Last month, with Bordeaux just on the cusp of spring, I enjoyed silky wines from the 2023 vintage. Many were much better than I expected, especially after hearing so many stories about the rigors of winemakers’ growing season. Many seemed relieved to have made it through the vintage without experiencing total disaster.
Overall, the wines are far too heterogeneous to call 2023 a great vintage, although some are pure magic.
“You can’t put the 2023s in any category,” says Omri Ram of Pomerol’s Château Lafleur, one of my top wines. “It’s as if each castle has experienced a different vintage.”
The annual ritual of Bordeaux en primeur took place from April 22 to 26, and I arrived early so I had time to taste more than 450 barrel samples of the 2023 vintage. All told, the event attracted around 100 journalists and thousands of traders from 70 countries.
While there are excellent wines worth buying in every appellation, from household names to good values, many châteaux have missed the mark. Their wines exhibit bitter tannins and a lack of concentration. Some have green, unripe flavors.
Fortunately, my first stop, at 9am on April 15 at the first growth company Château Lafite Rothschild, set a standard for the best.
The style of the wine
My best red and white wines are just as good (and sometimes better) than those from 2022, but in a style that Bordeaux lovers like to call “classic.” Although they lack the lushness and charisma of the best 2022s, they combine the ripe tannins and soft texture of a warm vintage with the floral aromas, vibrant fruit, purity and freshness of a cool one, and with a lower alcohol content to boot.
“It’s a vintage where you find the terroir in your glass,” says Mathieu Cuvelier of Clos Fourtet in Saint-Émilion, meaning you can clearly discover the personality nuances of each estate’s wines.
The growing season has not been easy, amid a deadly combination of excessive rainfall and warm day and night temperatures – a far cry from that of 2022, which was ravaged by severe drought and heat. Winemakers struggled to cope with abrupt weather changes, with forecasts often misleading. Success came down to luck, microclimate, soil type, grape variety and human decision-making. Experience and resources (i.e. expertise and money) made the ultimate difference. Disaster lay in wait for those who made a bad decision.
Rain and warm, humid weather in June set the stage for extended virulent mildew outbreaks, which some said were the worst in 25 years. This fungus can quickly sweep through a vineyard and decimate a crop.
“We had to monitor the vineyard hourly and spray immediately,” says Veronique Sanders of Château Haut-Bailly – even on Sunday. Organic farmers had to spray regularly and preventively with copper sulphate, although the biodynamic Château Fonplégade reports good results with an oak bark solution. Some vineyards were so wet that tractors could not be rolled out. Not all winegrowers had enough on-call workers to be able to respond so quickly. Merlot is more susceptible to mildew than cabernet sauvignon or cabernet franc, which is why many 2023 wines contain a higher proportion of the latter two.
Christian Moueix, owner of many top vineyards in Pomerol, said they had sprayed 18 to 20 times, driving up production costs per bottle. Every time it rains, the leaves are washed and need to be sprayed again with copper or a fungicide.
This was the second warmest year since the beginning of the 21st century, explains Jean-Philippe Delmas of the first growing Château Haut-Brion. “The cloudy weather in July protected the grapes from the sun and kept them fresh,” he says. “Then intense heat spells in mid and late August and early September were like a machine for concentration.”
That heat transformed some wines into something deeper. Some grapes were also burned, making it essential to sort during harvest. A long period for picking the grapes allowed them to be harvested at perfect ripeness.
Winemakers emphasize that adapting quickly and rethinking everything they do has become the new normal.
Should you buy now?
The short answer is yes – if the price is right. But choose carefully.
Here’s a quick reminder of how buying wine futures works. You commit your money now (sometimes with as little as a 50% down payment), while the wines are still aging in barrels, and receive the bottled wines in the fall of 2026. Don’t assume you can turn around the bottled wines for a profit, as the case before. Some 2019 bonds now cost less as futures than they did four years ago. One reason to buy now is to secure your favorite wines and choose the size you prefer (magnums, half bottles, and so on).
Price was the big topic at private lunches and gala dinners, with negotiators and merchants insisting that top castles should cut prices by 30% on last year to generate excitement.
“The market situation is serious,” said Emmanuel Cruse, head of Commanderie de Bontemps, a trade association on the Left Bank of Bordeaux Château, and co-owner of Château d’Issan. “We all know that wine merchants already have sufficient stock.” Market pressures include high interest rates, inflation, two ongoing wars and a weak market in China.
Jeff Zacharia of Zachys, a retailer in Port Chester, New York, who has been offering Bordeaux futures to customers since the 1970s: “The quality of the wines exceeded my expectations, but we only buy what we can sell.” He says he will take fewer names than in the past.
Shaun Bishop, owner of California Bay Area-based JJ Buckley, says he has tasted compelling wines and will likely offer 100; Ten years ago he would have offered 200. “The first wines will be sold, as well as great collectible wines with a following such as Pontet-Canet and Les Carmes Haut-Brion.”
