning to see – and I anticipated – the highly heterogeneous reds of the 2021 Bordeaux vintage are already dividing opinion exceptional and unique wines – and they are widely seen and duly celebrated as such even if you don’t share my enthusiasm for some of the reds or simply decide that in the absence of a critical consensus on the red vintage it would be savvy to keep one’s money in one’s pocket for now (not an unreasonable position) there is a strong argument to be made for not forgoing the opportunity to purchase some whites (and some Sauternes) up front There are perhaps two parts to that argument The first is that en primeur prices for the entire vintage – red white and sticky (moelleux) – tend to be largely determined by the perceived quality of the reds alone it is credible to think that the whites will be under-priced on release relative to their (perceived) quality (and there seems to be a consensus on their perceived quality) this is likely to be the best set of white Bordeaux releases since at least 2017 I would go further still in suggesting that this is a unique and truly exceptional vintage that But this is to take us beyond the relative consensus and into rather more clearly subjective territory to takes us beyond the warm and positive mood music over the overall quality of the vintage to the more detailed assessment of the qualities (plural) of these wines in comparison to other recent vintages is the question of one’s attitude to acidity in white Bordeaux in a context of accelerating climate change you have been somewhat troubled by the greater and greater probability in recent vintages (notably the trio 2018-2020) of encountering wines that are rich flat and lacking in tension (and the acidity that is it is a certain weight and density in the mouth a certain opulence and amplitude on the palate that is the very precondition of greatness (and you can live with a little less tension and freshness when that is present) then 2021 – though great – may well be no greater than 2017 have found recent Bordeaux blanc sec vintages quite challenging (with That brings to mind a further factor that it is important not to overlook here – accelerating climate change as French vignerons rather more accurately put it dérèglement climatique) as the single most important contextual factor influencing the evolution of Bordeaux wines from one vintage to another then vintages with as much natural acidity and natural tension as 2021 are likely to become less and less frequent the kind of tension that characterises this vintage is going to be ever more difficult to find That factor was very much in my thinking as I tasted these wines – and it has certainly left a significant imprint on my relative preferences between the many star performances it is insidious to single out truly great wines in a truly homogeneous vintage like this For a case can be made for most of the wines that appear in my detailed tasting notes below and even if I find it impossible to choose between them it is not at all difficult for me to identify La Mission Haut-Brion blanc and Pavillon blanc de Chateau Margaux as the two finest white wines of the vintage And what makes them so special is what they share – a degree of tension vivacity and dynamism that comes from their searing acidity that I find truly compelling and almost entirely unprecedented in a decade of en primeur tasting experience the va-va-voom of La Mission or Pavillon blanc in this vintage I find something of the same energy in Les Champs Libres and Grand Village blanc from Baptiste and Julie Guinaudeau (better known These wines are shockingly brilliant each time I taste them and the progression from one vintage to the next which has been so evident with the former for at least five vintages is now no less palpably present at Grand Village too It will come as a surprise to no one that Domaine de Chevalier and Smith Haut-Lafitte have put in great showings in 2021 multi-layered and finely pixilated and Smith whilst remaining very true to its style and identity is perhaps a little less oaky than in recent vintages the spice tempered somewhat to reveal more of its minerality and its glorious sapidity Cos d’Estournel has also made in this vintage the finest blanc sec that I have ever tasted from the property – its iodine sea-spray-infused personality more immediately redolent of its Northern Médocain terroir than ever Latour Martillac has made another fabulous wine that is charged with tension and biting freshness and Couhins-Lurton also deserves a special mention Its 100% Sauvignon Blanc was picked in a series of tries to optimise ripeness It has almost a certain Sauternes-esque exoticism allied with a brilliantly dynamic freshness the now reliably excellent Picque Caillou it is likely to prove exceptional value All three will be immediately enjoyable the moment they are bottled For full tasting notes, see here This region was severely impacted by the frost in early 2021 with the lowest yields of the major appellations across Bordeaux Quality is uneven but there are still some lovely wines that showcase ripe fruit high acidities and lots of estate signature – usually exemplified by a wet stone lean texture which is straight and not at all plush BORDEAUX 2021 IN BOTTLE SCORE TABLE: Top-scoring 133 wines with 93 points or above Wines are listed in score order white then red An initial press conference on 9 November at Château Haut Brion yielded news of ‘repositioning’ Bordeaux’s youngest appellation with a new logo and publicity campaign that de-emphasises its link to the larger Graves region while underscoring its Bordeaux city origins Pessac-Léognan: L’Esprit Bordeaux is meant to clearly communicate that Pessac-Léognan’s 70 châteaux with 1,880 hectares under vine ‘flank the outskirts’ of the Aquitaine capital making ‘our wines quintessentially Bordeaux’ – so goes the text in a branded brochure that highlights the appellation’s soils and climate