About this article This article presents the introduction to Barolo & Barbaresco: The Primacy of the Vine by David Gleave, published by Académie du Vin Library. Drawing on four decades of visiting the Langhe, Gleave explores the historical, cultural and human forces behind the region’s transformation. From debates over tradition and winemaking to the challenges of a changing climate, the introduction sets the scene for a deeper understanding of Nebbiolo, its vineyards and the people who shape its wines. Introduction This is the story of a region that is both special and apart, rare in the world and unique in Italy. Turin, the capital of Piemonte, is often referred to by other Italians, only partly in jest,  as ‘the most Italian city in France’. I’ve tried to tell the story here of why this is the case, and of why the wines are so special.  This book charts the changes I’ve seen in the Langhe hills of southern Piemonte over the past four decades. But we go back further, for wine is not just from the piece of land on which the grapes are grown, it is part of the culture and society that sustain that land. We look at the multiple factors that led to the fragmentation of landowning in the Langhe and the development of what a distinguished French academic called ‘the primacy of the vine’ in the region, and follow that thread through the first few decades of the 20th century to the post war years of the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, it seemed as though that thread was going to take on a golden hue, even if there were moments when it appeared it would break altogether. One of those moments, the methanol scandal of 1985, in which 23 people died, threatened the future of all Italian wine. But the langaroli (people of the Langhe) overcame that threat and emerged stronger. In the 1990s, they went through a phase of winemaking as performative art, when previously stark wines became as ornate as a Baroque palace. Today, there is the threat that winemaking is nothing more than a series of incantations invoking the god of minimal intervention. Both these extremes imperil the delicacy of the great Nebbiolo grape.  This delicacy is also vulnerable to the changing climate. The vintages are getting hotter, and the climate drier. A lack of water, and a change to patterns of rainfall in the region, poses a risk to all the work that has been done to tame Nebbiolo’s fierce tannins. It also threatens to undermine the subtle balance between these tannins and the acidity of the wines that has seen the fame of Barolo and Barbaresco rise dramatically in the past few decades.  Nebbiolo, Piemonte’s native grape, is central to this story. At times, it has mirrored the region’s battles, whether those be about taming tannins, debates around oak ageing, or arguments over the length of maceration and the type of oak used. There are still those, both winemakers and drinkers, who hanker after the wines of the past, citing ‘tradition’ as something we need to respect. The battle over ‘tradition’ has been fought for as long as I’ve been going to the Langhe, and I don’t expect it to end any time soon, as its focal point shifts every few years. We look at this in some detail and ask how to define tradition. It is more complex than dividing wines and producers into opposing camps, yet the word has been used as a weapon in the Langhe, either to defend entrenched positions or to attack those momentarily unbalanced as they stride forward.
 While writing this book and reflecting on the past four decades in the Langhe, I’ve learned that progress is seldom linear. It stutters, zigzags and it even goes into reverse as it is buffeted by external forces. This has happened frequently in the Langhe since the end of World War II. One of these external forces appeared in 1964, when sharecropping was outlawed. Surely this was progress? Not to the landowners, says one of the region’s greatest winemakers, Angelo Gaja. The trade unions had triumphed, but landowners wondered how they would manage their land if they had to employ agricultural workers. As a result, some preferred to sell their holdings. In that way, Gaja was able to buy the piece of land he called Sorì San Lorenzo.  This theme appears repeatedly in these pages. Many looked backwards, fearing the uncertainty of the future, while others, like Gaja, seized the moment and shaped their destiny. The land was also reshaped. The area under vine has almost quadrupled since the late 1960s, which reflects the increased demand for the wines from Barolo and Barbaresco. My first encounter with Nebbiolo’s wines was in London in 1983. The 1978 Barolo from Pio Cesare, the 1971s from Franco Fiorina and Cavallotto were unlike anything else I’d ever tasted before. Over the next few years, I visited the Langhe and tasted many others, from Gaja to Giacomo and Aldo Conterno, from Bruno Giacosa and Renato Ratti to Borgogno, Oddero and Vajra.  I was hooked, and set out to proselytize. One of my !rst targets was Michael Hill Smith, Australia’s first Master of Wine, whom I met in London while he was studying on the MW course in the mid-1980s. He was resistant to what I saw as the wines’ obvious blandishments. Given that he was from six generations of winemakers, his palate was much more technically incisive than mine, and what I had learned to appreciate as tipicità,(‘typical characteristics’) he identified as faults. He objected to the high levels of volatile acidity and to its evolution to ethyl acetate (think 
nail polish remover). What I now know is that these faults made the tannins, which attacked the palate like coarse sandpaper, harder, rasping and drying. During the latter part of the 1980s, the wines started to evolve, and my palate had to keep pace. Oxidation (once sought by producers, as we see in Chapter 2, In the Cellar) and volatile acidity, both preventable, gave way to fresher wines with more focused fruit. There was upheaval in the cellar before producers realized they had to turn to the vineyards to improve their wines further. Over the next few decades, we saw a region and its wines reborn. Barolo was once described as ‘having the colour of Alba’s cathedral’, an austere brown brick building in the Piazza Duomo. The writer Paolo Monelli continued in the same theme, saying the wine ‘has the colour of autumn leaves’ and then: ‘In its warm, brick-red hue I see the towers of Bologna glowing against a stormy sky.’ Today, the colour is fresh and vibrant while the wines are teeming with vitality.  The region has a new bounce in its step. In 2014, the Langhe was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The aim of such recognition is to protect the way humans and nature work in concert. Coincidentally, this is basis of great wine too. While the holy trilogy of altitude, aspect and soil defines the vineyards of the Langhe, these would be nothing without the grit and talent of the people working the vineyards and making the wines.  In the first three chapters of this book, I’ve attempted to tie the myriad events, people and places together with a narrative thread. The two chapters that follow, Great Vineyards and Champions of Nebbiolo, are for dipping into or for looking up a producer or a vineyard when you’re buying, opening or drinking a Barolo or Barbaresco. We end with Eating in the Langhe, as these wines are best enjoyed with food, and the Langhe arguably has the best food in Italy. The region certainly has the greatest concentration of outstanding restaurants of any wine zone in the world. And this is from a position, back in the 1960s, when the gastronomy was as poor as the region. 
 This poverty was the theme of Beppe Fenoglio’s famous novella La Malora, set in the first decades of the 20th century. At the end of the book, the protagonist, Agostino, is on the family’s small plot of land, which is planted with vines and fruit trees, checking on the progress of one of its apple trees. He has just returned from working for a sharecropper, as his family couldn’t afford to keep him at home and have another mouth to feed. His brother has died, and his mother, not knowing Agostino is outside, leaves the house so that he won’t hear her prayers. He sees her kneel in front of the !rst vine she comes to and start praying that God will spare her until the body of 
her dead son arrives from Alba.  The image of her praying, using the vine as an altar, illustrates the importance of the vine in the Langhe; it was one of the few things the peasants had. At the same time, Agostino’s return to work his land, the land he inherited, shows the strong link the peasants had with their smallholdings, a link they seldom wanted to relinquish even if the work to maintain them was backbreaking and the poverty soul-destroying. It was certain and cyclical, like the apple tree and the vines.  The attachment of the people to the land has not diminished in the past 120 years. As Angelo Gaja said, the need to have land ‘was something deeply ingrained in the heads of the people’ in the Langhe. And what land it is! Pedro Parra is one of the world’s leading ‘terroir hunters’, a consultant who helps wineries identify their best vineyards and divide them into parcels based on geology. He is certain that the Langhe is one of the world’s great grape growing areas. As we discuss in Chapter 3, Walking the Vineyards, he says that the vast majority of vineyards in Barolo and Barbaresco are planted ‘on high-quality calcareous soil’. There is, he says, a reason why the world’s fine wine market is dominated by Barolo and Burgundy: ‘In my opinion, it’s the fact that both are situated on high-quality calcareous soils that mark a big difference between these wines and those from the rest of the world. While there are obviously other calcareous areas among the world’s famous regions, these are the only two where all the vineyards are planted on a large geological matrix defined by calcareous terroir.’  The land was always there, as were the people. The story of an entire region transformed beyond recognition is the story I tell in the following pages. It is a remarkable story. Even more remarkably, Michael Hill Smith now calls or messages from restaurants in Australia and Singapore to ask which Barolo he should choose. The wines, not the proselyte, brought him around. Their story follows. Barolo & Barbaresco: The Primacy of the Vine by David Gleave is published by Académie du Vin Library and is available now. FINE+RARE customers receive 15% off all purchases through the Académie du Vin Library website. Use your exclusive discount code FINE15 at checkout, valid until 31 January 2027. Learn more about Barolo & Barbaresco: The Primacy of the Vine Shop all books from the Académie du Vin Library Visit the Académie du Vin website 

