‘No mildew, no frost, no hail… no pressure? Not quite. There was also virtually no rain, and LOTS of heat.’
Thomas Burke, Château Margaux
An exceptional year, the 2022 vintage has delivered some of the most exciting wines we’ve ever tasted in Bordeaux – however, as the Wine Advocate’s William Kelley warns ‘its heterogeneity means that it is not a year to buy blind’.
Our focus will of course be on the wines we loved – those showing the vintage’s trademark beautifully ripe fruit and impressive structure, where the vines have played their part in ensuring ph levels are low so that the acidity and freshness in the wines lend superb balance. Given the small and concentrated berries, the best wines have been made by those who extracted as gently as possible. Many of the top wines will require at least a decade for these impressive characteristics to fall into harmony, but there are also plenty of wines that will deliver exceptional pleasure early on.
Although confident in recommending a plethora of wines from across the vintage, pricing will be the final hurdle as to whether or not the releases find your inbox. Parallels have already been drawn to epic vintages such as 1947 and 1961, and the expectation is that prices will see a rise on the 2020 releases. Where those 2020s have already seen secondary market action, this won’t be a problem, and we hope that the châteaux will carefully consider the position of their latest release against the context of other available vintages, as well as the wider global financial markets.
Our en primeur release emails will begin week commencing 2nd May, with the release of one of our favourite values in Pessac’s Château Larrivet Haut-Brion. One of 12 wines to make the Wine Advocate’s ‘12 Wines to Look for En Primeur’ list, this starting gun is a release not to be missed. Learn more about the wine from the 2022 vintage.
We expect the Bordeaux en primeur releases to start in earnest over the next fortnight and last until the end of June. Fair pricing should come in somewhere between the 2019 and 2020 release prices. Make sure you’re signed up to our newsletter to receive all 2022 Bordeaux release updates.
This is a vintage that will present plenty of opportunities for the cellar. If you have a wish-list of wines you’d like us to try and secure for you, or a budget you’d like to commit to the campaign, please let us know by emailing privatecellars@davy.co.uk and we’ll do our best as soon as the wines are released.