It seems some castles, including Lafite, have heard that price message. Château Pontet-Canet, a super success in 2023, was released at a price 27% lower than last year; the brilliant Leoville Las Cases was priced at 40%, Lafite Rothschild at 31% and Mouton Rothschild at 37.2%.
An important caveat: only buy from a reputable dealer with a long track record of supplying finished wines in bottles. In the US for example: Zachys, JJ Buckley, Millesima USA and K&L Wine Merchants. In the UK: Farr Vintners, Bordeaux Index, Fine + Rare and Berry Bros. & Rudd.
What to buy
Several dozen wines are worth buying if the price is right (including white wines, which I’ll discuss in a future column). As usual, all the first grapes are among the best wines of the vintage, and I was impressed by stars from the Right Bank such as Petrus, Le Pin, Ausone and Figeac. In addition to these and my 14 favorites and five values below, I would single out Léoville Las Cases, Léoville Barton, Haut-Bailly, Rauzan-Ségla, Ducru Beaucaillou, Cos d’Estournel, Giscours, L’Evangile, Les Perrières, Canon, d ‘Issan, Domaine de Chevalier, Vieux Château Certan, Troplong Mondot and Rocheyron. A comprehensive list of my top 100 wines, with notes, will be available on my website (elinmccoy.com) in June.
Here are my top 14 wines (price included where available):
Château Beausejour Duffau Lagarosse
The third vintage under co-owner and winemaker Josephine Duffau Lagarosse is the best yet, with a luscious, silky texture and seamless flavors of earth, mineral, salt and fruit.
Château Belair-Monange
The first vintage made in the beautiful new cellar of the castle has a beautiful juiciness, together with mineral and truffle notes and a rich depth.
Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion
This property in Pessac-Léognan has become one of Bordeaux’s new, vibrant stars. The 2023 has more cabernet sauvignon and franc than normal, giving it aromas of violets and peonies and a dark violet and mineral flavor.
Chateau Cheval Blanc
Very rich, structured, nuanced and polished, and more mineral and floral than the 2022. The perfume-like aromas remind me of violets, peonies, iris and more.
Chateau La Conseillante
A great wine in this vintage: long and precise, fleshy and layered, with exuberant pure fruit and extensive aromas of lilacs, rose petals and a little tobacco.
Chateau L’ ANDlook Clinet
A beautiful wine with an intense aroma of cherries, raspberries, cocoa and tobacco. It’s very, very long and powerful.
Chateau Haut-Brion
Energy, tension and a beautiful, velvety sensuality characterize this always complex wine that unfolds layers of olive, licorice and cedar wood flavors.
Château Lafite Rothschild ($520)
A rich wine with quiet, deep power, elegance and energetic freshness, Lafite bursts with stylish flavors of cassis and graphite and a pronounced salty note in the extremely long finish. According to Liv-ex, it is the Lafite with the best price-quality ratio on the market.
Chateau Lafleur
A profound wine that seems even better than the fantastic 2022. It shows expressive aromas of tea, violets and tobacco, together with deep layers of vibrant, dark fruit and a hint of spice. One of my favorite wines this year, it will be expensive but usually increases in value quickly.
Chateau Margaux
Sophisticated, charming, elegant and vibrant, this first growth is all subtle flavors and energy. It is very classic and silky.
Chateau Montrose
With dark, intense color; pure blackberry fruit nose; fine, soft tannins; and a concentrated dark fruit character, this is one of the best on the Left Bank.
Château Mouton Rothschild ($442)
With a dense texture reminiscent of dark chocolate mousse, this meaty 93% cabernet has just about everything: layers of smoky black fruit, notes of pomegranate, tension and a long finish. It is cheaper than any other vintage on the market.
Chateau Pichon Lalande
Consistently one of the top wines among recent vintages, this second growth boasts a luxuriously silky texture, precise floral and mulberry aromas and layers of bright, ripe fruit.
Château Pontet-Canet ($91)
The vibrant aroma of peonies and the exceptionally pure, deep, savory flavors of blueberry fruit, mint and fennel really stand out. This wine shows how brilliant cabernet sauvignon can be.
Five valuable wines
Château Bellefont-Belcier
With each recent vintage, this Saint-Émilion estate exceeds its performance. This vintage has juicy red berry flavors, density and structure and a long, delicious finish.
Chateau Corbin
With cool, seductive dark fruit, a silky texture and everything in balance, this Saint- Émilion Grand Cru Classé radiates both harmony and elegance.
Chateau Fonplewatched
The wine from this American-owned biodynamic estate in Saint-Émilion is a highlight. Aromas of crushed rose petals, plummy fruit and notes of spices.
Chateau Siran
The wine from this estate in Margaux is always a good buy. Lively and juicy, with a core of bright mulberry fruit and minerals, as well as soft but powerful tannins.
Chateau Tronquoy
The billionaire Bouygues brothers own this property, the quality of which is increasing all the time. This violet-colored wine has aromas of mint, flowers and tobacco and taste notes of red cherries.