Magnificent, smooth, silky and fragrant wines as the region adapts to climate change

Our recent visit to Bordeaux to taste the 2022 vintage provided us with the same wonderful surprise that the growers we talked to described and that the critics are now praising.  The best red wines, as described in the quotes above, display scale, texture, harmony and energy in a combination guaranteed to bring enormous pleasure in the years to come for serious collectors and drinkers. The vintage is by no means homogeneous –  modern viticulture and winery practices aligned to location and terroir are key to its success – but we are in no doubt that there will be many wines to buy that will put a smile on the face of customers and reintroduce people to the joys of Bordeaux.

Unlike cool and wet 2021 where chaptalisation of the wines was required for the first time in a generation, 2022 was a year of heat and drought leavened by some cooler night time temperatures but the wines show the progress made in the region in the last 20 years.  Instead of blocked phenolic maturation and high alcohols of old, the wines we tasted were balanced, harmonious, generous and sumptuous. The effect was more 2009 with a dash of 2006 structure, say, than 2003 or 2018, with the wines showing a flow and accessibility rather than monolithic, astringent or alcoholic signatures.  In many examples the wines seemed to have a freshness born of a saline minerality, as much as acidity, as the vines dug deep to reach for their water reserves.

Of course, not all were successful, there are wines that were produced from less enlightened regimes.  It was a stressful time for growers in the region but the end results have produced many wonderful surprises. The key reasons to the success and failure seem to have been that lower water reserves at the beginning meant lesser lateral shoot growth and early season warmth in May prepared the vines for what was to come. William Kelley refers to reduced vegetative vigour that minimised water loss through transpiration and growers such as Château Figeac’s Blandine de Brier Manoncourt told us of the importance of old and deep root systems in her various terroirs. Modern viticultural adaptations and skilful canopy management with no de-leafing, cover crops etc. allowed water retention than previously, and smaller grapes were less demanding on precious moisture and concentrated sugar and acidities in spite of drought-like conditions in July and September. Contrast this with less-successful vintage like 2003 when practices varied, de-leafing was common and more superficial rooting was still in vogue, resulting in shrivelled grapes and brown leaves in the vines.  Grower after grower told us with delight of the greenness of their vineyards into September and its early harvest, a situation with only small amounts of rain in late June and August that might have been thought impossible previously. But no – along with diurnal temperature shifts and cooler nights than expected, the resulting juice has produced rich wines with just enough freshness and inherent fragrance from healthy thick-skinned, smaller grapes in 2022.

The yields are lower on the left bank than the right bank where the clays retained water more easily, but quality is excellent on both and for Merlot as well as the Cabernets. The question will be if low yields lead to higher pricing rather than any issues regarding quality.  Winemaking approaches too have taken great strides in Bordeaux since a drought year like 2003 – and from the days when Robert Parker was king – so the general confidence and preferred style of today’s winemakers are more suited to the conditions of 2022. ‘Infusion’ was the word we heard time and again and the days of over-extraction have (mostly) been replaced by a more enlightened approach and there has been a reduction of pigeage in favour of remontage – particularly important with the tannin-high grapes of the vintage. If ever a wine displayed these cumulative changes for the better and signified the success of the 2022 vintage it would be Château Leoville Las Cases which produced a supple, yielding, deeply magnificent wine – it is absolutely wonderful stuff  – whereas perhaps in previous years similar conditions might have presented us with an unbreachable edifice of a wine!  Examples such as this are manifold in 2022 and even if we consider some châteaux to be less enlightened there will be plenty of excellent wines to get your teeth into from 2022.

Pricing remains to be seen – it will be more expensive than 2021 for certain. An evermore tortuous allocation process of the Bordelais has also taken the shine off the en-primeur process in recent times BUT we do believe in the quality and the sheer joyful style of wine produced in 2022. We are more unequivocally behind this vintage than many in recent years.  So, while we would suggest a semi-cautious approach to buying, we accept that the loss of quantity for many châteaux will undoubtedly impact allocations and adversely affect price.   However, Bordeaux as a category still provides tremendous relative value in the world of fine wine for those who look.  One can buy a seriously brilliant second-growth Margaux, for instance Brane-Cantenac for less than £300 per 6 in some vintages – cheaper than a village-level Burgundy.  That is some value.  At Brunswick we certainly won’t be behind full-scale ‘price-gouging’ but a sensible outlook should offer opportunities for some magnificent wines at still-affordable prices.  We hope that the Bordeaux châteaux play ball and allow customers, old and new, to enjoy entry to the fun at the opening – and still most favourable – time for this wonderful surprise of a vintage.

Please contact us if you would like to discuss this wonderful vintage and what it offers.

Kenny Stewart, Director and Fine Wine Buyer