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.

Pauillac

Pauillac's Cabernet ripened clean and full this year, and the cool August nights combined with the late rain before harvest caught it before it could turn heavy, adding density and concentration without the bake a dry summer so often leaves behind. It's the earliest harvest since 1989, off roughly half the usual crop, and the estates that eased their wines together gently rather than pumping hard are the ones that came out ahead. Many of the top estates, such as Mouton, spoke of "infusing" the wines like tea, rather than harsher pump-overs during fermentation, to help keep the tannins supple.

Lafite was my wine of the commune, and it arrives in the final vintage made in the historic cellar: ninety-four percent Cabernet, with dark, deep aromatics and a palate of pure silk and texture that hits with freshness and a mineral tingle before the fruit fleshes out, the tannins already folded in beneath what is plainly a very big wine. Mouton wraps its firm tannins around a supple core of fruit, precise on the attack and softer through the middle, while Pichon Lalande is ripe but classic, structured but expansive, full of entrancing juxtaposition, its deep aromatics giving way to velvety fruit and tannins that are already well integrated and expressive.

There's plenty behind the headliners. Latour is built for the long haul, tightly wound and still gathering itself, with lovely fruit waiting for anyone willing to give it the years it asks for, and Pichon Baron is cut from the same patient cloth, deeply layered and lifted by a racy seam of acidity. Pontet-Canet pours cocoa and mocha over chewy dark fruit and good grip, d'Armailhac is all ripe, open generosity, and Clerc Milon turns spicy and broad off its old Merlot and the rounding pull of the nearby Gironde. Lynch Bages itself is high-octane and classic, its rich fruit framed by high tannin. Among the second wines, Carruades de Lafite came off the lowest yields the estate has ever recorded and shows it in a soft palate of baking chocolate, while Réserve de la Comtesse stretches long on licorice and mocha.

Pauillac—Buy These Wines

*Recommended: Château Lafite Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild, and Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, with Pontet-Canet and d'Armailhac as the value plays.*

2025 Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac (Pre-Arrival) $525.00
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2025 Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac (Pre-Arrival) $459.99
99-100JS 98-100JA 97-100CK 97-99JD 97-99RP 96-98TWP 95-98TWI 95-97VN

2025 Pichon-Lalande, Pauillac (Pre-Arrival) $149.99
97-99JD 97-98JS 96-98CK 95-97TWP 95-97VN 96JA 94-96RP 93-96TWI

2025 Pontet-Canet, Pauillac (Pre-Arrival) $89.99
98-100RP 97-98JS 96-98JD 96-98TWP 96-98VN 97DC 96JA

2025 Lynch-Bages, Pauillac (Pre-Arrival) $99.99
97-98JS 96-98JD 96-98VN 95-98TWI 94-97RP 94-96TWP

Saint-Julien

Saint-Julien shrugged off the hard summer better than anywhere else on the Left Bank. Rainfall ran far below average from May through July, and picking opened on the 31st of August and closed on the 22nd of September, the earliest start in the commune and as early as anything I saw across the region. While the Merlot crop came in small with the rain arriving too late to swell it, the Cabernet drank that rain in and the commune's deep gravel turned a short harvest into wines that are lush and taut at once. St-Julien was probably the steadiest run I tasted in any region, top to bottom.

Léoville Las Cases stood above the commune, and arguably above the whole trip: 82 percent Cabernet, with aromatics that stop you mid-sentence. It's poised and built on fine detail, the palate keeping its restraint while staying lush through the middle. Léoville-Poyferré sits right behind it, pretty on the nose with satisfying fruit over a full mid-palate and grippy tannins, carrying a little more Petit Verdot than usual this year on the strength of its quality, and you can feel that in the frame. Branaire-Ducru won me over fast, a fresh nose leading into a welcoming palate with a streak of sternness, easy tannins and a back end driven by minerality, as likable as anything in the campaign.

Below the top three, the commune barely lets up. Ducru-Beaucaillou is pretty and lifted on the nose with polished fruit and firm tannins that are still coming together, and it'll be a very good wine in time. The Bartons reward attention, with Léoville Barton classic and structured around a dark, intense core and Langoa leaning on Merlot for a richly textured palate. Lagrange was pure pleasure, juicy and muscular with light spice and easy tannins. Clos du Marquis and Le Petit Lion both carry more than their rank suggests this year, and the new Blanc de Léoville Las Cases, a Sémillon, Roussanne and Marsanne blend, is weighty and creamy with real depth and a clean, precise close.

