Here is a vintage that nobody — and we mean nobody — saw coming. After a veritable pressure cooker of a summer that turned Bordeaux into something approaching a fruit preserve, 2025 had the audacity to be interesting in an entirely different way.

The growing season flirted outrageously with disaster. Growers chewed their fingernails to the knuckle and when they were gnarled to the bone they started on their negotiant's. The all knowing consultants issued carefully worded statements that essentially meant we have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen. And then, as if Bordeaux had simply been waiting for everyone to look sufficiently panicked, the vintage pulled itself together with the quiet confidence of a secret agent who has just finished routinely saving the world once again, all the while finding time to adjust his bowtie and saunter back from the precipice looking inexplicably better (and in this case, fresher) than when he set out.

What ended up in the bottle is frankly a bit of a miracle. The freshness you get from a cool year — that electric, lip-smacking acidity that makes you sit up straight and pay attention — is all there. But so is the weight. The generosity. The sheer presence that you only get when the fruit has properly ripened and decided it means business. These two things seldom coexist. They are, in wine terms, the equivalent of being both funny and attractive.

Bordeaux, ever the conjuror, has once again reached into the hat and produced something which has no right to be as good as it is. The rabbit blinks. The audience applauds.

Fresh as a Daisy

In mid- to late April The Wine Independent travelled Bordeaux, vising chateaux, producers and negociants to taste as many 2025s as possible to obtain an impression of the vintage, its history and its quality.

As with all new vintages, the more you taste, the more inputs and impression you receive forming your impression of the result. But no matter how many virgin vintages you have sniffed and tasted before, and no matter how many pre-reads you have been doing, you are always surprised with what you meet.

The 2025 vintage in Bordeaux is unique in many ways. First of all it carries the freshness of a cold vintage and the volume of a warm vintage uniquely joined within the same juice.

As always there are local differences but generally the wines can be described as fresh, juicy and fragrant. Only very few wines are heavy. Most are fresh and juicy with low alcohol (mostly below 13 percent) and low pH (3.5 – 3.8) a promising sign for early consumption.

‘Charming’ is another key word well suited to describe the 2025 vintage. They are wines you feel you want to drink as they are very well made and pleasant. The downside is that the yields were very low and not much wine was made. Many producers only produced 20 – 25 hl/ha and as 2024 was also a very small vintage the lack of wine to sell is starting to cause a bit of head scratching for some producers. And because of the low yields many chateaux took the decision not to produce any second wines in 2025, most notably Cheval Blanc and Ausone.

However, hence the good quality, moderate opening pricing and low volume, 2025 is a vintage that will be interesting to buy as futures for most consumers and restaurants as most wines will only require few years of cellaring or less.

The weather patterns were special. After a mild winter and no significant frost, the hot and dry weather set in from March. From the beginning of July almost 40 days without rain was observed. This triggered great concern amongst the producers and there was a lot of worries that this would be a repeat of the mediocre quality of the 2024’s.

The average berry size was much smaller than normal, in many places 1.3 gr compared to normally 1.8 gr, and temperatures were record high. In August there were 10 consecutive days seeing temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius and at Cheval Blanc an all time high of 41.6 degrees Celsius was recorded on the 11th August. Finally in late August thunder showers moved in providing much needed water.

I have never been visiting so many chateaux all saying that they made a record early harvest. The harvest was relatively fast and the quality when the grapes were brought in was much higher than anyone could hope for.

As stated, the 2025s are juicy, fresh, fragrant and polished and many are very charming. As always there are local differences and in our tastings especially northern Medoc, Margaux, Pessac-Leognan and Saint Emilion stood out. It is however not a vintage where you can clearly point out a single district as superior as you will find good wines all over the Aquitaine estuary.

The points we have given are based on our initial impression of the wines, our experience with scoring young wines and our knowledge of how these wines age and develop.

As described above 2025 is a very good and charming vintage - and a vintage you can safely buy. It is not a heavy, massive vintage requiring decades of cellaring, but wines that will be ready to enjoy a bit earlier than normal.

From the scores you will see that there are many top wines and also some surprises. Most importantly, we do not claim that this is another ‘vintage of the century’. However, that being said, we strongly urge you to sift through the notes and make your own decisions and buying strategy as these wine should offer great consumer value at fair prices.