its family-owned wineries and its proximity to the city of Bordeaux president of the Pessac-Léognan wine association explained that although the appellation was created in 1987 ‘it is developed on an ancient terroir where the first wines were cultivated 2,000 years ago less than half an hour from Bordeaux city centre’ ‘The idea was to effectively define our strengths or where we want to go in the future,’ said Lurton during a second event at the end of November and then a new tagline,’ which was put forward by branding consultant Pascal Beucler and inspired from answers given during a survey of wine industry professionals ‘The idea is that we are an urban appellation within the city of Bordeaux so we have to look towards it with our communication’ said Lurton ‘We are proud of the connection and we want to bring the spirit that links us to the fore,’ he added ‘It was something quite strong for us to choose this It’s important for us to support Bordeaux too’ said Severine Bonnie of Château Malartic Lagravière ‘We have done many things over the last four decades,’ said Domaine de Chevalier owner and winemaker Olivier Bernard ‘and now it’s time to take the next step.’ The campaign is less about new initiatives but rather recognises work achieved over the last 35 years Using a French play on words: Après le faire In the past three decades Pessac-Léognan has pursued a dynamic promotional policy including hosting open house weekends in December and June for 25 years organising wine tastings in major European cities and around key dates such as the Avant-Première des Primeurs evening in April There is also the Pessac-Léognan trophy for sommelier students as well as ongoing research with the ISVV and Bordeaux wine schools The new bi-lingual English and French brochure is ‘like a manifesto of what we are today and what we’d like to be tomorrow,’ said Bonnie who was part of the committee agreeing the new guidelines While the group admits; ‘it’s not a revolution’ – they affirm it’s more an ‘evolution’ while emphasising the production of classified Bordeaux red and white wines as ‘unique’ Pessac-Léognan counts 14 classified growths from the Graves appellation of 1953 in 10 communes from the northern part of that region but Graves has become associated with lesser quality further south wine educator for importer Calvert Woodley in Washington D.C. put it: ‘The vast majority of classified growth buyers now recognise the importance of the Pessac-Léognan designation’ as opposed to what he calls ‘the swill that’s made in the rest of the Graves’ Pessac-Léognan has more stringent rules for vineyard planting density and yields and its estates are more innovative for organic and biodynamic winemaking Muting the link to Graves reflects a practice that consumers may not have noticed in recent years The front label of the 2010 vintage of Château Malartic Lagravière indicates ‘Grand Cru Classé de Graves’ But the 2020 label only shows ‘Grand Cru Classé’ with the appellation designation of Pessac-Léognan ‘It’s a bit of an emancipation’ – un affranchissement – from the Graves origins since the classification was set before the creation of Pessac-Léognan Those keeping the Graves reference now wonder whether they should also remove it we may consider cutting the umbilical cord (to Graves) by also removing the specific reference but it must be done with the consent of the entire family at the château,’ added Edouard Kressmann of the classified Château Latour Martillac Branding consultant Beucler draws a parallel with another famous Bordeaux region saying that Château Latour does not advertise so much the Médoc – even if it’s a classified First Growth from the 1855 classification bearing the Médoc name – but rather as Pauillac the more specific appellation within the region Industry observers like Giliberti agreed: ‘Replacing Cru Classé de Graves with just Cru Classé makes sense to me as they are all Pessac-Léognan anyway.’ but where others focus solely on their appellations we are doing the same,’ said Bernard but our communication is not to be as close as we’ve been in the past It’s not to forget the Graves but Pessac-Léognan has its own story,’ he added As for the Crus Classés they are ‘happy to have a strong base’ and to benefit from the new branding The new logo will be mainly used for social media and promotional purposes but may be added to wine labels – front or back It will be up to châteaux owners to decide It is not clear how important this initiative is for end consumers – strong brands like Haut Brion Domaine de Chevalier and Smith Haut Lafitte sell well whatever logo or appellation identity but the group hopes to strengthen the ties between the appellation and Bordeaux city as its ‘strongest supporter’ ‘We all share the same idea and the same goal – that’s not so easy but we’re all working together’ to continue to improve among other things; the quality of the wines the tourism efforts and the overall image of Pessac-Léognan ‘We have the only vineyard in Bordeaux you can reach by tram said Lurton and there are plans underway to develop wine routes by boat ‘Now is the right time to make a new step,’ Bernard concluded Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Colin Hay concludes his appellation profiles of the Bordeaux 2022 vintage in the Graves – here We tend already to think of 2022 as a vintage for the reds and not really for the whites and we are certainly not entirely wrong to do so But what is interesting is that both of these That theme is the recalibration of the expectations that I had formed before I had tasted a single wine in both cases my expectations have been exceeded as I left Paris at très grand vitesse for Bordeaux almost six weeks ago I was more than a little worried about Pessac-Léognan That anxiety was based on my reading – too superficial it turns out – of the meteorological charts and a certain misunderstanding too It is good to learn from one’s mistakes