Bordeaux En Primeur 2024: What Can We Expect?
Bordeaux Index
14 April 2025
As Bordeaux En Primeur 2024 approaches, the wine world eagerly anticipates an early glimpse into the region’s latest vintage. With the official tastings imminent, initial reports from the vineyards suggest a growing season marked by unique climatic challenges yet some encouraging potential.
Our Bordeaux Buyer Oliver Sharp, and Sales Director David Thomas, have set the stage for what we might expect from the 2024 vintage. From weather patterns to harvest conditions, we examine the key factors that have shaped this year’s wines and how they compare to recent vintages. Whether you are an investor, collector, or wine enthusiast, this early analysis will provide valuable context ahead of the tastings and the approaching release of Bordeaux’s newest offerings.
A Vintage Born in Uncertainty, Oliver Sharp
The 2024 growing season in Bordeaux was anything but straightforward. Climatic fluctuations – from spring frosts and uneven flowering to pockets of summer heat and late-season rain – challenged vineyard teams across the region. Despite these hurdles, early impressions suggest that many châteaux have managed to produce wines of balance and classical structure, more restrained compared to the overt power or exuberance of some recent vintages.
Yet, as we edge closer to the tastings, the mood on the ground in Bordeaux remains subdued.
“There’s an eerie quiet over Bordeaux right now as we inch toward the 2024 En Primeur tastings,” notes Oliver Sharp, Bordeaux Buyer at Bordeaux Index. “Normally, by this time, there’s at least some positive buzz - someone, somewhere, trying to prime the market. Instead, there is a palpable sense of disquiet amongst the world’s top châteaux."
This silence is not born of failure in the vineyard, but rather of caution in the marketplace. “It’s not that 2024 is a disaster. By most accounts, the wines are well-made, classic even, in a vintage that was far from easy. But producers know the market is fragile. Merchants are wary.”
The Market Mood: Wary But Watching, David Thomas
As the 2024 En Primeur campaign draws near, the conversation is not just about the quality of the vintage, but the readiness of the market to respond. After several years of fluctuating sentiment and mixed commercial outcomes, there is a growing sense that Bordeaux must now reckon with a more cautious, discerning audience.
David Thomas, Sales Director, recently joined Sarah Kemp on The Wine Conversation to unpack the mood heading into this year’s campaign. His insights highlight the delicate balance between pricing, perception, and evolving buyer behaviour.
Reflecting on the previous year’s campaign, Thomas noted that there were tentative signs of progress. “En Primeur 2023 was an interesting campaign,” he said, “because they seemed to listen, to a certain extent, on pricing and where they needed to be.”
That recent commercial sensitivity may have helped ease tensions, but the challenges for 2024 are arguably more complex. Economic pressures, currency volatility, and shifting global consumption patterns have made traditional En Primeur models less attractive to many buyers. “Clients are becoming sceptical of buying wines on release from anywhere, and one of the biggest issues in recent EP campaigns is there seems to be a disconnect with the châteaux and the end consumer.”
In such a climate, hype alone won’t be enough. Without a clear quality narrative or blockbuster scores to anchor the campaign, price will play a pivotal role in determining success.
“En Primeur 2024 is a really tricky one,” he added. “There’s no drums beating. There’s no claim of it being a new 2016, and we’ve had pretty strong vintage releases over the last 20 years - really, really great wine, coming out of Bordeaux. So, for what is assumed to be a drinkers’ vintage, price is going to be the main factor that drives sales. It will be the number one regard of any buyer.”
As buyers become more value-driven and less swayed by tradition, Bordeaux finds itself at a critical inflection point. The decisions made this campaign may set the tone not just for this vintage, but for the future of En Primeur itself.
Despite market headwinds, the one consistent bright spot is quality. Advances in vineyard management and winemaking continue to elevate the region’s output - even in more challenging years like 2024. “The quality of what is coming out of Bordeaux is higher than it’s ever been.” Thomas notes. “Winemaking knowledge is so much greater than it ever was."
This steady rise in technical and stylistic refinement means that, even in the absence of superlatives, many wines are expected to appeal to those seeking balance, drinkability, and classic structure.
Bordeaux is unique in its ability to "dictate the feel of the marketplace year in and year out [...] and at Bordeaux Index we are massively supportive of Bordeaux, we love the people out there, we love the wines." For seasoned buyers and collectors, the 2024 vintage could offer real value - if prices reflect market realities.
Vintage Conditions
Of course, no En Primeur campaign can be understood without first considering the conditions of the season. The 2024 vintage was shaped by a cool, wet growing season that brought Bordeaux’s Atlantic climate sharply into focus. It began with the wettest Winter since 2000, and overall rainfall was 70% above the 10-year average - critically falling during flowering in May and again at harvest in September.
An early bud break, triggered by mild winter temperatures, was soon met with frost and mildew pressure - an unusual and stressful combination, especially during En Primeur week. Flowering was uneven, with coulure and millerandage limiting yields. Persistent rainfall and disease risk meant vineyard teams were on high alert throughout the season, demanding extra labour and resources.
Summer brought some relief. Moderate warmth and cool nights through July and August supported steady ripening and strong aromatic development. However, the vintage was clearly running late: veraison arrived around 10 days behind recent years, and harvest stretched into early October for many Cabernet plots.
September rain added further pressure, but cool nights helped prevent widespread rot. Slow sugar and acid evolution required patience, and careful sorting was essential. Yields were reduced, and blending proved technically demanding, but attentive producers have crafted wines that reflect both the challenges and resilience of the vintage.
Conclusion: Cautiously Classical
The 2024 Bordeaux En Primeur campaign arrives at a moment of recalibration. Early signs point to a year defined by technical precision, classical structure, and considered craftsmanship in the face of climatic adversity.
More than ever, the success of this campaign will rest not just on what’s in the bottle, but how it's positioned. In a market that is increasingly price-sensitive and sceptical of traditional models, Bordeaux has the opportunity to reassert its value - if it listens to the signals.
For collectors and drinkers alike, 2024 could offer well-made, age-worthy wines at fairer prices - if producers align ambition with market mood. And while the drums may not yet be beating, the stage is quietly being set for a campaign that rewards both patience and pragmatism.