Explore Barolo and Barbaresco through the introduction to David Gleave’s book, Barolo & Barbaresco: The Primacy of the Vine. Drawing on four decades of visits to the Langhe, Gleave traces the region’s transformation through its history, vineyards and people, with Nebbiolo at the heart of the story.

Explore Barolo and Barbaresco through the introduction to David Gleave’s book, Barolo & Barbaresco: The Primacy of the Vine. 

Barolo and Barbaresco: The Primacy of the Vine 

After years of holding out, Brunello di Montalcino may finally be inching towards a greater focus on sub-zoning. The innovative Forma project spearheaded by Italian MWs Gabriele Gorelli and Andrea Lonardi – primarily intended to add greater objectivity to the Consorzio’s vintage rating system – has been instrumental, necessitating the assembly of reams of site-based data that have (inevitably) laid bare the great variability within the denomination. With the ever-shifting climate, the site factor apparently top of mind across the denomination is altitude. Montalcino has always traded on a wine that pushes Sangiovese to generous levels of ripeness without – crucially – losing its balance and an unpredictable climate is hardly conducive to such a sensitive balancing act. Pier Giuseppe d’Alessandro of Poggio Antico, where vineyards rise up to 612m above sea level (asl), says ‘altitude does not mean low temperatures but lower temperatures,’ explaining that during August, the vineyards may be 4-5ºC lower than Montalcino’s lowest sites. The critical factor, he says, is the duration of temperature spikes, which tends to be shorter at altitude, helping avoid vine stress. Read more: The Brunello di Montalcino Report 2024 However, there are several dynamics at play: fog in the valleys tends to make nights warmer but mornings cooler, reducing diurnal variation, whereas sites above the fogline warm more quickly in the morning but cool rapidly at night, preserving critical acidity. This slows ripening overall and extends the harvest, sometimes to a dramatic degree – Luciano Ciolfi of Sanlorenzo notes that in the difficult 2024 vintage they had to wait until mid-October. However, Giancarlo Tommasi and Emilio Falsini, director of Tommasi Family Estates and enologist of the group’s Montalcino property Casisano say their breezy, high-altitude sites facilitate more uniform ripening and thus more aromatic complexity. Finally, Riccardo Campinoti of Le Ragnaie, known for its high-altitude single site wines, likes that altitude can help reduce vigour and naturally limit yields. Yet another factor in Brunello di Montalcino is geology. Acidity-preserving stony calcareous soils dominate at higher altitudes, while richer alluvial soils are common lower down, giving altitude pedological as well as climatic significance. In years where the main problem is not intense heat but abundant rainfall, like 2024, the slopes and well-drained stony soils of higher sites can save the vintage. Montalcino collectively affirmed the importance of altitude in 2015 when it first allowed vineyards above 600m asl into the appellation (whether the region might also have set lower limits on altitude remains an open question). Gianni Pignattai of Pietroso, whose vineyards are mostly between 400 and 500m asl, notes that ripening at these heights was frequently challenging even 10-15 years ago but that they are now his least challenging vineyards to manage, as their lower humidity and greater ventilation allow him to use fewer pesticides. One thing made clear by the handy 3D map produced for the Forma project is that most of the wine world’s (including the Italian wine world’s) mental image of Montalcino as a roughly cone-shaped protuberance sloping uninterrupted to the flat plain below might need updating. The northern slope of Brunello di Montalcino is indeed more uniform, with only small bumps like Montosoli breaking up its descent. However, the southern stretch is much more topographically varied, with high-altitude sites running all the way south-southwest from Montalcino town to Sant’Angelo in Colle (once unfairly lumped in with the much lower-lying Sant’Angelo Scalo) and south-southeast nearly to the town of Castelnuovo dell’Abate, both about 7km away as the crow flies. Blends that incorporate at least some high-altitude elements are a snappy riposte to many low-energy bottlings of the mid-2000s Though multi-site blending remains the norm (and with an increasingly unreliable climate, the blenders may eventually have the last laugh) single site wines from high spots, like Campinoti’s Passo del Lume Spento at 621m asl in Ragnaie, some distance south of Montalcino town, are redefining the upper octaves of Brunello. Meanwhile, blends that incorporate at least some (and often several) high-altitude elements are a snappy riposte to many low-energy bottlings of the mid-2000s. Andrea Cortonesi of Uccelliera based his second brand, Voliero – which, unlike Uccelliera, is blended from across the denomination, including Sant’Angelo in Colle – on the notion that high-altitude sites are linked by consistent (and desirable) characteristics. On the other hand, there is also clearly some variability among high-altitude wines. Some, like Campinoti’s, trend delicate, tart-fruited and herbal, with alcohol levels (~13.5%) to match. Contrast this with Poggio Antico’s wines, including I Poggi, from their highest active vineyard at 550-575m asl, which is a potent 15%, though with great tension from its dynamite acidity. Exposure, slope and airflows have great impact at these heights – Sanlorenzo’s vineyards sit southwest of Montalcino at 500 asl in two valleys that face southwest towards the Mediterranean and its warming breezes, but Ciolfi says they recently planted some north-facing land in the same area and have just started to vinify the results. Antonio Michael Zaccheo of Carpineto, where vineyards run from 470-500m asl, believes they are the only ones at that altitude with vineyards fully exposed to the north and slopes up to 30%; they typically harvest over three weeks after valley vineyards, with low sugars and elevated acidity. The challenge is that, with new Brunello plantings frozen since 1997, opportunities to plant higher are limited. Pignattai says though they would like to plant more high-altitude sites, they haven’t found owners willing to sell. D’Alessandro says ‘we do not have higher land to plant because there is no higher land’– Montalcino, unlike Chianti Classico, has no land above 650m asl. However, he is sanguine that with experimental viticultural practices – more dynamic vineyard architecture that permits rapid response to changing conditions – the advantages of higher altitude can be maximised. Giulia Härri, enologist at Mastrojanni, agrees that cultivation techniques are key to altitude’s effectiveness against climate change; she credits their biodynamic viticulture with helping avoid vine stress. While not a silver bullet, altitude is undoubtedly one factor that may help preserve Brunello’s freshness. Montalcino’s best and brightest are harnessing its power in some of the denomination’s most exciting wines where intense aromatics (and sometime generous ripeness) are offset by gravity-defying acidity. Browse all Brunello di Montalcino listings.

Writing for Club Oenologique in 2025, Sarah Heller MW talks to producers in Montalcino about how altitude has become a key tool in preserving Brunello's freshness and why it might prove critical in protecting the wine's character in the face of climate change

Writing for Club Oenologique in 2025, Sarah Heller MW explores how altitude helps Montalcino’s producers preserve Brunello’s freshness and singular character.

Altitude’s role in the future of Brunello di Montalcino

Steep slopes, high hopes: Altitude’s starring role in the future of Brunello di Montalcino 