and sometimes good It is not difficult to see where the anxiety came from Table 1: Rainfall during the vintage (relative to 10-year average mms) Source: calculated from Saturnalia’s Bordeaux 2022 Harvest report It breaks down rainfall volumes by appellation for the vintage for the three crucial periods: first prior to bud-burst (in which the water table on which the vines would need to draw was either depleted or replenished); second from budburst to véraison (colour-change); and It shows the total rainfall (in millimetres) recorded in each period and (in brackets) the comparison with the 10-year average for the same period It paints an interesting and complex picture The first thing that it reveals is that the water table in the right-bank appellations (Pomerol and St Emilion) was replenished during the winter the right-bank appellations (most notably St Emilion) were better placed to endure what nature would throw their way because there they simply had more water ‘in reserve’ But what it also reveals is that no appellation suffered more than Pessac-Léognan after budburst at every key stage in the making of the vintage Pessac-Léognan was amongst the group of appellations that was suffering the most It was with the Médoc appellations over the winter months in having less rainfall; it was with the right-bank appellations following budburst in having less rainfall; and it was alone in receiving less than half of 10-year-average rainfall following véraison that 2022 was drier overall in Pessac-Léognan than in any other leading appellation (with irrigation of individual plants authorised in the revised cahier des charges of the appellation) Pessac-Léognan also suffered the hottest days many of the hottest nights and the highest average temperatures of this long and intense summer in a vintage that was very hot and very dry That is exactly the question I started to pose myself as I began to taste these wines which I found characterised by a remarkable and extraordinary freshness and sapidity the drought conditions that were to characterise the growing season began very early This turned out to be a strange and paradoxically serendipitous blessing with little winter or spring rainfall (March and April saw around 70% of average rainfall in Mérignac after a dry winter) the vines began their growing season in search of water they looked inevitably to the water table below the vines built smaller canopies and established deeper root systems than they would otherwise have done (had the drought conditions been established only later in the summer as they were in Pomerol This undoubtedly helped them adapt to the drought-induced hydric stress of the summer months better prepared for it and it came as less of a shock to them the grapes themselves were formed physiologically in drought conditions and under hydric stress This undoubtedly contributed to their quality But that makes this sound all just a little pre-determined – as if things were always going to turn out well This was a stressful vintage for wine-makers They might have had little to do in the vineyard they worried and at least some of them prayed it was as if their prayers were answered (you will detect the subtle theological evasion in the formulation of the phrase!) As Véronique Sanders explained to me at Haut Bailly the 40 millimetres of rain that fell in August was very very timely as was the 100 millimetres of rain that fell in June (even if its violence and intensity ensured that quite a lot of it was lost as run-off) whilst Saturnalia reports that diurnal temperature variation was relatively low in Pessac-Léognan over the ripening season it was higher in August and early September just when it mattered most these little details were probably just as important when it comes to explaining the remarkable freshness of many of these wines than the more general meteorological trends at less than 10 per down relative to the 10-year average they actually look better in comparative terms than those of any other leading left or right-bank appellation That is much better than had been feared at the start of August It is interesting also to see in 2022 the consolidation of the growing turn to Cabernet Sauvignon (and to a somewhat lesser extent Cabernet Franc) in the blends of the grands vins of many of the leading crus many of the great wines of the appellation are now staunchly Cabernet-dominated but they are undoubtedly voluminous and substantial The reds of Pessac-Léognan and the Graves in 2022 reveal perhaps a little more of the hot and dry character of the vintage than most of their Médoc and right-bank counterparts (the exception here perhaps being Pomerol once again) brilliant though at their best these wines undoubtedly are they may not always be especially expressive of and even in keeping with the style identity and personality of the property from which they hail In blind tastings a decade from now (and perhaps even at Southwold in a few year’s time) Couhins and Picque Caillou might easily be mis-identified the top wines of the appellation are truly stunning and their terroir and the personality of the property in question with a wine that quite simply surpasses all else that has ever been produced here It is the culmination of an incredible ascent to the summit achieved at breath-taking pace over the last decade by Guillaume Pouthier Smith Haut Lafitte and Domaine de Chevalier have produced wines that in any other recent vintage would be candidates for wine of the vintage – each wonderfully true to and consistent with the identity and personality of their terroirs and the property Malartic-Lagravière continues its sublime form in the last five or so vintages and it is wonderful to taste the best Pape Clément in many a vintage And it would be remiss to finish this review without pointing out the truly exceptional value for money to be found in many of the now usual suspects: Couhins-Lurton Larrivet Haut-Brion and