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Week 8, 15-19 June: FINAL TOUCH

As it does every year, Le Pin brings the Bordeaux en primeur sales to a close:

• Pomerol : Le Pin

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The absentees...

Finally, this last week provides an opportunity to look back at the wines which are usually available as en primeur but which you won’t find this year, as they did not take part in the 2025 En Primeur. There are several (more or less valid) reasons for this:
 
• either because they felt that, due to a lack of volume, they would not be producing their wine in 2025: Pibran (included in Les Griffons de Pichon Baron), Le Petit Cheval (included in Cheval Blanc), Chapelle d’Ausone (included in Ausone)...
 
• or because they preferred to wait until bottling in 18 months’ time: G d’Estournel, Croix de Ducru-Beaucaillou, Puyguéraud...
 
• or because they have decided to withdraw from en primeur sales (as have Latour and Yquem): Lilium de Climens (dry white), Climens (Barsac), Mazeyres (Pomerol), Fonroque (St-Émilion)...
 

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Week 7, 8-12 June: END OF THE RELEASES

With this week’s numerous releases, the en primeur release of the 2025 Bordeaux vintages is drawing to a close (we’re just missing Le Pin in Pomerol):

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Dry white Bordeaux 2025

The prices of 2025 dry white Bordeaux wines are roughly the same as those of 2024 (+2.1%) and 2023 (-0.2%), and lower than those of 2022 (-6.9%).
 
Compared with 2022, four châteaux stand out for their price drops:
 
• -27% at Latour Martillac blanc
• -15% at Caillou Blanc de Talbot
• -14% at Domaine de Chevalier blanc
• -13% at Cos d'Estournel blanc
 

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Sweet white Bordeaux 2025

Year after year, and once again in 2025, the price of sweet white wines has remained virtually unchanged: +3.9% compared to 2024, +3.7% compared to 2023, -2.3% compared to 2022.

Two notable exceptions in our selection of Sauternes:

• Coutet, which, despite its quality and status as a First Growth, remains once again one of the cheapest in the appellation (€39.00 per bottle).
• Guiraud, which is the only Sauternes producer to have significantly increased its price this year: +18% compared to 2024 and 2023 – organic certification comes at a price!

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Reds Bordeaux 2025

As the world of Bordeaux reds encompasses a wide variety of situations and contexts, we have divided our price analysis into three categories: those priced at over €100 a bottle, those between €50 and €100, and those between €25 and €50.
 
We will not discuss here wines priced at under €25 a bottle, whose retail price corresponds more or less to their cost price and which, in fact, remain virtually stable in price from year to year.
 

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those priced at over €100 a bottle

This category includes the star wines of each appellation: First Growths, Super Seconds and equivalent wines, totalling 27 wines this year. On average, 2025 prices are up (+9.5%) vs. 2024, but down significantly vs. 2023 (-16,8%), and even more sharply vs. 2022 (-39,9%).
 
Naturally, it is the most expensive wines that have the greatest scope for price reductions. Compared with 2022, seven châteaux stand out with price drops of around 50%: 
 
• -58% at Léoville Las Cases (St-Julien)
• -55% at Cos d'Estournel (St-Estèphe) and Figeac (St-Émilion)
• -52% at Ducru Beaucaillou (St-Julien) and Vieux Château Certan (Pomerol)
• -47% at Haut Brion (Pessac-Léognan)
• -45% at La Mission Haut Brion (Pessac-Léognan)
 

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those priced between €50 and €100 a bottle

This category, comprising 35 wines this year, includes some of the most sought-after classified wines of the moment, some of which can rival those in the higher category. On average, 2025 prices are up moderately (+7.0%) vs. 2024, down vs. 2023 (-12,6%), and down more sharply vs. 2022 (-32,5%).
 
Compared with 2022, eight châteaux stand out with price falls of over 40%:
 
• -50% at L'If (St-Émilion)
• -47% at Haut-Bailly (Pessac-Léognan)
• -45% at Clinet (Pomerol)
• -43% at La Chapelle de la Mission Haut Brion (Pessac-Léognan) and Rauzan-Ségla (Margaux)
• -42% at Smith Haut Lafitte (Pessac-Léognan) and Larcis Ducasse (St-Émilion)
• -41% at Clos Fourtet (St-Émilion)
 

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those priced between €25 and €50 per bottle

This price range is the most widely represented in our 2025 selection, comprising 47 wines in total, including Grand Crus Classés, Crus Bourgeois and second wines. On average, 2025 prices are also up moderately (+7.9%) vs. 2024, down slightly vs. 2023 (-5,5%), and more significantly vs. 2022 (-22,0%).
 
Compared with 2022, 8 châteaux stand out with price drops of over 30%: 
  
• -44% at Clos du Marquis (St-Julien)
• -37% at Domaine de Chevalier (Pessac-Léognan) and Lafon Rochet (St-Estèphe)
• -35% at Pédesclaux (Pauillac)
• -34% at Malescot Saint-Exupéry (Margaux)
• -32% at Saint-Pierre (St-Julien)
• -31% at Issan (Margaux) and Les Pagodes de Cos (St-Estèphe)
  

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in conclusion

Firstly, we note that virtually all the Bordeaux grands crus have ‘played along’ this year with attractive prices, most often similar to those of the 2024 vintage, or even spectacular: Cos d’Estournel 2025 is priced the same as its 2014, Grand Puy Lacoste 2025 is priced the same as its 2011, La Mondotte 2025 is the cheapest since 2008... and that’s without taking into account inflation in the meantime.


Prices all the more attractive given that 2025 is a great vintage (see critics’ ratings and comments) and that yields were notoriously low, on average a good third less than a normal harvest (Château Margaux stated that 2025 was their smallest vintage by volume since... 1856 !). 


