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.
After my Packers were laughed out of Levi's Stadium a few weeks back, I've been thinking more about what I'll be eating and drinking on Super Bowl Sunday than who's going to Disneyland. As it turns out, there's a lot one can do with the space in the brain that would have otherwise been occupied by recurring visions of Aaron Rodgers hoisting the Lombardi trophy high into the air…
Read MoreThe proceeds from the tastings in all three stores this Saturday 2/1/20 will be donated to the World Wildlife Federation Australia to aid in their response to wildlife and habitat restoration and in their work to imagine innovative solutions for the future of Australia.
Read MoreThe best way to fight back against some nasty weather is a great bottle of Barbaresco and a hearty dish. Neal Fischer has the perfect recipe and the perfect wine for the occasion.
Read MoreThis past Friday, K&L hosted our annual Union des Grands Crus (UGC) Bordeaux tasting, featuring the 2017 vintage. It remains one of the great events of any given year and one of the most comprehensive tasting events you’ll find for any given region.
Read MoreThe Burgundies of Domaine Parent have long been a favorite of mine.
Read MoreHappy Lunar New Year! Today kicks off the year of the Metal Rat, and we’re celebrating with… what else?… wine!
Read MoreThis weekend was a decadent one for wine at chez Westby.
Read MoreOur Buyer Alex Pross lays it all out for us in our latest Burgundy newsletter: 2017 is still whistling Dixie, 2018 is great if you go with producers you trust. All in all, some excellent wine is currently on our shelves from this beloved region.
Read MoreRecently, I had the opportunity to visit Beauregard Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Winemaker and Owner Ryan Beauregard pointed out that the best way to understand his wines is to see the place. And to his point, there is so much more to these wines than just aromas and flavors. Instead, they tell a story of time and place, history and character, woven together by the hands of a talented winemaker.
Read MoreThis week, staff members in all three stores were treated to a special winemaker tasting and training with Alfred Tesseron, the man behind the wonderful Pontet Canet estate in Pauillac, Bordeaux, and from the Tesseron family in Cognac. The occasion for his visit was to introduce us to his brand-new project on the other end of the winemaking world—our end of the winemaking world, in fact—Napa Valley. Tesseron is releasing the very first vintage of his Napa wine called Pym Rae, and it is as exceptional as one might expect from this talented, venerated winemaker.
Read MoreThis weekend, Cinnamon treated us to local Dungeness crab from Half Moon Bay, and I brought home a bottle of the 2013 Franck Bonville "Millesime" Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne to have with the noble crustacean.
Read MoreWe are excited to welcome Clos de Luz to our shelves, a producer from Chile that is new to our Direct Import program, but definitely not new to the game. Their family has owned their estate south of Santiago since 1892, and their vines are among the oldest Carménère in the world, from a valley known as the birthplace of Carménère in Chile. These bona fides help them create vibrantly rich reds with depth of flavor that operate on a tightrope of acidity.
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