Picque Caillou (the latter two properties transformed in recent vintages) I struggle to think of wines with a better quality-to-price ratio anywhere in the world today I have decided to provide an indicative rating for each wine alongside the published comment All such comments and ratings are necessarily subjective (they cannot be anything else a far from entirely homogeneous vintage – and I have decided not to publish scores for wines that I have rated below 90 (here the range 89-91) élevage is likely to be very important in determining the quality in bottle of these wines (like 2021 and rather more so than in other recent vintages) I am no soothsayer and cannot predict how that will turn out All en primeur ratings should be treated with caution and taken with a certain pinch of salt The property is in the northern Graves on the outskirts of Bordeaux, and is now surrounded by encroaching buildings and roads. It is also flanked by La Mission Haut-Brion which was bought by Haut-Brion's owners in the early 1980s The majority of the estate's 51 hectares (126 acres) of vineyard is planted to red varieties with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot covering 48 hectares (118 acres) while three hectares (7.5 acres) are given over to Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon The Haut-Brion cuvée tends to have more Merlot than the wines from the Medoc, with Cabernet Sauvignon in more of a supporting role (this is reflected in the vineyard) Haut-Brion is more rounded and softer than other Left Bank wines The château describes the wine as having an empyreumatic (charred organic matter) bouquet The château's second wine has been known as La Clarence de Haut-Brion since 2007 Haut-Brion's red wine, also known as the "grand vin" is its key line, comprising most of the château's output. However, it is also unusual in the classified growths that it has a corresponding white wine that shares the simple Haut-Brion name (although this is far from unusual for estates in the Graves and Pessac-Léognan which regularly produce both red and white wines) and is often dubbed "Haut-Brion blanc" The vineyards were established in the 1530s by the Pontac family changing hands several times throughout the ensuing centuries Historical evidence shows that Haut-Brion was drunk by King Charles II and Thomas Jefferson and the famous London diarist Samuel Pepys was also a fan of the wine The estate was acquired by American Francophile Clarence Dillon in 1935 and has been managed by the family since. Apart from La Mission Haut-Brion the Dillon family also own several other Bordeaux estates, the most famous of which is Château Quintus, a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru (formerly Château Tertre-Daugay) Pessac-Léognan has become a dynamic force among the Bordeaux appellations plus fresh reviews of how the early vintages taste now If you ever wonder about the human element in the creation of France’s appellation system Today one of the most dynamic parts of Bordeaux easily producing some of the best red and white wines in the whole of France its birth was a long drawn-out affair that had moments of high drama intercut with years of inaction and no small influence of a few key personalities the appellation may never have been created if it wasn’t for two men who back in the spring of 1964 was owner of Château St-Jérome in the southern Graves and an active member of the local syndicate (he later became its president) he made his hostility towards owners in the northern part of the appellation plainly felt to the establishment of a separate wine syndicate for what was known as ‘Haute’ Graves This new association immediately sent a request to the French body responsible for appellations the INAO (Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité) but it would take the considerable determination of a second man The Syndicate Viticole des Hautes Graves de Bordeaux breaks off from the main Syndicate de Graves although some winemakers from the southern section also join its ranks Its first action was to send a request for a separate AC to the French appellations’ authority André Lurton arrives at the syndicate after buying Château La Louvière begins looking into creation of AC Hautes-Graves de Bordeaux André Lurton becomes president of the Syndicat Viticole des Hautes Graves de Bordeaux The question of the new AC is relaunched by the INAO and various conciliatory meetings are organised between north and south Graves To overcome the issue of having winemakers from the southern Graves in the syndicate it is reworked to become a precise geographic region This becomes the Syndicat Viticole de Pessac et Léognan Its members remain within the overall Syndicat Viticole des Graves et Graves Supérieures where they account for just six out of 42 seats on the board The INAO recommends the creation of Graves Pessac and Graves Léognan two geographic indications that would be allowed on the label for the relevant estates Believing that this compromise doesn’t go far enough the six members of the Syndicat Viticole de Pessac et Léognan resign from the Syndicat Viticole des Graves et Graves Supérieures The INAO agrees to the creation of the new AC for the 1987 vintage for whites and the 1986 for reds The creation of AC Pessac-Léognan (no longer Pessac et Léognan) is published in the government’s Journal Officiel It includes wines produced in the 10 communes of Mérignac following a geological study by geologist Pierre Becheler Château La Mission Haut-Brion holds a celebration dinner I conclude my appellation profiles of the miraculous and at times exceptional Bordeaux 2022 vintage with the whites of Pessac-Léognan They exceeded my expectations – and by some distance – but 2022 will never be remembered as a fabulous vintage for white Bordeaux The meteorological challenges were just too considerable An extremely hot and intensely dry growing season leading to an almost unprecedentedly