Saint-Julien: Vineyards, Cellars, People, and Place is the latest addition to the Académie du Vin Library's Exploring the Appellations of Bordeaux series, written by Marc Bouffard. Compact in geography but outsized in reputation, Saint-Julien is home to some of the Médoc's most celebrated Grands Crus Classés — and this book sets out to explain, with rigour and warmth, exactly why. Bouffard approaches the appellation from the ground up, opening with a meticulous account of Saint-Julien's terroir: the two glacial gravel terraces shaped over 2.5 million years, the moderating influence of the Gironde, and the 17th-century Dutch drainage works that transformed a swampy peninsula into one of the world's great wine regions. He then turns to the human story — the winemakers, the châteaux, and the restless spirit of innovation that has defined Bordeaux from Peynaud's fermentation breakthroughs to today's precision viticulture and climate adaptation. The result is a book that rewards both the curious newcomer and the seasoned Bordeaux enthusiast. It is a portrait not just of an appellation, but of a living community of growers and thinkers who, as Bouffard puts it, are still very much succeeding — vintage after challenging vintage. The two passages below, drawn from different points in the book, offer a taste of both its scope and its spirit: the first plants us firmly in the land itself; the second lifts the gaze toward history, science, and the future. The lie of the land Most readers who decide to open a book dedicated to Saint-Julien will not be novices to Bordeaux, but I think this isn't the worst place to start for those who are. Regardless of the level of expertise, there's some setting of the scene that needs to be done as a basis for the coming focus on Saint-Julien's Grands Crus Classés. This begins with the AOC's terroir. Bordeaux is divided into two banks by the Gironde estuary, itself formed from the rivers Garonne (originating in the Pyrenees) and Dordogne (coming from the Massif Central). Saint-Julien sits on the Left Bank of the Gironde on the Médoc peninsula. The waters of the Gironde play a major influence in the AOC's terroir, cooling it when weather is hot and heating it when weather is cool, with the numerous influences on ripening in moderation, promotion of air flow, and mitigation of threats such as frost. In her excellent work Inside Bordeaux (2020), Jane Anson delivers a wonderful masterclass in geology as it pertains to Bordeaux's formation and soil types. Most pertinent to the understanding of Saint-Julien is that cycles of glacial formation and melting beginning 2.5 million years ago led to sequential periods of erosion in the Pyrenees and deposition of gravel onto the Médoc peninsula. The eras in which these deposits were made bear the names 'Mindel' and 'Günz'; they form two terraces – Terrace 3 and Terrace 4. The latter is closer to the Gironde and is home to the three Léoville châteaux, Langoa Barton, Ducru-Beaucaillou, and Beychevelle. Terrace 3 is home to the estates in the western half of the appellation. The two terraces are gravel-rich, composed of sandy gravels and gravelly sand (so called depending on their proportions). It doesn't seem totally clear that there is a neat division of one terrace being comprised solely one kind of gravel; according to local sources the plateau of Beychevelle is comprised of Günzian gravel and the plateau of Saint-Julien of Mindel (like Pauillac), though both together form Terrace 4. The general trend is to see gravel of shallower depth as one moves westward in the appellation, but there are exceptions, such as at Château Gruaud-Larose. The eastern, southern, and southwestern edges of the more-western Terrace 3 are also hugged by older, deeper soil types at lower altitudes as one comes down off the higher plateaus – these are composed of Molasse du Fronsadais (a particular soft limestone) and clay/limestone. The iron-rich sandstone subsoil, alios, is also found in the vineyards of Château Talbot. To the west of Saint-Julien, there are still patches of Terrace 3 and Grands Crus Classés of the Haut-Médoc indeed sit on them – but the terroir is different and less regular. To the east of the vineyard land – between the easternmost reaches of vineyard and the Gironde – is a wet, grassy area referred to as the palus or palu; it is too wet for vine cultivation here and it floods regularly. This area can become rather dramatically waterlogged; Lilian Barton Sartorius recounts a story about the palus flooding, prompting the need to rescue grazing cattle that were up to their necks in water! Immediately to the south of Beychevelle and Branaire-Ducru (which delimit the southern border of Saint-Julien), there is a broad stretch of palus that separates the Saint-Julien AOC from the next village of Cussac. Most of the Médoc was once as swampy as the palus can be today. The peninsula was drained by Dutch engineers in the 17th century, increasing the amount of arable terroir dramatically. The land that was uncovered was understood from the outset to be of fine quality, particularly for the quality of the wine it would produce. The rapid expansion of vineyard sites producing subtly different wines inspired a kind of 'vine frenzy', with planting increasing rapidly throughout the last part of the 17th century. The drainage ditches (jalles) can still be seen today, augmented by numerous fosses (more recently dug drainage ditches), which keep the Médoc relatively dry. The Jalle de Juillac – its name a charming portmanteau of 'Julien' and 'Pauillac' – demarcates the northern boundary of Saint-Julien where it meets Pauillac, and the Jalle du Nord runs along the appellation's southern boundary. By