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

PRODUCERS IN THIS ARTICLE

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Angelus Angludet Ausone Balestard La Tonnelle Barde Haut Bastor-Lamontagne Beau-Sejour Becot Beaumont Belair-Monange Belgrave Bellefont-Belcier Berliquet Beychevelle Bonalgue Bourgneuf Bouscaut Branaire-Ducru Branas Grand Poujeaux Brane-Cantenac Broustet Caillou Calicem Calon Segur Canon Canon la Gaffeliere Cantemerle Cantenac Brown Cap de Mourlin Capbern Carbonnieux Castera Certan de May Chasse-Spleen Chateau Margaux Chauvin Cheval Blanc Citran Clerc Milon Clinet Clos Beauregard Clos de la Molenie Clos de Sarpe Clos des Jacobins Clos du Clocher Clos du Marquis Clos Dubreuil Clos Fourtet Clos L'Eglise Clos Lunelles Clos Manou Clos Rene Clos Saint-Julien Clos Saint-Martin Corbin Cos d'Estournel Cos Labory Cote de Baleau Coufran Couhins-Lurton Coutet Couvent des Jacobins Croix Cardinal Croizet-Bages d'Agassac d'Arche d'Armailhac d'Issan Dalem Dassault Dauzac de Camensac de Chantegrive de Fargues de Ferrand de Fieuzal de Fonbel de France de L'Alliance de la Cour d'Argent de la Dauphine de la Huste de la Riviere de Lamarque de Malleret de Myrat de Pez de Pressac de Rayne Vigneau de Sales Desmirail Destieux Doisy Daene Doisy-Dubroca Doisy-Vedrines Domaine de Chevalier du Courlat du Glana du Tertre Ducru-Beaucaillou Duhart-Milon Enclos Tourmaline Faugeres Ferran Feytit-Clinet Figeac Filhot Fleur Cardinale Fonbadet Fontenil Fourcas Dupre Franc Mayne Gazin Giscours Gloria Grand Corbin-Despagne Grand Mayne Grand Village Grand-Puy Ducasse Grand-Puy-Lacoste Gruaud Larose Guinaudeau Guiraud Haut-Bailly Haut-Batailley Haut-Bergey Haut-Brion Haut-Brisson Haut-Marbuzet Haut-Simard Hosanna Hyon La Fleur Jean Faure Joanin Becot Kirwan L'Eglise-Clinet L'Evangile L'If La Cabanne La Chenade La Clemence La Clotte La Confession La Croix de Gay La Croix de St-Georges La Dominique La Fleur de Gay La Fleur-Petrus La Gaffeliere La Garde La Lagune La Louviere La Mission Haut-Brion La Mouline La Patache La Pointe La Rousselle La Serre La Tour Blanche La Tour de By La Tour de Mons La Tour Figeac Labegorce Lafaurie-Peyraguey Lafite Rothschild Lafleur Lafleur-Gazin Lafon-Rochet Laforge Lagrange Lamothe Guignard Langoa Barton Larcis Ducasse Larmande Laroque Laroze Larrivaux Larrivet Haut-Brion Lascombes Latour a Pomerol Latour-Martillac Le Bon Pasteur Le Boscq Le Coteau Le Crock Le Dome Le Gay Le Pin Le Prieure Le Thil Leoville Barton Leoville de Las Cases Leoville Las Cases Leoville Poyferre Les Carmes Haut-Brion Les Cruzelles Les Gravieres Les Hauts-Conseillants Lilian Ladouys Lucia Lusseau Lynch-Bages Lynsolence Magrez Fombrauge Malartic Lagraviere Mangot Marquis d'Alesme Marquis de Terme Maucaillou Mauvesin Barton Mazerat Meyney Monbousquet Monbrison Monregard La Croix Montrose Moulin du Cadet Moulin Riche Moulin Saint-Georges Mouton Rothschild Nairac Nenin Olivier Ormes de Pez Palmer Pauillac Pavie Pavie Macquin Peby Faugeres Pedesclaux Petit Gravet Aine Petrus Peymouton Phelan Segur Pichon Baron Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Picque Caillou Pierre de Montignac Poesia Pontet-Canet Potensac Poujeaux Prieure-Lichine Quinault L'Enclos Rabaud-Promis Rauzan-Gassies Rauzan-Segla Rayne Vigneau Rieussec Ripeau Rol Valentin Romer Romer du Hayot Saint-Pierre Saintayme Samion Sansonnet Seguin Senejac Seraphine Sigalas Rabaud Simard Siran Smith Haut Lafitte Sociando-Mallet Soutard Soutard-Cadet Suau Suduiraut Taillefer Talbot Teyssier Thieuley Tour Saint Christophe Troplong Mondot Trotanoy Valandraud Vieux Chateau Certan Vieux Chateau Saint Andre Villemaurine Vray Croix de Gay