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The last week of April marked the start of the Bordeaux En Primeur 2025 campaign, one of the most important events of the year in the world of fine wine.
As you know, Bordeaux is not the main focus of our activity. However, it remains a market we follow closely, both for its historical importance in the world of fine wine and to ensure a complete and coherent service for our clients. During the En Primeur campaign, we carefully monitor releases from the various Châteaux, presenting in a transparent and selective way the opportunities we consider most interesting.
The En Primeur system allows wines to be purchased while still ageing in barrel, securing desired quantities at the release price, with guaranteed provenance. It is also the best opportunity to access wines produced in limited quantities, restricted allocations, and rare formats, which may otherwise become unavailable or significantly more expensive once bottled and released to the market.
From a climatic perspective, 2025 was an early vintage, generally marked by warm and dry conditions. After a smooth and fast vegetative start, the summer was defined by high temperatures and widespread drought, naturally reducing yields and leading to small, concentrated berries.
Rains between late August and early September then played a decisive role, allowing for full ripening without compromising freshness and balance.
Early impressions from barrel tastings
At this stage, what stands out most clearly from the wines in barrel is the overall quality of the vintage. Early tastings highlight several key strengths:
- excellent aromatic definition and fruit purity;
- ripe, refined and well-integrated tannins;
- freshness and tension beyond expectations;
- good concentration without excess weight;
- a convincing balance between density, precision and drinkability;
- generally moderate alcohol levels;
- an overall sense of harmony, control and classical structure.
Overall, the assessment of the vintage is very positive and, in many cases, highly promising.
Several leading voices in the international wine press have already expressed encouraging views on the 2025 vintage.
Jancis Robinson describes 2025 as a vintage that “will prove to be an excellent vintage”, while James Lawther MW notes that it “looks to have the makings of a great vintage”.
Decanter highlights “structure, freshness and aromatic purity” in early tastings, three elements that very well summarise the quality seen in barrel samples.
The Wine Advocate by Robert Parker also confirms this impression: “This is truly a vintage of exceptional quality… the best 2025 wines are genuinely exciting.”
While château-by-château tastings and final in-bottle confirmations remain essential, 2025 already appears not only as a good vintage, but as a year with the potential to become truly great, especially in the best terroirs and among the most careful producers.
Geographically, this vintage seems to have particularly favoured Bordeaux’s finest terroirs, capable of maintaining balance and precision in warm and dry conditions.
On the Right Bank, early impressions are especially strong in the great clay-limestone soils of Saint-Émilion and in several terroirs of Pomerol, where water retention, natural freshness and optimal ripeness have produced wines that are deep, harmonious and well-defined.
On the Left Bank, appellations such as Pauillac, Saint-Julien, Margaux and Pessac-Léognan stand out for their ability to combine structure, energy and aromatic clarity, with expressions that differ according to soils and estate styles but are equally compelling.
Rather than a uniform vintage, 2025 appears to reward precision, terroir expression and the sensitivity of individual estates, making detailed analysis essential, from appellation to appellation and, above all, château by château.
From an ageing perspective, the vintage shows very promising characteristics. The combination of ripeness, freshness, concentration and well-defined tannins suggests, at least for the best wines, excellent long-term ageing potential.
This is therefore not only a vintage of immediate appeal, but also one that should deliver great satisfaction over time.
From a market standpoint, Bordeaux arrives at this campaign after several challenging years. It is no secret that the recent environment has been more selective, both for Bordeaux and for the wine market in general.
At the same time, the 2024 vintage marked an important price repositioning for many châteaux, bringing releases back to more coherent and attractive levels compared to recent years. This is a key factor in restoring confidence in the En Primeur system.
For this reason, the 2025 campaign is proving particularly interesting: on one hand a vintage built on very solid qualitative foundations, on the other a pricing environment that we hope will remain disciplined and reasonable.
If both conditions are confirmed in the coming weeks, this campaign could offer real buying opportunities across several leading estates.
After one month of the En Primeur 2025 campaign, we have already seen the release of numerous iconic wines from both the Left and Right Banks.
As tradition dictates, Château Pontet-Canet opened the campaign with a particularly attractive price, accompanied by outstanding scores, including an impressive 98–100 points from The Wine Advocate by Robert Parker. A release that immediately set the tone, confirming strong market interest in wines that combine quality and consistent pricing.
Château Cheval Blanc also made a strong impression. Despite a slight price increase compared to 2024, the wine is undoubtedly one of the key releases of the vintage. With 98–100 points from The Wine Advocate, Cheval Blanc 2025 clearly stands among the leading wines of the year.
Among the most closely watched releases is Château Lafite Rothschild, rated 98–100 points by Vinous and 99–100 points by James Suckling. Thanks to favourable market conditions and outstanding scores, Lafite now appears as one of the most solid and compelling releases of the entire campaign.
Other major names worth highlighting include Château Cos d’Estournel in Saint-Estèphe, Château Angélus in Saint-Émilion, Château Lynch-Bages in Pauillac and Château Palmer in Margaux. These estates remain key references in their respective appellations and once again confirm their status through wines of great elegance, depth, complexity and ageing potential.
Alongside these renowned names, we also consider it important to highlight estates that, while sometimes receiving less media attention, are reaching outstanding qualitative levels. This is the case of Château Larcis Ducasse 2025, Premier Grand Cru Classé B of Saint-Émilion, which has steadily established itself among the most convincing estates of the appellation.
The 2025 vintage may well represent a turning point for the property. The wine has achieved a perfect 100-point score from Swiss critic Yves Beck, while maintaining a pricing position significantly below other Premiers Grands Crus Classés B.
Overall price levels indicate a slight increase compared to last year, which is understandable given the quality of the vintage. However, we hope that any increases will remain measured and reasonable, as has been the case so far.
Pricing decisions remain entirely in the hands of the individual châteaux, not Chronos. We will therefore continue to closely monitor developments and await upcoming official releases.
As every year, we will continue to follow tastings, international critical reviews and price evolution in order to provide our clients with the most objective and useful analysis possible.
The Bordeaux En Primeur campaign remains one of the most debated topics in the wine world, particularly after the last five years. However, its historical importance and its ability to attract new collectors and enthusiasts every year cannot be denied.
In the coming weeks, we will continue to follow the campaign closely, sharing the releases we consider truly interesting, always with a selective, transparent and coherent approach. Because that is our way of talking about wine.