this point, it may seem clear why blind tasting with a goal of determining a Médoc's village of origin can be difficult, if not outright folly. One AOC, yet two different terraces which extend to neighboring AOCs, with some properties in Saint-Julien overlapping or sitting between the two terraces. My goodness. Nevertheless, Saint-Julien still somehow manages to convey a character of equilibrium, borrowing some of the power of Pauillac and some of the elegance of the better Margaux properties, to create what could reasonably be perceived as an archetype of Bordeaux. Even more meaningful than the character of the appellation as a whole is the individual character of each of Saint-Julien's Grands Crus Classés, their complexity reflecting the geologic complexity of their origin. They are great personalities in the wine world. So, open a bottle of Saint-Julien, pour a glass, and enjoy the long tour. Later in the book, Bouffard turns from the physical foundations of Saint-Julien to the intellectual and human ones — tracing a tradition of scientific curiosity and open-minded innovation that he argues has always set Bordeaux apart. A tradition of innovation One last point is crucial to recognise. Michael Georges at Léoville Las Cases recounted a quote of Emile Peynaud's: 'innovation is Bordeaux's tradition'. So, we must look to the past and to the future simultaneously. Tradition is sometimes right, sometimes wrong. We should learn when to stick with it and when to depart from it. To address new challenges, we should accept the need to test new ideas – even if sometimes we don't like the results and revert to the way things were done. In this regard, Bordeaux has perhaps always led the wine world. Consider Peynaud's own work with Ribéreau-Gayon in understanding the malolactic fermentation. After clarifying that there actually was a second fermentation, it was a struggle to convince many winemakers that malolactic fermentation was a good thing for red Bordeaux! This is long forgotten. Now everyone simply does it for red wines; with malic acid converted to softer lactic acid, harmony is improved, and the drinking window is broadened. When Peynaud was brought in to consult at Léoville Las Cases in 1959, the property sometimes suffered from stuck fermentations, which Professor Peynaud found was to be the result of fermentation temperatures soaring into the 30s Celsius – so hot that the yeasts were killed before they could complete the fermentation. Whereas ice was previously added to the vats to prevent this problem (famously across Bordeaux in 1947), Peynaud counseled careful temperature monitoring and the withdrawal of a portion of wine from the vat to allow it to cool when the must became too hot. At the same time, Las Cases dealt (perhaps paradoxically) with extraction difficulties. Peynaud increased the overall vatting time essentially to the duration it sees today. The wine made first year he consulted – 1959 – was in my opinion a clear step up at the property thanks to these fundamental innovations.  Peynaud was carrying on the legacy of scientific observation and enquiry that had brought Bordeaux through its darkest days in the 19th century. Bordeaux led the way in grafting French vines onto American rootstock to combat phylloxera. In the same era, a cadre of individuals recognized the anti-fungal property of copper. Bouillie Bordelaise – a mix of copper sulfate and quicklime, effective against both downy mildew and powdery mildew (oïdium) – was developed in 1878, forever changing the world of organic farming as a result. The legacy of innovation continues today. It is often assumed that innovation means more technology will be used in winemaking, but many times the opposite is the case. Léoville Las Cases has the largest private oenological laboratory in Bordeaux (perhaps anywhere) and Lagrange and Ducru-Beaucaillou are also particularly innovative places. Cornelis van Leeuwen at the University of Bordeaux has been mentioned far too few times in this book given his important work in helping to understand the science of terroir and of the vine. Despite the research that has been done over the past couple of decades, we have not seen more gadgets but rather fewer. We have seen a better understood and more balanced ecosystem, fewer synthetic interventions, and a lighter touch in the winery and barrel cellar. What we're seeing now is the application of scientific principle to study every decision, and that approach has brought people closer to their terroir and to their vines – not farther from them. Bordeaux is well suited to lead the way in adapting to climate change and Saint-Julien is playing a key role here. Some very hot and sunny growing seasons of the distant past produced ripe wines of only moderate alcohol (the perfectly sun-kissed 1949s, for example). The reasons for this are multifactorial – vineyard health, vine material, canopy heights, picking dates, and vinification choices all likely played a role. Understanding how certain outcomes were reached is helpful; the goal is not to be reactionary, but rather to learn lessons that might be useful today. So much of that wisdom has been lost, and one of the goals of this book is to preserve it for the future. Saint-Julien: Vineyards, Cellars, People, and Place by Marc Bouffard is published by Académie du Vin Library and is available now. FINE+RARE customers receive 15% off all purchases through the Académie du Vin Library website – use your exclusive discount code FINE15 at checkout, valid until 31 January 2027. Learn more about Marc Bouffard's Saint-Julien: Vineyards, Cellars, People, and Place Shop all books from the Académie du Vin Library Visit the Académie du Vin website

