As usual with any vintage there is a question of it being Left or Right Bank and as always the two sides meet in the ring of vines. In 2023 when the dust finally settled—and it took a while, there was a lot of dust—it is not the mighty Left Bank polishing its medals, oh no. It is the Right Bank, sleeves rolled up, grin slightly deranged, standing centre ring having just administered a gloriously unsubtle one-two punch with Pomerol and Saint-Émilion written on its knuckles. It won the day with a joyous blend of swagger, depth, and unnerving accuracy.

Alrighty Then!

Another year has passed and Bordeaux has bottled yet another vintage in its long consecutive history of wine production. Even though year after year day follows night and sunshine follows rain, every vintage has its own character, its own personality and its own soul.

During October and the first week of December we tasted more than 250 top Bordeaux wines in a quest to uncover the true spirit of the vintage, to dive beneath the surface and to indulge into the very heart of its character.

The wines were tasted during formal tastings either at the chateaux or in larger and well organized venues prepared by the trade and negociants. Many bottles were examined numerous times.

Slowly, as you are being exposed to the raw materials of several hundred wines from the same year, you start to form a picture of what the vintage is like.

You hear the stories from the people who made the wines, who spent a year of their life working with them, who did their outmost to produce the very best wines on their terroir, and you read the weather patterns and taste and taste...and taste.

Weather Conditions

The weather was warm - 2023 is the second warmest year since 2000, only surpassed by 2022. It was also a very wet vintage being the 4th on record for the last 25 years.

After a fine and warm spring with early bud breakes in March and warm temperatures in April and May humidity really set in and during June many chateaux suffered from mildew. (Mildew is a fungal diseases, which attack the grapes, severely damaging them, reducing yields, and imparting off-flavors. Winemakers fight it with sulfur sprays or other treatments to protect the crop).

Luckily both July and August were very warm and dry with below average rainfalls which effectively stopped the mildew outbreaks naturally and induced growth cessation favouring ripening and quality of the grapes.

Then came September with cool night temperature around 15,5 Celcius /59,9 Fahrenheit, which was an important factor for preserving freshness and acidity as well as synthesizing polyphenols in the wines.

Also September was warm and the harvest took place under almost ideal conditions during a period of 3 weeks to a month.

Is 2023 a good vintage?

Yes, 2023 is a very good vintage and in some places it is even great, almost reaching perfection. However, it is also an uneven vintage. There are some wines with excessively dry tannins and even hints of greenness. But there is also greatness - and it pops up in almost all appellations. When you read through the notes you will find wines that outpace most other chateaux within their appellation.

The most notable and important piece of information is that the right bank is superior to the left bank.

The wines produced in Pomerol and Saint Emilion are generally juicy and fresh, with sweet cherry like fruits and velvety, round bodies. Many wines on the left bank are also very good to great but some have high levels of tannins and are more classic and dry.

Is 2023 worth buying ?

With careful selection one will find many great wines which fill or exceed expectations. Also, as demand has been modest, prices have remained relatively stable and you would be well advised to select the best from our tasting notes and scores.

- Ivar Bjurner

How do we score the wines ?

When tasting the wines during ‘en primeur’ we are not looking at the finished product and we normally score the wines in bands indicating where the level of the wine is.

Now, in December 2025, the wines have finished most steps of their careful and meticulous production plan and have been bottled.

However, that still does not mean it is the finished product.

In fact, the wines have just entered their final stage - the process of maturity and melting together of all elements - which takes place in the bottle. We therefore find it most relevant for consumers and buyers to keep the banded scores, slowly narrowing it in or adjusting it, until the wines hit a certain level of maturity.

In this way you will still have time to adjust and finalize the score as the wine develops for the next 2-10 years depending on the level of quality. We feel that giving a fixed score at this time of development would not be fair or true, neither to the wines, nor to the consumers.

Many wines may in the future merit a higher score as they mature and reveal their true identities. That is the nature of Bordeaux. And that is also the absolutely unique magic of Bordeaux, which no other region can even come close in matching.

- Article and Reviews by Ivar Bjurner, Photography by Johan Berglund

PRODUCERS IN THIS ARTICLE

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Ausone Barde Haut Beaumont Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse Belair-Monange Belgrave Bellefont-Belcier Berliquet Beychevelle Bonalgue Bourgneuf Bouscaut Branaire-Ducru Brane-Cantenac Canon Cantemerle Cantenac Brown Carbonnieux Chateau Margaux Chauvin Cheval Blanc Clerc Milon Clinet Clos des Jacobins Clos des Lunes Clos du Clocher Clos du Marquis Clos Fourtet Clos L'Eglise Clos Lunelles Clos Rene Corbin Cos d'Estournel Cos Labory Cote de Baleau Cote Puyblanquet Coutet Croizet-Bages d'Arce d'Armailhac d'Issan Dassault de Camensac de Fieuzal de Fonbel de Rayne Vigneau Doisy Daene Domaine de Chevalier du Courlat du Tertre Duhart-Milon Fayat Feytit-Clinet Figeac Fleur Cardinale Fonroque Fourcas Hosten Franc Mayne Gazin Giscours Gloria Grand Corbin Grand Corbin-Despagne Grand Mayne Grand Village Grand-Puy Ducasse Grand-Puy-Lacoste Gruaud Larose Guinaudeau Guiraud Haut-Brion Haut-Marbuzet Haut-Simard Hosanna Kirwan L'Aurage L'Eglise-Clinet L'Evangile L'If La Chenade La Clotte La Conseillante La Dominique La Fleur-Petrus La Gaffeliere La Garde La Grave La Lagune La Mission Haut-Brion La Serre La Tour Blanche La Tour Figeac La Violette Lafite Rothschild Lafleur Lafleur-Gazin Lafon-Rochet Laforge Lagrange Langoa Barton Larcis Ducasse Larmande Laroque Larrivet Haut-Brion Lascombes Lassegue Latour a Pomerol Latour-Martillac Le Bon Pasteur Le Dome Le Gay Le Pin Le Thil Leoville Barton Leoville de Las Cases Leoville Las Cases Leoville Poyferre Les Carmes Haut-Brion Les Cruzelles Les Hauts-Conseillants Les Valentines Lespault-Martillac Lusseau Malartic Lagraviere Malescot St. Exupery Marquis de Terme Mazerat Mazeyres Meyney Monbousquet Monregard La Croix Montlandrie Montrose Montviel Moulin Saint-Georges Mouton Rothschild Nenin Olivier Palmer Pavie Pavie Macquin Pedesclaux Petrus Peymouton Phelan Segur Pichon Baron Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Plince Poesia Pontet-Canet Potensac Poujeaux Prieure-Lichine Puygueraud Quintus Rabaud-Promis Rauzan-Gassies Rauzan-Segla Roc de Cambes Rol Valentin Rouget Saint-Pierre Saintayme Siaurac Sigalas Rabaud Simard Siran Smith Haut Lafitte Sociando-Mallet Soutard Suduiraut Talbot Tertre Roteboeuf Teyssier Tour des Termes Tour Saint Christophe Tronquoy Tronquoy-Lalande Troplong Mondot Trotanoy Vieux Chateau Certan

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