early harvest does not make this a candidate for vintage of the century or even vintage of the decade and despite relatively low acidity (and at times slightly frighteningly high pH levels) I was amazed by the freshness That was easier to achieve on limestone or limestone and clay– and it is hardly surprising that many of the vintage’s genuine stars hail from such terroirs Les Champs Libres is a truly miraculous and exceptional wine This vintage was made for a terroir such as this and in the hands of the hyper-talented team from Lafleur it is hardly surprising that the wine is so stunning even if it really does need to be tasted to be believed Pavillon Blanc is once again the star of the Médoc blanc secs And in Pessac-Léognan it is the trio of Malartic-Lagravière Pape Clément and Smith Haut Lafitte that shine most brightly Domaine de Chevalier pushes them very close indeed I was also greatly impressed by a number of the rising stars of the appellation: notably For full tasting notes, click here: Bordeaux 2022 vintage report: Mysterious majesty forged from the enigma of climatic excess (thedrinksbusiness.com) As he nears the end of his whistle-stop tour of the leading appellations of Bordeaux db’s Colin Hay looks at the white wines of Pessac-Léognan and Graves and the sweet wines of Barsac and Sauternes Here he finds the holy grail for whites – freshness It seems sensible to put them together in a single article not just because Barsac and Sauternes now produce some of the leading dry whites of the entire region even if many of them remain underappreciated but also because what makes both great in this vintage is the same essential ingredient – freshness Freshness is the sine qua non of spectacular white wine because it is the source of tension and interest it is becoming ever more difficult to find But freshness is the watchword of the 2023 vintage in Bordeaux for the whites In tasting these wines one might be forgiven for thinking that they come from a rather cooler and more classical growing season than in fact they do But the secret to their greatness lies not in the average temperature over the growing season (which was relatively high and certainly above the ten-year average) but the comparatively overcast month of July as well as impressive day-to-night temperature ranges during the harvest itself are also rather more homogeneous than the reds and it was often both exciting and refreshing to taste them then it is important to emphasise that the Sauternes and Barsac reach another level altogether In this vintage I find them truly exceptional – in part for exactly the same reason and in part because the rainfall that came in mid-September provided near perfect conditions for the even and rapid spread of Botrytis cinerea (noble rot) which formed on healthy and perfectly ripe grapes Nairac and La Tour Blanche all at less than 3 hl/ha the average appellation yield is at a somewhat more healthy 12.2 hl/ha) Table 1: Average vineyard yield by appellation (hl/ha) We are accustomed to associating greatness with longevity and although these wines do have very significant aging potential (not least precisely because of all that natural acidity) I would nonetheless encourage you to consider opening at least some of them young – with all of that youthful fresh vibrant tension and dynamic radiance still intact Most of those who produce these wines today both quite consciously make their wines to be accessible younger and And we should think of following their lead Given the quality of the vintage it is perhaps unsurprising that the two dry whites of the vintage come from perhaps the two most famous white terroirs of the region those of Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion But they are staggeringly different – almost mirror opposites of one another big tableau wine of staggering potential and harmony is in a way more redolently expressive of the vintage the most chiselled and structured of these wines and an utterly brilliant advert for Sauvignon Blanc on limestone It is now reliably one of the truly great blancs secs of the region Amongst the Pessac-Léognan classed growth power houses it is difficult to choose between the sublime but very different personalities of Domaine de Chevalier and Smith Haut-Lafitte each is likely to be seen in time as one of the strongest ever vintages from this duo of exceptional and truly reliable estates And Pavillon Blanc de Margaux is once again the star of the Médoc blanc secs great intensity and incredible crystallinity two blancs secs from Barsac and Sauternes amongst my list of the truly greats They are the beautifully elegant and refined Lilium de Climens (a further honing and elevation of the same style that Bérénice Lurton cultivated in the larger production Asphodèle) and the fantastically energetic Rayne Vigneau Grand Vin Sec a wine almost pulsating in its combination of freshness and minerality Turning to the wines for which Barsac and Sauternes are rather better known there is a veritable embarrassment of riches in this vintage At the summit we find two wines of potential perfection – a truly exquisite discrete and utterly beautiful Climens and a quite brilliant and rather shockingly delicate L’Extravagant de Doisy Daëne These are for me the twin super stars of the vintage But every one of the first growths has made a wine of exceptional quality that seems to express its identity personality and terroir as clearly as I have ever before witnessed Whether it is Sigalas Rabaud with its levity and delicate white florality or Lafaurie-Peyraguey with that little hint of lanolin that is each of these wines seems to express itself and its terroir so clearly But alongside those that I have already mentioned I would also particularly single out a simply stunning Suduiraut (a wine on sparkling form in recent vintages and I don’t think I have ever tasted better en primeur samples from either property will all be very capable