From ancient glacial gravels to Dutch-engineered drainage ditches, Saint-Julien's terroir is a story of geology and human ingenuity. Marc Bouffard reveals why this compact Médoc appellation remains the most perfectly balanced archetype of Bordeaux.

Marc Bouffard reveals why Saint-Julien remains the most perfectly balanced archetype of Bordeaux.

Saint-Julien: Vineyards, Cellars, People, and Place

Chianti Classico’s Gran Selezione serves as a fascinating case study in how to elevate (or, arguably, re-elevate) a region’s wines to fine-wine status. From a mere 33 producers when the category was first introduced ten years ago to 169 today – making 213 Gran Selezione wines between them – the category has seen explosive growth to 5% of total regional production, giving the region an almost unprecedented glow-up. It hasn’t always been a smooth road: ‘the Gran Selezione had a rather complex birth,’ says Dr. Marco Pallanti of Castello di Ama – who was president of the Chianti Classico Consorzio when the Gran Selezione was proposed and approved. He recounts that many producers wanted to participate in the drafting; what ultimately emerged was a kind of parcellation carried out by the producer and not by external bodies. "The Gran Selezione category has seen explosive growth" On paper, one might argue the requirements were moderate: the wines had to be estate-grown and -produced, aged for slightly longer (30 months, of which three had to be in bottle) with slightly higher alcohol and dry extract; there weren’t geographic requirements above and beyond the stipulations of the DOCG. The wines themselves, though, were typically far more ambitious than the above would imply, often made from single sites and treated to costly, oak-laden ageing regimens. However, the last several years, and 2023 in particular, have brought about some shifts – whether through regulations or market preferences. Below, I’ve explained some factors that may prove pivotal for the category as it moves ambitiously into its second decade. A new dawn for site specificity The most talked-about addition to the Gran Selezione has been the UGA or Unità Geografiche Aggiuntive, a broad division of this large region into 11 roughly commune-scale sub-regions (some of which are co-extensive with actual communes, like Radda, Gaiole and Castellina, and the rest of which are not). These are applicable exclusively to Gran Selezione wines and, as of July 2023, may appear on front labels. During my travels in the region immediately before the formal approval in 2023, many producers expressed a keen interest in this shift, though the level of that interest naturally varied with the prestige (and meaningfulness) of the UGA. Lamole and Panzano, both carved out of Greve commune, are two UGAs with clearly defined identities and aren’t burdened with the awkwardness of an unpronounceable name (my apologies to Vagliagli), and hence seem much more likely to be coming soon to a shop near you. Nearly monovarietal but not quite Another 2023 shift has been the increase in Sangiovese from 80% to 90% of the blend. Though a seemingly minor shift, there are those who view this as yet another step away from the historical ‘formula’ of Barone Ricasoli (the historical authenticity or at least intent of which is debated), which included white Malvasia grapes along with Sangiovese and Canaiolo. However, the vast majority of Gran Selezione wines reviewed in the Chianti Classico Report are already made up of 100% Sangiovese (not least Ricasoli itself). It is clear that the Sangiovese purists – perhaps originally inspired by the success of the varietal Sangiovese Supertuscans – have nearly won the day anyway. Banishing the internationals A possibly more controversial move is the exclusion of international varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and, to a lesser extent, Syrah, from the blend. These have – as Pallanti points out – made a home in Tuscany for at least the last 40 years and, in his view, end up ‘Chiantiggiato’ or ‘Chiantified’ by the environment (a viewpoint that aligns with my own observation during my MW studies that Tuscany somehow turns everything into Sangiovese). Pallanti’s own iconic Gran Selezione wines incorporate some Merlot, along with the native Malvasia Nera, as does the gorgeous Don Tommaso from Principe Corsini. Among the vanishingly few other non-varietal Gran Selezione wines in our tasting, the blending partners were largely natives: highly pigmented, plush Colorino seems to outrank the more historical Canaiolo, perhaps representing the last remnants of producers’ drive to make Sangiovese darker than it naturally wants to be. Meanwhile, native grapes are playing a bigger role in the Riservas and especially Annatas, where they add some richness or complexity. A new Gran Selezione style Chianti Classico has the great advantage of already being what the contemporary fine-wine market wants: translucent, elegant and low in invasive oak aromas. Revisiting the early 2010’s Gran Selezione wines is a reminder of the sheer ambition that accompanied these first strides towards fine-winehood. During a vertical tasting of their Gran Selezione, Castello di Albola’s Alessandro Gallo charted their change in style from plump and barrique-polished to something leaner and racier. The wines of today are not quite the dainty, low-alcohol featherweights of last century (most are about 14% on average, some reaching a Brunello-like 15%), but most have a luminescence and lyricism that make this one of the country’s most exciting categories to watch.

Despite a complicated birth, Chianti Classico's Gran Selezione category is elevating more of the region's wines to fine-wine status than ever. Written for Club Oenologique in 2024, Sarah Heller MW picks out some of the key factors for the future of Gran Selezione wine . 

Written for Club Oenologique in 2024, Sarah Heller MW picks out some of the key factors for the future of Gran Selezione wine . 