Saint-Julien—Buy These Wines

*Recommended: Léoville Las Cases, Léoville-Poyferré, and Branaire-Ducru, with the two Bartons close behind.*

2025 Léoville-Las-Cases, St-Julien (Pre-Arrival) $167.99
97-100JD 98-99JS 98JA 96-98RP 96-98VN

2025 Branaire-Ducru, St-Julien (Pre-Arrival) $49.99
96-97JS 94-97TWI 94-96JD 94-96RP 94-96VN 95DC

2025 Léoville-Barton, St-Julien (1.5L) (Pre-Arrival) $169.99
97-99JD 97JA 95-97TWP 95-97VN 95-96JS 93-95RP

2025 Léoville-Poyferré, St-Julien (Pre-Arrival) $79.99
98DC 96-98JD 97JA 96-97JS 95-97VN

2025 Langoa-Barton, St-Julien (Pre-Arrival) $47.99
95-97JD 95-96JS 92-95TWI 92-94RP 92-94TWP 92-94VN 93JA

2025 Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien (Pre-Arrival) $139.99
97-99JD 97-99TWP 96-99VN 98DC 97JA 96-97JS

Margaux

If 2025 has a winner, for me it's Margaux. Sixty millimeters of rain at the very end of August dropped potential alcohol by more than a point and arrived exactly when the appellation needed it, so the perfume and lift Margaux gives in its greatest years now sits over real structure. It ran Merlot-forward here, with more of it in the grand vins than usual while Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe leaned harder on Cabernet. Château Margaux held off until the 24th to 29th of September to pick its best Cabernet plots, late for the year, keeping just thirty-seven percent of the crop for the grand vin with yields down forty percent versus 2024.

The grand vin opens beautiful and unbroken on the nose before turning plush and elegant on the palate, its fruit completely irresistible and its tannins already soft. Palmer leaned, as always, on their old-vine Merlot, and it showed: red fruit and florals on the nose over a fleshy core threaded with blue fruit and plenty of spine underneath. Rauzan-Ségla is broad and voluptuous, its tannin and oak knit tight, dark and satiny, powerful but always focused.

Consistency across the board is what made Margaux the appellation of the vintage. Pavillon Rouge carries violets and purple fruit over a supple texture and fine balance, while Giscours, in its first vintage from a new gravity-fed cellar and cooled at night by the forest at its back, comes through clean and precise with energy to spare. D'Issan is chewy and focused in a ripe, classic register, Brane-Cantenac is delicious and well-built with its new oak knitting in nicely, and for sheer charm Alter Ego de Palmer is sumptuous and joyous, lavishly perfumed across the nose, while Blason d'Issan spreads blackberry jam and blueberry across a mouthfilling, polished palate.

Margaux—Buy These Wines

*Recommended: Château Margaux, Palmer, and Rauzan-Ségla, with Pavillon Rouge and Giscours as strong value.*

2025 Margaux, Margaux (Pre-Arrival) $525.00 ($Inquire)

2025 Rauzan-Ségla, Margaux (Pre-Arrival) $74.99
96-98JD 97DC 97JA 96-97JS 95-97TWP 95-97VN 94-96RP

2025 Brane-Cantenac, Margaux (Pre-Arrival) $61.99
96-98JD 97DC 97JA 96-97JS 95-97TWP 95-97VN 93-96RP

2025 Palmer, Margaux (Pre-Arrival) $299.99
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2025 Pavillon Rouge du Margaux, Margaux (Pre-Arrival) $139.99
95-97JD 96DC 96JA 94-96TWP

2025 Giscours, Margaux (Pre-Arrival) $64.99
97-98JS 94-97JD 94-97TWI 96DC 96JA 94-96RP 94-96TWP 94-96VN

Saint-Estèphe

Saint-Estèphe's clay held water through the dry summer and handed the commune a tension the south had to chase. Three days of Easter rain after a dry winter, more rain again in August, and only two August nights above twenty degrees gave the wide day-to-night swing that locked the acidity in, and the wines that resulted are firm and high-toned and set on that acid, the best of them wearing the frame without any strain. Montrose was my pick of the commune, made off the shortest fermentation in the estate's history.

Montrose runs around eighty percent Cabernet, its aromatics richer this year but still lively, with high tannin and high acid bracketing good fruit, and it reads as elegant and composed all the same, weighty and charming, the model of a modern major general. Calon Ségur is a return to form, eighty percent Cabernet at an unusually high 13.6 percent alcohol against high acid, the fruit sweet and plummy over a dense texture and a bright mid-palate riding a core of acidity. Cos d'Estournel is all lift and purity, its fruit crunchy and clear and beautifully fresh across both the attack and the finish.

The supporting cast holds up well. Pagodes de Cos stays crisp and clean on red fruit, a faithful read of the house style, while Calon's Le Marquis is friendly and enveloping, ripe red cherry and cardamom over a generous palate. Capbern is ripe and full with a flicker of menthol and a sweet wrap of oak, and La Dame de Montrose is sappy and elegant on rose petal and crushed berry, a strong start to the range.