2024 Vintage Report and Newly Arrived Bordeaux

While the 2024 Bordeaux vintage had its challenges, we went to taste and are excited to share our annual vintage report. The '24s reflect both the difficulties of the year and today’s complex market, but beyond that, we truly believe it’s a great time to rediscover Bordeaux—or find new favorites. Several recently arrived containers have brought in some of the region’s top values and collectibles, and overall quality has never been more consistent. There’s a wealth of world-class wines under $50, each showing remarkable character and a strong sense of place.

Today’s 2023 Bordeaux Releases Are Powerhouse Collectible Bargains

Today brings the highly anticipated release of the potential wine-of-the-vintage Château Canon as well as my personal favorite, Pavie Macquin, along with critics’ darlings Les Carmes Haut-Brion and Rauzan-Ségla. The clear throughline here is that all four wines fall squarely into the collectible bargain category—presenting an incredibly impressive performance with a price that comes in a range of bargain to sweet-spot pricing. All these properties dropped their pricing between 25% to 30% over that of 2022—well done! I’ve included a note on each offering below for further insight as to why each and every one of these releases is worthy of cellar consideration.

Bordeaux 2023 Vintage: Highs and Lows

After returning from my fifth visit to Bordeaux to taste the new vintage (where’s my 5-timer robe??), I can say with confidence there is a lot to like about the 2023 vintage. This is a vintage like no other, where the best wines are exciting, vibrant, and emotionally thrilling, capturing the best of warm-vintage depth-of-fruit and the alluring qualities of cool-vintage freshness and minerality.

Unlike the Others: 2023 Bordeaux

After tasting through the Médoc for two days straight, we have a few things that seem to be clear–this is a vintage with compelling wines that deserve collectors’ attention, but it is also one that comes with much less clarity and consensus as the easy-to-understand vintages of the past five years. While many reach for a recent vintage as a parallel, the 2023s have a character all their own–something that makes us love wine in the first place.

In-Stock: Exceptional Wines from Bordeaux’s 2020 Vintage

Vintage Report for Bordeaux’s 2020s: A particularly early growing season was characterized by heatwaves and drought. Some mildew pressure June to mid-August in northern Médoc. Merlot was picked in ideal conditions in early September, but then the weather turned cool and particularly damp so some Cabernet Sauvignon had to be picked before perfect ripeness. Small grapes meant lots of tannin and a relatively small crop.

As I said in the report I published upon my return from the En Primeur campaign, some great wines were produced in 2020, and some good wines were produced. 2020 is a fine vintage in general even though it was anything but normal.

Our Comprehensive Guide to Bordeaux's 2022 Vintage

Today's Newsletter is our long-awaited, comprehensive report on all things Bordeaux 2022 En Primeur. After a whirlwind trip to the region in April, our team returned full of enthusiasm and insight for what can only be described as an unprecedented modern vintage. While the growing season was not without its challenges, numerous properties crafted renditions that will rank with their very best, and while prices are undeniably up from 2021, there are still remarkable values to be had when you know where to look. As with any potentially great vintage, the hype and hyperbole must be put into proper context to help our customers make their very best buying decisions—this year's En Primeur newsletter does just that. Please note - these wines are all being offered on a pre-arrival / futures basis.

News from Bordeaux: Early Thoughts on 2022 and In-Stock Favorites

Freshly back from Bordeaux’s En Primeur tastings, Clyde and his team have assembled a roster of the best and brightest Bordeaux that we currently have in stock. You’ll find notes about the lauded 2022 vintage to chew on while we assemble our in-depth vintage report and wines to keep your thirst slaked while we watch the 2022 campaign. All that and more in today’s newsletter!

2022 Bordeaux En Primeur: Rule #1 - Don't Start with Conclusions

This year, we started our visits with the infamous Bill Blatch, a fount of knowledge who tasted us on Sauternes, but is as well-versed in Bordeaux as anybody you’d meet. When asked about the vintage for sweet wines, his answer was very refreshing and grounding. Instead of reaching for superlatives and quotables, he produced a series of charts that showed the weather conditions in the region for every single day. We asked for conclusions. Instead, he gave us information, paired it perfectly with the wines, and set us down our own paths.

2018 St-Julien Sneak Peak

K&L's Team Bordeaux has sampled the 2018 vintage in bottle and their first reports are glowing. In today's blog, they've provided their notes on the exceptional wines from St-Julien, one of the standouts of the vintage. Many of these bottles are available on pre-arrival.

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