of having me in raptures any time following their bottling If en primeur is the time you buy your Sauternes then these all deserve your close consideration Although 2022 will never be remembered as a fabulous vintage for white Bordeaux Colin Hay finds some ‘miraculous’ wines that exceeded his expectations ‘by some distance’ Complicated weather conditions tested winemakers in the vineyards and cellars in Pessac and Graves in 2020 with a mainly dry and warm growing season saved by crucial rains in August supple and generous red wines by producers who picked at the right time and exhibited a light touch in the winery exotic fruit touches balanced by freshness and crisp acidity Average yields for Pessac-Léognan in 2020 were 34.6hl/ha lowers than 2018 at 36.9hl/ha and 2019 at 47.2hl/ha with a 10-year-average of 40.5hl/ha SCORE TABLE: top-scoring 349 wines with 92 points or above The following wines all scored 94 points or above Like much of Bordeaux in 2018, the Graves and Pessac-Léognan had plenty of stress with hail followed by mildew and then drought although the average yield for reds is 45 hectolitres per hectare Small crops didn’t necessarily impact quality. Haut-Bailly, one of my top scorers in 2018 had a yield of 21 hl/ha and managed conditions well to combine the enjoyable structured fruit of 2015 with the serious finish of its 2016 wine Pessac-Léognan fruit ripens relatively early which helped to lessen the gap between technical and phenolic ripeness that was an issue for some Bordeaux estates in this vintage This was a natural advantage for Pessac in 2018 as long as vines didn’t block from the heat I found that the en primeur wines were not as consistent as in 2016 I have been amazed by how welcoming the tannins are I expected the wines would be unapproachable There is clear architecture on display, but of the graceful kind. Many wines show lots of depth and concentration but have good balance.  Top wines have lots of layers, with great fruit and potential for ageing; Haut-Brion 2018 although most wines are well-controlled with great tannins There is likely to be some brilliant value in both Graves and Pessac As I’ve said for some other major appellations it’s important to track individual estates in 2018 because there are clear differences between châteaux excellent summer and autumn weather meant that estates could time their harvests according to individual preferences which means you see stylistic differences coming into play One to watch would be Les Carmes Haut-Brion 2018 which saw a high proportion of Cabernet Franc and 53% whole bunch fermentation pay off hugely in terms of balance Reds potentially offering great value in 2018: Rouillac The reds are more reliable than the whites overall Yet the whites were much better than I expected Most white grapes were safely in the cellars as drought intensified in September and October only a very few dry whites were exceptional enough to best the brilliant 2017s Search all Bordeaux 2018 wine ratings here La Rédac' ©Amerigo_imagesBonne nouvelle pour nos amis à quatre pattes : Bordeaux Métropole se hisse dans le top 10 du classement Une ville pour les animaux publié par L214 c'est que 2 villes apparaissent dans le top des villes où il fait bon vivre pour nos compagnons poilus à bec ou à écailles : Pessac et Bordeaux respectivement à la 6ème et 7ème place.  l’Observatoire "Politique et Animaux" évalue les efforts des grandes villes françaises pour améliorer la condition animale Encourager les municipalités à adopter des mesures concrètes comme la végétalisation de l’alimentation le bien-être des animaux errants ou encore la transparence des fourrières.  Et notre métropole ne fait pas les choses à moitié  Fun fact totalement unique : 2 des communes de la métropole apparaissent dans le top 10 Il s'agit de Pessac qui arrive devant Bordeaux en 6ème position avec 68% des objectifs atteints de la charte. Bordeaux suit derrière Parmi les mesures en faveur de la condition animale  Les 2 villes ont intégré des objectifs de réduction de la consommation de chair animale dans leurs documents stratégiques (plans d’action etc.) et incité les restaurateurs à proposer davantage d’alternatives végétales Une publication partagée par Jean-Yves Labaigt (@chasseurdimages33) Le classement « Une ville pour les animaux » (UVPA) publié ce 26 février par l'association L214 confirme que des mesures simples et efficaces peuvent être mises en place par les municipalités pour améliorer la condition animale 13 d'entre elles atteignent au moins 50% des objectifs de la charte de L214 visant à améliorer la condition animale en ville la majorité ne s’empare toujours pas pleinement de ces mesures pourtant essentielles pour répondre aux enjeux éthiques sanitaires et de souveraineté alimentaire L'étude complète ici La meilleure plage de France 2025 vient d'être élue en Gironde  Un jardin éphémère avec guinguette et chasse aux œufs s'installe à Bordeaux pour Pâques Un nouveau train express va vous emmener à Barcelone en 45 minutes depuis Bordeaux Additional reporting by Jane Anson in Bordeaux The French wine world was today mourning the loss of André Lurton a key figure in the modern history of Bordeaux winemaking Among his achievements, Lurton played a central role in the creation of the Pessac-Léognan appellation which was born in 1987 following several years of lobbying and bureaucratic wrangling Lurton significantly expanded the family business after first inheriting Château Bonnet in Grezillac in 1953 during which Lurton worked in the French Resistance and subsequently joined the French army in order to help with the fighting in Alsace in particular It was partly because of this experience that Lurton was known later for his collection of 1940s army vehicles Frost seriously damaged the estate’s 50 hectares of vineyard in 1956 and Lurton grew crops for cattle feed in order to fund a major replanting programme Success eventually followed at Bonnet and