Without going so far as to suggest that "fear is a good advisor", Bordeaux producers have reacted to current economic and geopolitical concerns, just as they did for the 2019 (Covid crisis) and 2008 (banking crisis) vintages, two vintages that turned out to be excellent opportunities in the en primeur market. Everything suggests that 2025 is following the same path.
 

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Week 6, 1st-5 June: A NEW START

After a quiet week, the 2025 En Primeur campaign has picked up momentum once again with around thirty new Bordeaux wines:

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Week 5, 25-29 May: IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

In terms of the weather, the 2025 vintage in Ribera del Duero can be summarised in two key points:
 
• a particularly wet spring in 2025 (Valladolid weather station: +61% in May, +47% in June), with two consequences: persistent downy mildew and significantly disrupted flowering (flower drop),
 
• a hot, dry summer within the norm, but followed by a remarkably sunny and dry late season (absolutely no rain from 13 July to 18 October).
 
True to form and his sensitivity, Peter Sisseck adapted his practices to the circumstances of the year:
- harvesting began very early, on 3 September, to ensure the grapes did not exceed the 13°–13.5° potential alcohol content they were already showing,
- fermentation was carried out at a very low temperature (around 22°C, whereas fermentation is considered low-temperature when conducted at 25°C),
- reduced extraction (in 2025, pumping over is barely a third of what it was 10 years ago),
- during ageing, an increased proportion of large casks (500 litres and above) to limit the contribution of aromas and tannins from the wood.
 
As Peter Sisseck wrote, “ 2025 is not a vintage that seeks to impress through excess, but through precision". These three wines display a harmony and freshness that is surprising for this region, enhanced by good concentration and a fine balance between body and acidity. Peter Sisseck is certainly, in spirit and practice, the most Burgundian of Spanish producers!

The small proportion of Grenache (10%) in the blend of P.S.I. and Flor de Pingus lends them suppleness and a more approachable character. Pingus, made from 100% old-vine Tempranillo, displays a rigour and length that will see it reach the very top once again (the last two vintages to be bottled, 2021 and 2022, scored 98/100 and 99/100 on Vinous).
 
Finally, although volumes are reduced in 2025, the prices of the three wines remain strictly unchanged from last year.
 

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Bordeaux 2025
Neal Martin's view

Following Antonio Galloni, it was his colleague at Vinous, Neal Martin, who gave his verdict on the 2025 Bordeaux wines this week. As each had organised their own visits and tastings in Bordeaux during April, their scores and comments differ, offering two distinct perspectives on the 2025 vintage.

Nevertheless, Neal Martin’s overall assessment echoes that of Antonio Galloni « 2025 was like 2022 until the weather changed in August, thus engendering more classically styled wines. Fruit profiles lean more towards black than red. There is plenty of freshness; acids cut sharper thanks to lower pH levels than anyone expected, so that the best wines possess éclat, or brightness. And hoorah! Alcohol levels are lower. Twenty-five is a dialled-down and more precise 2010, remixed by the weather. ».

19 wines occupy the top three spots on his 2025 podium:

• 98-100/100. Haut-Brion, Lafite-Rothschild, Montrose

•   97-99/100. Latour
                        Lafleur, Petrus

•   96-98/100. Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Suduiraut
                        Haut-Bailly, Léoville Las Cases, Lynch-Bages, Margaux
                        Ausone, Canon, Clinet, Figeac, L'Église-Clinet, L'Évangile, Troplong-Mondot

Here are his favourites by appellation:

• Sauternes. "The purity of botrytised fruit illuminates the most exceptional wines, not least Suduiraut, Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Doisy-Daëne, Coutet and Guiraud. (Yquem and Climens no longer show the wines en primeur)."

• Pessac-Léognan blanc. "Mission Haut-Brion comes out on top, ahead of Smith Haut Lafitte (unusually for this vintage, the white is better than the red)."
• Pessac-Léognan rouge. "Leading the pack at this primordial stage is Haut-Brion, Haut-Bailly is one of the best editions I have tasted from barrel, a complete wine without a hair out of place."

• Margaux. "One pleasing feature of the vintage is the impressive quality across the Margaux appellation. The 2025 Château Margaux will rank among the great wines under Philippe Bascaules [managing director since 2017]. Basking in the glow of their phenomenal 2022, Brane-Cantenac maintains its sizzling run of form, while Rauzan-Ségla and Cantenac-Brown are both splendid."
• Saint-Julien. "Léoville Las-Cases and Léoville Poyferré are sublime and perhaps the standouts. I also adored the 2025 Beychevelle, likewise the ever-dependable and fairly priced Lagrange."
• Pauillac. "The standout in Pauillac and contender for wines of the vintage is Lafite-Rothschild, which overflows with the same elegant grandeur as the 1953, 1959 or 1982. Elsewhere, Pichon Baron is brilliant, Grand-Puy-Lacoste revels in classicism, and the 2025 Lynch Bages will vie with the stupendous 2022 »
• Saint-Estèphe. « As Lafite-Rothschild crowns Pauillac, so Montrose rules in Saint-Estèphe. Unsurprisingly, I was charmed by Ormes de Pez and Calon Ségur. Cos d’Estournel is a bit like Palmer and channels a tad more ripeness and opulence."

• Pomerol. "The Petrus reveals an unerring symmetry and persistence. Lafleur delivers everything you want from this geographic Pomerol. There are also outstanding wines from L’Evangile, La Conseillante, Vieux Château Certan and L’Église-Clinet."
• Saint-Émilion. "On the limestone plateau: Beau-Séjour Bécot, Beauséjour Duffau, Canon, Berliquet, Troplong-Mondot, Poesia and Laroque. On the more gravel-based soils: Cheval Blanc and Figeac."
   

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Bordeaux 2025: prices

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