Chianti Classico’s Gran Selezione gets a glow-up

After the difficult conditions of 2024, Bordeaux has delivered a vintage that has surprised almost everyone. The 2025 growing season was among the hottest and driest of recent decades, with yields collapsing across much of the region. Yet rather than producing another 2022-style vintage of power and opulence, the wines have emerged with freshness, moderate alcohols and remarkable aromatic precision. Almost every major critic references the same paradox: a year that looked destined to produce massive wines instead yielded bottles of energy, balance and finesse. There is less agreement on where 2025 ultimately sits among Bordeaux's recent great vintages. Some critics compare it to 2016, others to 2019, 2020 or even 1961. What they largely agree on, however, is that the best wines are outstanding – and that this is a vintage where terroir, vineyard management and winemaking decisions matter enormously. William Kelley – Wine Advocate William Kelley sees 2025 as a vintage that reveals rather than conceals. He describes it as a "clarifier" rather than an amplifier, arguing that the wines expose differences in terroir, viticulture and winemaking with unusual transparency. Although the growing season was dominated by heat and drought, Kelley believes the resulting wines are fundamentally different from 2022. Cooler nights, lower alcohols and timely late-season rain produced wines that combine concentration, ripeness and freshness in a way that feels distinctive. He repeatedly returns to the notion that the best 2025s are classically proportioned despite their intensity. Unlike some critics, Kelley is reluctant to identify a single winning appellation. Instead, he sees success as highly estate-specific, with the finest wines distinguished by balance, precision and restraint rather than sheer power. Kelley's highlights: Larcis Ducasse, Jean Faure, Sociando-Mallet, Quinault l'Enclos, Le Pin Beausoleil Explore Kelley's full report, notes and scores on Wine Advocate (subscribers only). Jane Anson – Inside Bordeaux For Jane Anson, 2025 is "the paradox vintage". The best wines are immensely impressive, but she cautions strongly against broad-brush conclusions. Anson places the vintage comfortably ahead of 2017, 2021 and 2024, and broadly alongside 2015 and 2019 in terms of potential. Yet she repeatedly notes that this is not a year where collectors can buy indiscriminately. Low pH levels, high acidity and significant tannic structure mean some wines will require patience, while others may never fully resolve. She sees the strongest performances coming from Bordeaux's great water-regulating terroirs, particularly the limestone and clay soils of Saint-Émilion and the best parts of the Left Bank. Pomerol is more variable, with dramatic differences depending on soil type and water retention. Anson's wine of the vintage is Beauséjour Duffau-Lagarrosse, while Canon, Petrus, Cheval Blanc and Château Margaux all feature prominently among her highest-rated wines. Anson's highlights: Ch. Haut Bailly, Mouton Rothschild, Margaux, Smith Haut Lafitte, Leoville Las Cases, Petrus, Beauséjour, Vieux Château Certan, Lafleur,  Tertre Roteboeuf, Haut-Brion Blanc, Les Champs Libres, Doisy-Daëne,  Aile d'Argent Blanc, Pavillon Blanc Read Jane Anson’s report on the Left Bank, Right Bank and white wine on Inside Bordeaux (subscribers only). Antonio Galloni – Vinous Antonio Galloni is one of the most enthusiastic commentators on the vintage, describing the finest wines as "nothing short of thrilling". What impresses him most is the combination of concentration and freshness. The summer heat delivered tiny berries and naturally low yields, yet many wines finished with surprisingly moderate alcohol levels and striking aromatic lift. Galloni believes modern viticulture played a critical role, allowing producers to navigate extreme conditions more successfully than would have been possible a generation ago. He identifies Margaux as the appellation of the vintage and describes Pauillac as "jam-packed with great wines". Saint-Émilion's clay-limestone plateau also impressed him enormously. Pomerol, meanwhile, is the region he found most inconsistent. Galloni also highlights several lesser-known estates that he believes overperformed in 2025, noting that some of the vintage's most exciting discoveries may come outside Bordeaux's traditional elite. Galloni's highlights: Beau-Séjour Bécot, Canon, La Gaffelière, Troplong Mondot, La Mission Haut-Brion, L'If, Margaux, Lafite Rothschild Explore Antonio Galloni's full report, notes and scores on Vinous (subscribers only). Neal Martin – Vinous Neal Martin describes 2025 as a vintage that constantly defies expectations. He argues that the late-August rain fundamentally changed the trajectory of the year, turning what appeared destined to become another 2022 into something altogether more nuanced. Martin calls it "a dialled-down and more precise 2010", a comparison that appears repeatedly throughout his report. He finds concentration and structure, but also freshness, restraint and remarkable aromatic detail. Like Galloni, he is highly enthusiastic about the Left Bank, particularly Pauillac, Saint-Julien and Saint-Estèphe. He also believes several of the greatest successes come from Saint-Émilion's limestone soils, while Pomerol shows more variation than many neighbouring appellations. Perhaps most notably, Martin sees 2025 as one of the strongest recent vintages for Sauternes, praising the purity and freshness of the best sweet wines. Martin's highlights: Montrose, Haut-Brion, Lafite Rothschild, Lafleur, Petrus, Latour Explore Neal Martin's full report, notes and scores on Vinous (subscribers only). James Suckling James Suckling describes 2025 as one of the most exciting Bordeaux vintages he has encountered in more than forty years of tasting barrel samples. He repeatedly returns to the contrast between expectation and reality. On paper, the growing season suggested another powerful, solar vintage. Instead, he found wines with what he calls "unique purity and tension", combining moderate alcohol, vibrant acidity and impressive concentration. For Suckling, 2025 is above all "a great vintage for great terroir". He argues that the region's finest vineyards adapted brilliantly to the challenges of the year, producing wines that are both intensely expressive and remarkably balanced. Although he acknowledges inconsistency across the region, he believes the best wines can stand alongside Bordeaux's leading modern vintages. Suckling's highlights: Château Margaux, Mouton Rothschild, Lafite Rothschild, Petrus, Le Pin, Ausone, Angélus, Les Carmes Haut-Brion Read part one and two of James Suckling’s report, along with his full notes and scores on JamesSuckling.com (subscribers only). Georgie Hindle – Decanter Georgie Hindle describes 2025 as both "paradoxical" and "miraculous", two words that neatly capture the mood of many critics tasting the vintage. She notes that almost everything about the growing season pointed towards a rich, powerful vintage. Yet the wines themselves display freshness, poise and balance rather than opulence. The crucial turning point, in her view, was the late-August rain that arrived after months of drought and completely reshaped the vintage's trajectory. Hindle argues that terroir and winemaking decisions were decisive. Producers who adapted extraction techniques and handled the naturally high tannin levels carefully were rewarded with wines of precision and elegance. Others were less successful. While she believes the best wines are exceptional, she is clear that 2025 lacks the broad consistency of 2022 and should be approached selectively. Hindle's highlights: Beauséjour, Cheval Blanc, Haut-Bailly, Haut-Brion, Margaux, Mouton Rothschild, Petrus, Vieux Château Certan Explore Georgie Hindle's coverage on Decanter (subscribers only). Jeb Dunnuck Jeb Dunnuck compares 2025 to a modern-day version of 1961, citing tiny yields, drought conditions and extraordinary concentration. Yet unlike the blockbuster vintages often associated with hot years, Dunnuck finds the wines surprisingly fresh and elegant. He repeatedly highlights the role of cooler nights and late-season rainfall in preserving balance and preventing overripeness. He sees Saint-Émilion as one of the stars of the vintage, while also praising the best wines of Pauillac, Saint-Julien and Pomerol. Like several critics, he believes value-conscious collectors should look closely at Castillon and Fronsac, where some producers delivered outstanding quality relative to price. Dunnuck's highlights: Margaux, Haut-Brion, Léoville Las Cases, Montrose, Le Pin, Ducru-Beaucaillou, Mouton Rothschild, Petrus, Figeac, Beauséjour Explore Jeb Dunnuck's full report, notes and scores on JebDunnuck.com (subscribers only). James Lawther MW – Jancis Robinson James Lawther sees 2025 as one of Bordeaux's most pleasant surprises. He notes that despite being one of the hottest vintages of the last thirty years, the wines possess freshness, moderate alcohol levels and considerable charm. The defining feature for Lawther is the combination of power and approachability — wines that have both concentration and an almost unexpected amiability. Cabernet Sauvignon particularly impressed him, especially in Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe, while Saint-Émilion's limestone-rich soils again proved highly resilient in drought conditions. Pomerol was less straightforward, producing some brilliant wines alongside more uneven results. Lawther is also highly positive about Sauternes, which he considers one of the vintage's major success stories. Lawther's highlights: Palmer, Pavie, Suduiraut, Mouton Rothschild, Cheval Blanc Explore James Lawther MW's full reports, notes and scores on JancisRobinson.com (subscribers only). Read James Lawther MW’s report on the Left Bank, Right Bank and white wine on Inside Bordeaux (subscribers only). Explore Bordeaux 2025