this enabled Lurton to expand into what was then Graves he started renting vines at Château Couhins and subsequently bought the vineyards to create Château Couhins-Lurton in 1970 Vignobles André Lurton today has 600ha of vines across much of southern Bordeaux was director of the CIVB for 20 years from 1966 to 1986 and president of the winemaking syndicate of Pessac and Léognan from 1980 to 1987 at which point it became AOC Pessac-Léognan Decanter’s Jane Anson wrote recently that the creation of the Pessac-Léognan appellation may not have come about at all ‘if it hadn’t been for the stubborn persistency of André Lurton’ ‘He might have slowed down over the past few years but few men have done as much to shape Bordeaux as André Lurton ‘It was his lobbying that led to the creation of the Pessac-Léognan vintage in 1987 after a steady campaign of lobbying begun following his purchase of La Louvière ‘He also managed the difficult feat of building up a successful sizeable and consistently good quality AOC Bordeaux wine in the form of Château Bonnet have built their own successful careers in wine Swiss-French architect Charles-Édouard Jeanneret—better known as Le Corbusier—became one of the most influential urban planners in the world pioneering a vision of accessible and economical design that eschewed the opulent Art Nouveau aesthetic in favor of simple geometries Among his most acclaimed projects is the Cité Frugès de Pessac an experimental housing development that is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site some of which featured a cast concrete “zig-zag” staircase that became synonymous with that type of dwelling Now, one of the “zig-zag” houses has been restored and is hitting the market with Architecture de Collection, which is seeking roughly $570,000 the 900-square-foot abode is significant as one of the earliest Le Corbusier works as well as a prime example of his modern style The structure encompasses all the tenets of Corbusier’s so-called “new architecture,” equipped with an open floor plan made possible thanks to reinforced concrete horizontal band windows that run the length of the façade and an accessible rooftop that can be utilized as a hanging garden The recent renovation saw the installation of pivoting glass doors and an updated kitchen in harmony with the house’s utilitarian ethos © 2023 Hudson One Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy There is something supremely poignant about doing a vertical tasting at the moment To fully concentrate on how wine estates have responded to the challenges of individual years ©Doctor ZeeLe Roi des Animaux rugit à nouveau au Zoo de Bordeaux Pessac 4 lions sauvés d'Ukraine ont trouvé leur nouveau foyer au zoo bordelais. Après le départ des deux lions Apollon et Athéna en février 2022 de grands travaux de réhabilitation ont été entrepris dans le zoo de la métropole ouvert depuis 50 ans L’équipe à imaginé un lieu totalement inédit capable d’accueillir tout un groupe de lions dans les conditions les plus adaptées possibles à leur bien-être physique et physiologique Ce nouvel habitat adapté a été pensé pour permettre aux soigneurs de faciliter l’accompagnement des fauves Ces félins ont vécu un début de vie difficile en Ukraine avant d’arriver au sein du parc Ce groupe a été sauvé par l’AAP (Animal Advocacy and Protection) un sanctuaire qui recueille de nombreux animaux sauvages en détresse Le public pourra découvrir les découvrir Après les jaguars et les tigras blancs, le Zoo de Bordeaux-Pessac annonce l'ouverture d'un nouveau lodge face aux lions à la rentrée ! Night Experience propose de dormir dans un lodge haut de gamme en plein coeur du territoire des félins avec une vue à 360° pour une expérience immersive et totalement insolite Un tête à tête frissonnant pour les aventuriers d'une nuit !  Une publication partagée par Lucie Riaud (@lucieriaud) White plantings are almost three quarters (70 percent) Sauvignon Blanc and 30 percent Semillon Grapes are harvested by hand and vinified in lots to ensure the best possible wine – Domaine de Chevalier has a reputation for making good wines even in average vintages Barrel-aging is for up to 18 months with 35 percent new french oak.   Domaine de Chevalier is notable for having kept its 'domaine' title which is more at home in Burgundy than it is in Bordeaux Chevalier comes from the Gascon word for knight an homage to a trail on the property believed to have been used by knights in the 12th to 14th centuries the domaine came under its current ownership when it was bought by the Bernard family who renovated the winery and expanded the vineyard Production of the top wines totals about 140,000 bottles annually The winemaking team at Domaine de Chevalier have, since 1993, also overseen the vineyard and wines of Domaine de la Solitude a wine estate owned by a holy order in Martillac By: Kristin Brooks Use of this constitutes acceptance of our privacy policy The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of Rodman Media Stretching from Pessac some 50km southwards to the town of Langon the vineyards of Graves are bordered to the west and south by pine forest and to the east by the Garonne river is the more recently created (1987) appellation of Pessac-Léognan which includes all classified Graves wines While all Pessac-Léognan wines are part of the Graves region One of Bordeaux’s oldest winemaking regions Graves has been exporting wine since Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry of Anjou the region offers a wide variety of red and white wines Andy Howard MW became a Master of Wine in 2011 and runs his own consultancy business He previously worked for Marks & Spencer as a buyer for over 30 years and was responsible as wine buyer for\u00a0Burgundy,\u00a0Bordeaux,\u00a0Loire,\u00a0Champagne Although his key areas of expertise are Burgundy and Italy he also has great respect for the wines of South America and South Africa as well as a keen