Bordeaux 2025… Style AND Substance

For any wine “geek” who becomes enthralled in wine, a trip to France — and especially to Bordeaux — is a mandatory bucket-list trip. So, when the bosses gave the go-ahead this year to make the pilgrimage to Bordeaux for the annual En Primeur tastings in April, I was, naturally, elated. And thus began my vast amount of overplanning for the trip! We would be spending a couple of days in Paris first, before taking the train to Bordeaux to start the “work” portion of the trip, so I needed to dive into all of the dining options, along with sightseeing. After all, this was my first trip to France… cue the proverbial licking of the chops.

Sparing you all the drab details of countless hours researching restaurants, and of course, wine lists, the day had finally arrived! Blue skies and warm temperatures abound, as if to say, bonjour… we’ve been expecting you. After a great start in Paris, it was time to make our way to the promised land of Bordeaux. We would arrive a day early before our first event, which was to be a kickoff soiree with our host. We spent our first full day meandering around the historic village of St. Emilion on the Right Bank, a UNESCO World Heritage site, with more than a thousand years of history, and ancient stone buildings to prove it. In my opinion, it is, by a wide margin, the most beautiful village in Bordeaux. With a bit of shopping under our belt, we met with a lovely gentleman who ran a wine shop, and he pointed us to the wine bar that he also owned. A bottle of Champagne, rosé, and a round of truffled Croque Monsieur sandwiches later, we were fast friends with the sommeliers on staff, and toasting with a glass of Henri Giraud Ratafia (dessert wine made in Champagne!).

Now it was time to get to work… drinking Bordeaux… at a party. With a looming, very early start to the tasting schedule ahead of us the next day, we happily attended the kickoff soiree our host was throwing at their Bordeaux office, and they lovingly poured some mature vintages of some big guns as well. This would surely “fuel” our inspiration for the schedule ahead.

We would start our first official day of en primeur tastings (tasting the most recent vintage to be harvested and vinified, which would be the 2025 vintage) on the Right Bank at Château Ausone at 9:30am. Normally, one would cringe at attempting to taste multiple wines this early. However, this is AUSONE! Most certainly one of the greatest and most historic estates on the Right Bank in St. Emilion. It truly did not disappoint either. We tasted through the sister properties of Simard, Fonbel, and Moulin St. Georges before ending with the grand vin of Ausone. What a lineup and what a property! I think it is one of the most incredibly beautiful estates in all of Bordeaux.

For a little context, these are not seated, private and lengthy tastings. We would spend most visits between 15 and 30 minutes max. Taste, spit, taste again, spit again, repeat… 9 different châteaux on day one. And yes, I did drink the Ausone, Cheval Blanc, and Figeac!

We would cap off our first day of tastings with a hosted dinner at Château Canon in St. Emilion. A dinner that would prove to be one of the most memorable on the entire trip. The ambiance, both inside and outside of the château, is incredible. They have a remarkable wine cellar as well, with bottles dating back to the 1800s down there! We would enjoy multiple vintages along with the crown jewel of the evening, a bottle of 1989 that they allowed us to pull directly from the cellar! Special evening indeed it was.

Days two and three would find us relocating to the Left Bank. We had a pretty awesome lineup ahead of us, and would start at Château Palmer before heading to Château Margaux for an incredible tasting. More on my highlights later, but we would make our way to Montrose and Cos d’Estournel (possibly the most swanky setting of the trip). We had a brief tasting at Pontet Canet before settling in there for a BBQ lunch and the most insane cheese table I’ve ever seen! They poured 2016 Pontet Canet during the lunch, which was outstanding. After an impromptu visit to Lynch Bages, which was simply awesome, we would cap off day two with another outstanding dinner, this time at Château Giscours.

Day three would feature the wines of the Graves, starting our day with a wonderful tasting at La Mission Haut-Brion (along with the Haut-Brion lineup). Les Carmes proved to be special at the next stop and Château Haut-Bailly is just lovely. And we would end with a special tasting at Château Biac…a wonderful estate in a gorgeous setting, and the family could not be more gracious and lovely. Our final dinner in Bordeaux would be held at Château Cantemerle, which recently renovated the entire estate and winemaking facilities, and we had a truly wonderful evening.

Now, as wordy as this blog has been thus far, it really is just a snapshot into this trip, and especially these short few days in Bordeaux. With so much valuable information being doled out by winemakers, owners, and estate directors, we would truly gain not just an immense appreciation for this historic place in the world, but a newfound love and adoration for what makes a renowned wine region truly “renowned.”

2025, by most markers, is going to be quite special for a couple of reasons. The season was not without its challenges, though. Ample rain over the winter into early spring gave way to an extremely dry growing season. With a week in August of the hottest recorded temperatures EVER, there was growing concern. However, with temperatures warm from the beginning, the vines had time to adapt to the heat, and thus managed pretty well. Especially those with more clay soils. A vintage-saving rain event in late August would prove essential for the health of the grapes, as well as providing the much-needed balance and completion of the ripening cycle that would bring down potential alcohol levels to what is, by modern standards, very low. Cheval Blanc only clocked in at 12.7%! Most finished wines are around 13% to 13.5% this year, and the resulting wines are remarkably fresh AND fully ripe. I asked multiple winemakers about any comparisons with other vintages, and most were hesitant to make any firm comparisons. I would hear loose references to 2020 and 2016 the most.

All in all, if you put a gun to my head and told me to sum up en primeur with just one word… FIGEAC! To me, it was the star among stars. Other standouts for me would be Château Margaux, Palmer, Ausone, La Conseillante, Montrose, La Mission Haut-Brion, and Pavillon Blanc de Château Margaux, which was somewhere between an incredible 1er Cru Chablis and an outstanding Sancerre. It’s special, and there is not much of it. Production for most wines in this vintage will also be painfully low due to underlying conditions from the 2024 vintage, as well as the heat in 2025.

So, last words. Fresh, ripe, complete, and not much to go around. I wouldn’t be surprised to see plenty of 100-point scores making their way into reviews once the critics get their hands on finished, bottled wines. Across all price points, I expect it to be an unusual, but also great vintage. Also, cheers to my amazing wife for putting up with a grueling, early and long tasting schedule!