En Primeur 2024 Report: Back to Bordeaux

Bordeaux En Primeur 2024: A year of elegant, perfumed wines that should (hopefully) offer great value for drinkers.

Read our headline view below, and keep an eye out for our full report next week – and the first releases. They'll be coming in thick and fast.

Bordeaux En Primeur 2024: An Overview

After two years of opulent, intensely fruited, and firmly structured wines, Bordeaux has returned to the style of a bygone age with bright, charming claret. In the words of Alexandre Thienpont at Vieux Château Certan: “These are like the wines my grandfather used to drink. We are back to Bordeaux.”

The challenging conditions mean that careful selection will be required, especially on the Left Bank, but buyers who do their research will find a great deal to like about these wines. The alcohol is low, the vibrant floral profiles will be delightful to drink young, and the best show the energy and structure for ageing, with the promise of wonderfully old-school, supple wines over the coming years.

The heavy rainfall – up to two years’ worth in a single season – and its inconvenient timing at flowering and harvest meant producers had to be vigilant throughout the year, and ruthless in their selection of grapes, with some producers discarding 50% of the harvest. Those with the means and the will to do so have produced impressive wines in such inclement conditions, and there are certainly some gems that will be worth seeking out.

The complex conditions and capacities of each winery mean it is difficult to generalise, with neighbours often producing quite different wines: the myriad of decisions required by individual vignerons throughout the season had a huge impact on the final wines. In general, Cabernet Sauvignon coped well with the conditions, its later ripening limiting the impact of the September rains, but the grape’s naturally high acidity could dominate some wines unless it was kept in check by a fuller fruit profile. Merlot provided some flesh and weight to many wines, but risked more dilute flavours unless handled carefully in the cellar. The tannin management was impressive all over in 2024, with the majority of wines showing firm but ripe and rounded structure that provided much-needed shape and texture to the wines.

On the left bank, Margaux and St Estèphe stood out. From the wines we tasted, both villages tended to display a greater concentration of fruit, which filled out the lean silhouette of the vintage, with the classic floral profile of Margaux in particular aligning with the vintage’s more perfumed character. St Julien and Pessac-Léognan were both much more variable with a few disappointing wines, and Pauillac will require close attention to pick the right releases, but at its best there is some truly classic claret to find.

Across the estuary, the quality was generally more consistent on the Right Bank, but by no means universal. Pomerol produced some of the best wines of the vintage, with the area’s characteristic power and richness translating into some supple, elegant bottles. Saint-Émilion as ever was a broad church, but the limestone plateau in particular captured an electricity and salinity at several addresses, producing some charming, delightful wines.

More detail will follow next week alongside our recommendations of the producers to buy. Our initial highlights include:

Left Bank

Lafite, Margaux, Montrose, Calon Ségur, Léoville Las-Cases, Talbot, Lynch Bages, Pontet Canet, Rauzan-Ségla, Palmer, Carmes Haut-Brion

Right Bank

Vieux Château Certan, Le Pin, La Conseillante, Lafleur-Pétrus, Cheval Blanc, Figeac, La Gaffelière, Troplong Mondot, Rochebelle, Beauséjour

Potential Bargains

Dame de Montrose, Ormes de Pez, Grand Puy Lacoste, Lafleur-Gazin, Moulin St-Georges, Clos Cantenac, Alcée, Grand Village, Sénéjac

Bordeaux En Primeur 2024: Market Context

In a market context, there can be no denying that this year’s En Primeur campaign comes at a challenging time for Bordeaux, being the only one of the blue chip wine regions which has seen, across the difficult last 18 months, price declines through the levels of 5 years ago. Generally recent vintages have been priced at EP too close to market prices of surrounding vintages and a significant proportion of this previous release pricing now looks uncompelling as broader market prices have also declined.

We do though see a clear potential path to a successful En Primeur campaign this year, one which drives significant collector demand and potentially reignites broader buying of Bordeaux as a region. This path requires very substantial discounts to current market pricing of the cheapest recent vintages, such that the wines are in genuinely “must buy” pricing territory – marginal pricing will struggle to achieve engagement from a majority of buyers.

While the vintage was a more challenging one, Bordeaux chateaux have a remarkable ability to make very good wines year-in-year-out now, such that if the pricing is right, then collectors will be able to tuck away compelling wines at compelling prices. Chateaux need to be brave on this front, believing that a successful EP campaign - but at lower short term benefit to them - is important to demand dynamics for the region going forwards. We have heard encouraging noises on this front and hope to see constructive pricing from the outset.

From St Julien and Pauillac on Day One, St Estèphe and Margaux on Day Two and highlights from the Right Bank on Day Three, there's lots to catch up on.