interest in the wines from South West France He is a Decanter contributing editor and writes a regular column on the UK wine retail trade for\u00a0JancisRobinson.com At the 2019 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) he was the Regional Chair for Southern Italy Tom Parker MW and Tim Triptree MW tasted 82 wines with three Outstanding and 35 Highly Recommended Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their Graves AP and Pessac-Léognan dry whites one recent and one mature (including grand cru and cru classé de Graves) providing an insight into some of the Graves region’s recent vintages while also providing an opportunity to taste older vintages and see how the wines have developed The panel were left with more questions than answers but, in the right hands, it’s clear that the best white Graves wines can be a match quality wise for some of the better-known Burgundy Côte d’Or appellations The panel tasted dry white wines from Graves and Pessac-Léognan Andy Howard MW is a contributing editor to Decanter and a DWWA Regional Chair. Formerly a wine buyer in the UK retail sector for 30 years, he now runs his own wine consultancy Vinetrades Ltd Tom Parker MW has been a wine buyer for merchant Farr Vintners since 2011, with a particular focus on Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône. A Master of Wine since 2018, he writes when time permits, contributing to a number of publications including jancisrobinson.com Tim Triptree MW is the international director of wine and spirits at Christie’s responsible for the planning and execution of Christie’s wine and spirits auctions internationally at DWWA 2021 he judged on the Bordeaux and Rhône panels France has shut down a mosque for a six-month period amid an ongoing drive against Muslims and their places of worship The Al-Farouk Mosque in Pessac district near the city of Bordeaux in southwestern France was closed for allegedly defending "radical Islam" and “spreading Salafist ideology,” the Gironde governorate said Monday in a statement The statement accused mosque authorities of giving sermons calling for non-compliance with French laws and legitimizing terrorist attacks It also accused them of spreading messages containing hate against Israel as well as supporting terrorist organizations or people who defend "radical Islam." France’s highest constitutional authority approved a controversial “anti-separatism” law that has been criticized for singling out Muslims The bill was passed by the National Assembly in July despite strong opposition from both rightist and leftist lawmakers The government claims that the law is intended to strengthen France's secular system but critics believe that it restricts religious freedom and marginalizes Muslims The law has been criticized for targeting France's Muslim community – the largest in Europe with 3.35 million members – and imposing restrictions on many aspects of their lives It allows officials to intervene in mosques and associations responsible for their administration as well as control the finances of Muslim-affiliated associations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) It also restricts the educational choices of Muslims by making homeschooling subject to official permission patients are prohibited from choosing their doctors based on gender for religious or other reasons and "secularism education" has been made compulsory for all civil servants France has been criticized by international organizations and NGOs for targeting and marginalizing Muslims with the law Juliette A En quête de la meilleure sortie du week-end et plus particulièrement le château Grand Cru Classé mythique des Graves qui se pare de la magie de Noël pendant 2 jours exceptionnels Plongez dans l’histoire fascinante de Pape Clément et profitez d'un événement gratuit bon enfant et gourmand A l’occasion des journées portes ouvertes de l’appellation Pessac-Léognan les châteaux ouvrent leurs portes ce samedi 2 et dimanche 3 décembre Le célèbre Pape Clément qui invite à embarquer dans ses 7 siècles d'histoire Le château qui a appartenu au Pape Clément au XIIIème siècle ouvrira gratuitement ses portes pour faire découvrir son histoire riche (visites toutes les 30 minutes) et déguster ses millésimes reconnus dans le monde entier ! Les chevaux de trait seront également de la partie pour expliquer leur rôle essentiel dans les vignes un marché de Noël prendra place dans la cour du Château 11 artisans-créateurs triés sur le volet sont attendus pour faire découvrir leurs produits locaux Les thés subtils et délicats de Chris'teas les chocolats Grands Crus de Hasnaa les spiritueux d'exception Maison Mounicq, Les Bougies du Vin les bijoux délicats de Perle de Vin ou encore le mobilier en bois massif de Thomas Berard Une sélection riche et variée pour correspondre à tous les goûts.  des crêpes au Miel du Château Pape Clément seront proposées tout au long de la journée pour réchauffer les coeurs.  le Château Pape Clément proposera une dégustation gratuite du Château Pape Clément rouge 2016 durant les deux jours sous sa majestueuse verrière style Eiffel Ce dernier a été noté à 98/100 par l'expert James Suckling et rayonne à l'international. Aussi un jeu-concours exclusif est organisé pour tenter de gagner deux lots d’exception : une bouteille du Château Pape Clément Rouge 2016 (la fameuse !) et un séjour pour deux personnes au Château Pape Clément.  Les visiteurs pourront également découvrir la boutique du château « Les Clés du Vin » ouverte toute l'année 7 jours/7,  qui propose pour le mois de décembre des coffrets des bons cadeaux et offres spéciales pour les fêtes Une sélection de vin majoritairement de la Maison Bernard Magrez pour satisfaire toutes les tables de Noël.  Ce parc de 30 hectares avec lac protégé est le plus beau de la métropole bordelaise Plus de 100 châteaux ouvrent leurs portes tout le week-end pour les JPO de Saint-Emilion Les 5 plages les plus proches de Bordeaux