The 2025 Bordeaux En Primeur campaign has generated more questions than any vintage in recent memory—about quality, pricing, tariffs, and whether to buy now or wait. Here are the answers to the questions we're hearing most from collectors, with links to the full analysis where relevant.
I don't think Bordeaux 2025 compares to anything else, from the growing season to the En Primeur campaign. Harvests were as early as they've been since 1989 and yields were as low as they were in 1961. The solar vintage seemed to hint at 2022, but the result is something far more restrained. It's with these thoughts that I'd advise throwing all other vintage comparisons out the window and consider 2025 like this: there are a lot of remarkable wines that are very refreshing in style, complex in structure, and at prices that range from sharp to can't miss.
When speaking of Bordeaux, Graves and Pessac-Léognan are often left out of the conversation when discussing the Left Bank/Right Bank divide. This is a glaring omission. Some of the region's best wines and values can be found here—and in 2025, the appellation delivered at every level, from the grand crus to the everyday drinking wines, and from the reds to what may be the finest dry whites of the entire campaign.
2025 Bordeaux is one of the strongest vintages in recent memory, released at prices that may not last. The campaign is winding down, larger formats are going first, and the best allocations are already moving. Here is how to make sure you don't miss it.
Where the Left Bank impressed with structure and precision, the Right Bank was about texture. We spent the first half of our trip across the Médoc and Pessac-Léognan, and the wines were stunning. But the moment we crossed to the Right Bank, the whole character of the vintage shifted under our feet. Where the usual suspects of the Haut-Médoc and the Graves showed depth and promise, the Merlot- and Cabernet Franc-dominated wines of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol gave us something more generous—silky, expressive wines layered with minerality.
The 2025 Left Bank delivered across all four major appellations—but not uniformly, and not in the way recent vintages have prepared us for. Pauillac produced wines of extraordinary density off half the usual crop. Saint-Julien was the steadiest appellation of the entire campaign, top to bottom. Margaux, rescued by sixty millimeters of rain at exactly the right moment, was the appellation of the vintage. And Saint-Estèphe's clay gave the commune a tension the south had to chase. Here is what we found.
If you asked me to describe my perfect Bordeaux vintage, I'd say good concentration, purity, freshness, with moderate levels of alcohol. Balance and full ripeness, but with a sense of weightlessness and texture. That is very nearly exactly what 2025 delivered.
This is a fascinating time for Bordeaux. The wines are as good as they have ever been, and pricing for many releases has fallen to levels that remind us of campaigns from a decade ago. Few regions in the world can offer this combination of pedigree, quality, ageability, and value.
No visit to Champagne would be complete without a drive out to Charly-sur-Marne in the westernmost part of the region to visit Sophie and Ignace Baron at Champagne Baron Fuenté. This year, they have gone through a big label change, with the entire Esprit range now renamed Quinconce. Don’t worry—the great quality and the prices have not changed, just the name.
Read MoreOur ship of Launois recently arrived, just before I shipped out to Mesnil to visit the property. I just tasted all of these wine with Séverine Launois and as usual, their range of estate-grown, Grand Cru Chardonnay–centered wines were amazing. There is a reason that these are the best-selling Champagnes at K&L; they refuse to use anything other than their own vineyards, and those vineyards are exclusively planted to massal selections from their own mother vines—they do not have any cloned plants at all here. The heart of the vineyard, the place where they have the most land, is none other than the legendary Mesnil Grand Cru—the most expensive and most sought-after in all of the Champagne region.
Read MoreI don’t know if I am ready for a better Champagne to be released in 2024 than the 2012 Billecart-Salmon "Cuvée Louis" Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne $199.99. I have been lucky enough to have tasted it three times since its release this April, and to drink it once at home as well. This is a Champagne that epitomizes the elegance of this great house, and of Grand Cru Chardonnay from the region.
Read MoreIn the part of Champagne known most for Pinot Noir, there is a magical place called La Perle Blanche de la Montagne de Reims, the east-facing slope of this small but prominent hill. The first village of this sub-region is the Premier Cru of Trépail, where the Petiau family tends to a small but exceptional vineyard... Because we buy the bottles directly from the family, the value is also outstanding.
Read MoreAll of the big houses say that this part of the Marne is just for Meunier and only good for the shortest-aged blends. Fallet-Dart proves them wrong. They grow great quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir here as well as fantastic Meunier and offer the longest-aged current release Champagne that we stock at 19 years old. Everything that they make is grown on their own estate. I should not have been surprised by how well the wines showed given how long we have worked together, but wow, these are world class, and the value from top to bottom is simply amazing.
Read MoreDomestic Buyer Ryan Woodhouse has been on a tear lately, unearthing one new fantastic discovery after another. This month's newsletter shines the spotlight on three exceptional finds from California, encompassing not only some of the best hidden-gem, hand-crafted Pinots and Cabs, but also a sparkling wine producer that's set to make a big splash on the scene. We'll also check in with a perennial favorite Oregon producer that's taking their game to a whole new level in the 2022 vintage.
Read MoreBack in March I attended the aptly named “World of Pinot Noir” in Santa Barbara. This is an enormous event spread over several days, consisting of educational seminars, winemaker dinners and lunches, plus a couple enormous “Grand Tastings” with hundreds of wineries in attendance from all over the globe… One of my favorite “discoveries” during the event were the wines I tasted with Dusty Nabor.
Read MoreDespite being a relatively new project (founded in 2015) Hundred Suns very quickly became a huge staff favorite here at K&L. They have the magic trio of factors to become such “house wines” with our staff: phenomenal quality, really cool people, fantastic value for money.
Read MoreI first tasted a bottle of BxT sparkling wine during a fantastic wine dinner at Heitz Cellars last Fall… I was immediately intrigued by the quality of the wine and the fact that I had never seen nor heard of the wines before. Then came the revelation that BxT is actually a small passion project from Tom Sherwood, who just so happens to be the husband of immensely talented Heitz winemaker Brittany Sherwood.
Read MoreWe've been saying it for years, but it bears repeating—you'd be hard pressed to find any region in the world that offers more consistent and diverse value propositions than the Rhône Valley.
Read MoreThe beautiful sun that ripens the grapes in France’s Southern Rhône Valley translates to fruity, delicious wines in your glass. With the help of the hearty Mistral wind that blows through the vineyards, these wines retain freshness and verve all while delivering complex, full-flavored wines. Do not miss these!
Read MoreThere’s something about Northern Rhône that unites wine lovers. It happens to present perfect conditions to really understand terroir—that is, how different places can affect the same grape’s profile in the final wine. Northern Rhône is to Syrah lovers what Burgundy is to Pinot lovers: an intellectual playground for the grape.
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