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Last year Bordeaux vignerons were celebrating a successful vintage in 2025 after the more challenging season in 2024. Many were hailing it as a great vintage but, as always, the proof is in the bottle and we are now starting to see where 2025 will sit in the pecking order of recent vintages as the wines are released through the en primeur system.
Buying En Primeur
Bordeaux’s en primeur system has historically been the key channel for wine collectors to purchase the greatest wines in the region. Each spring after vintage, châteaux unveil embryonic wines to the trade and critics for their judgement. Prices are set by the chateaus, shaped by vintage conditions and reputation. For the drinker, it offers access to some unattainable blue-chip estates that vanish on release. For the astute buyer, there’s the lure of future value. Provenance is also key, with wines coming directly from the château.
Browse our En Primeur Collection
The Growing Season in 2025
There were some key elements to the growing season that defined 2025. First, a quick look at the numbers shows that much of the 2025 growing season was dominated by hot and dry weather. This was one of the earliest and hottest seasons on record with long stretches over 30 degrees celsius. In June, the maximum temperature was over 30 degrees for half of the month and 2025 is among the three hottest vintages in the last thirty years. If this is considered in isolation, another opulent vintage such as 2022 would seem the likely result. But, thankfully, this is not the case.
The growing season started a little early and flowering was quite smooth without any significant frost. The prior winter set the season up well with reasonable rainfall building a good base of soil moisture. Without this rain, the vines would not have been ready for the hot start to the season. A good top up at Easter sealed the deal. However, poor weather during the prior year had negatively impacted the number of buds for the 2025 season so this was always destined to be a low yielding vintage. Combined with the largely dry year, after Easter, the result is the lowest yields since the 1991 vintage.
By the end of August the heat was starting to take its toll and vines were beginning to show hydric stress. However, it was not too serious as cool nights kept the vines in relatively good condition. Some areas with gravelly soils, particularly planted with young vines, suffered. And some of the fruit from these vines was rejected at the time of harvest. But then the season turned for the better with a number of rain events and markedly cooler temperatures that served to save the vintage. Late August saw a reviving 60-80mm of rain with another ten inches falling mid-September. What this provided is highly unique wines with generous colour, tannins and fruit, thanks to the early heat, combined with fresh acidity and alcohols of 13-14% due to the rainfall and cooler conditions at harvest. For people who love classic Bordeaux styles, this is a return to wines with energy, freshness and vibrancy as opposed to the bigger, bolder and heavy-set styles that are now increasingly common.
What villages starred in 2025?
The key element which is differentiating quality between the different villages in 2025 is the pattern of rainfall combined with underlying soils of which there is quite a wide range in Bordeaux. In the northern Médoc, with a higher proportion of clay in the soils and where greater rainfall fell, there is potential for some flavour dilution as clay soils trap the rainfall. The warmer right bank, thanks to its location further inland, received lower rainfall so the clay-limestone plateau of St-Émilion was a saviour and has crafted many of the top wines from the vintage. The even warmer Pomerol has crafted intense and flavoursome wines without the finesse of a top year. The same is true in wines from the gravelly soils of Pessac-Leognan and Graves. The centre of the Medoc, perhaps with the exception of St-Emilion, seems to have fared best thanks to the blend of clay and gravel soils. Here the combination of hot and dry conditions to start freshened up by moderate rain and cooler conditions prior to harvest has delivered a high quality and ageworthy vintage.
Wine styles in 2025
The 2025 vintage in Bordeaux is a highly unique and post-modern expression of Bordeaux, with a foot both in the past and the future. It is a vintage of moderate alcohol and fresh acidity, what would traditionally have been called a classic claret style which were seen in the 60s and the 70s. However, it also has a more modern generosity of flavour and ripe tannins thanks to the hot, dry start to the vintage. With both impressive power and structure, the best wines of the vintage are sure to age very well.