As the Bordeaux 2025 campaign draws to a close, we review the critics' verdicts on one of the decade's most intriguing vintages and the wines that emerged as their standout performers.

Your essential crib-sheet to what the world’s leading wine critics are saying about Bordeaux 2025 en primeur–including Wine Advocate, Vinous and more

Bordeaux 2025 en primeur – what the critics are saying 

Bordeaux 2025: what the critics are saying

Will Berliner says he didn’t drink wine until he was in his 50s. There might have been the odd bottle of Thunderbird in his teens – he’s a New Yorker by birth – but that was all. ‘All I knew was that white wine was for girls and red wine was for guys. I never drank it.’ So it’s remarkable that now, in his 70s (he looks a decade younger), he’s producing a wine that has been lauded since its first vintage in 2010. Cloudburst, from Margaret River in Western Australia, has been described as ‘otherworldly and memorable’ by Matthew Jukes; ‘fearless and uncompromising’ (Huon Hooke); and ‘a gorgeous wine’ (Jane Anson). It joined the mighty John Riddoch and The Armagh as the first Australian wines on the Bordeaux Place. ‘Will works in ways that are completely different to the mainstream. He’s doing amazing things and his wines are excellent,’ Andrew Caillard MW, author of The Australian Ark, told me. In minimalist, etched glass (screwcaps on both red and white), Cloudburst wines sell for between £130 and £200 per bottle. It’s one of the most expensive Margaret River wines but given that it’s vanishingly rare – Berliner makes about 250 cases of Chardonnay, 200 of Cabernet Sauvignon and 50 of Malbec (it can be much lower – there was less than half that in 2022) – that’s pretty good value. We meet downstairs at Hedonism in London’s Berkeley Square. ‘There he is!’ Berliner says, as if it’s me who’s the celebrity. He’s compact, fit-looking and energetic; from the moment we sit down, he barely draws breath in his urge tell the story of what he calls ‘the most improbable project ever.’ A restless entrepreneur who grew up in New York and moved to New England, Berliner has run a Patagonia-style sustainable clothing business, a Whole Foods-style grocery and a futon business. He’s made schlocky feature films (‘they weren’t super successful’). He built a company, sold it, built another and so on. In 2003, he and his wife Alison Jobson (who is Australian) bought 100ha at Wilyabrup in Margaret River because they loved it and wanted to retire there. The estate was virgin land (though Wilyabrup is full of illustrious estates: Pierro, Moss Wood, Cullen, Vasse Felix) and he says he had no intention of making wine; he might plant a row or two to sell the grapes. Then he caught the bug. A friend – ‘a big New York restaurateur’ – taught him to taste and he got ‘turned on’ to Bordeaux (‘only the Left Bank’). He put himself through a night-school degree in viticulture and enology at UC Davis, and, in 2005, planted a pocket-handkerchief sized plot, one-fifth of a hectare of Cabernet Sauvignon. He was mentored at first by Stuart Watson and his father David, founder of Woodlands Wines in Wilyabrup. ‘I’m ever grateful to him. He’s brilliant and open-minded,’ Berliner says, before adding (with characteristic modesty), ‘but it took someone with my disposition and background to take it to this level.’He now makes the wines himself, from a slightly bigger vineyard – 1.25ha of Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and 10% Malbec, from which he makes hobbyist amounts of single-vineyard bottlings.When he pours the Chardonnay, I’m expecting something pretty good but somehow not so delicate (it’s not an adjective I’d use for the stocky New Yorker sitting opposite me). There is nothing showy about Cloudburst. The Cabernet is perfumed and delicately tannin-ed, the Chardonnay restrained. They are complex, structured and elegant, the fine work of someone striving for that holy grail of sense-of-place. It took someone with my disposition and background to take it to this level You meet winemakers like this on every continent and each has their own way of articulating this elusive ambition. For Berliner, it’s a Gaia-like concept of oneness with the earth. ‘My life energy has always been about being in nature,’ he says. Cloudburst, he recently told a magazine, ‘is driven by very different considerations than those of my neighbours. It is cultivated differently from any other vineyard in the world.’ Over the years, he’s said a few things that might be thought foolhardy for a fast-talking American in Australia. When I put this to him, he looks for a moment like a 14-year-old unfairly accused of pinching his dad’s cigarettes. ‘I don’t know what you’re referring to,’ he says. How about the idea you’re working to a different rhythm to everyone else? This gets us into a discussion of tall-poppy syndrome, the peculiarly Aussie mechanism by which anyone who puts on airs gets quickly cut down to size. ‘I have been tall-poppied,’ he admits. Some people in Margaret River were threatened by him, he goes on. ‘It’s a normal human characteristic for people to react in a certain way. I understand that, and part of me is very forgiving. But others realise there is great value in having an estate that’s absolutely pure and so small that it demonstrates something. And what we demonstrate is instructive for those who are willing to take a moment and listen.’ And Berliner’s neighbours seem to have got over his tall-poppyness. ‘Will nurtures the wine with his unique personality and it eventuates in Cloudburst as a unique expression of Margaret River,’ Virginia Willcox, head winemaker at Vasse Felix, told me by email. Were his neighbours annoyed by some of his comments? ‘I would hope that all growers have some different considerations to their neighbours. Will is unusually connected to his property and does things his way based on what he feels his plants require.’ The most critical I’ve heard is an off-the-record comment that ‘he’s not a team player.’His farming methods – own-rooted, dry-grown vines, no tilling, wild-yeast ferment in open barrels, no racking or stirring – are not that unusual for a modern artisan wine, but he was ahead of the game when he planted. No-dig mulching, for example, wasn’t that much in vogue in 2005. ‘I did nothing to the soil before I planted. I put down good quality cover crops but basically all I did was poke holes in the ground and stick [in the root]. And sometimes that worked, sometimes you’d have a root that made it on top of a rock and dried up. So there’s a differential from gnarly vines to very skinny vines.’ I care about making a little bit of something extraordinary Many gifted winemakers find it difficult to explain what they are trying to do. Some take recourse in mystical hocus-pocus, others skewer their audience with opaque science. Anyone who ever listened to the late Serge Hochar of Château Musar explaining his white wines will know what I mean.I imagine he got into wine in the same way he got into all his other ventures: learn the subject and do it better than anyone else. But if it had been just that, he’d be farming a lot more than 1.25ha now. He insists he’s not in it for the money, and I believe him. ‘This little bit takes all of me. I don’t give a shit about scaling. I care about making a little bit of something extraordinary. And the thing that has distinguished us, for our customers, is that they get a piece of something that tastes extraordinary.’And so he reaches for a bottle and pours me a glass that is – yes – extraordinary. Explore our full selection of available Cloudburst wines

In this 2025 article for Club Oenologique, Will Berliner talks to Adam Lechmere about arriving in Margaret River with no intention of making wine, producing some of its most expensive cuvées, being ahead of the game and getting ‘tall-poppied’ by the locals.

Will Berliner talks to Adam Lechmere in Club Oenologique’s 2025 article about his Margaret River journey and producing some of its most expensive wines.

The most improbable project ever:Will Berliner on Cloudburst

‘The most improbable project ever’: Will Berliner on Cloudburst

Xiao-Li Meng, Whipple V. N. Jones Professor of Statistics at Harvard and Founding Editor-in-Chief of Harvard Data Science Review, was inspired by a student to combine wine and statistics—leading to insights far beyond what they ever expected.

From wine tastings to data science, Xiao-Li Meng explores how statistics reveals simplicity in complexity – one glass, experiment, and insight at a time.

Wine, statistics & serendipity: A Harvard journey

Seeking simplicity in statistics, complexity in wine, and everything else in fortune cookies 

With Bordeaux’s 2024s now in bottle, our team and guests revisited the vintage at this week’s Union des Grands Crus tasting in London. Three key impressions emerged: A fresh, perfumed, classically styled vintage that can be enjoyed early: most reds from 2027 to around 2045  Whites and Sauternes are the stars; many guests gave the Right Bank the edge among the reds  Real value among the Médoc's lesser-known names  We tasted the bottled 2024s at the Lindley Hall on 3 November. They follow a strong run: 2022, obviously, and 2023, which has turned out some excellent wines in bottle. Next to those, what stood out about 2024 was its style. This is not a monumental vintage, and it doesn't pretend to be. It is fresh, perfumed and, above all, drinkable. A year to open while your 2018s, 2020s, 2022s and 2023s mature.  Over one evening in Vincent Square, more than 500 of our guests tasted alongside château owners and winemakers, from Pauillac to Pomerol and down to Sauternes. Our team worked the room, and afterwards we asked our guests what they made of it all. The evening was busier than the trade session earlier in the day. That tells us something: people want to get in, taste the wines, meet each other and meet the people behind the wine. Thankfully.  A difficult season: the rain set the tone  Few vintages have arrived in bottle under a darker cloud. Spring 2024 was one of the wettest in decades. Mildew pressure was relentless. The en primeur campaign had a lukewarm reception. Fair enough, on paper.  Some context helps. 2022 was a solar vintage of rich fruit and high alcohol; 2023 added precision and structure. 2024 is different again. Our Senior Account Manager, Alanna Baldwin, called it "a welcome return to a more classical, elegant expression of Bordeaux". We agree.  Amanda Melton, one of our Fine Wine Client Partners, described the season as "a meteorological rollercoaster", but one that ended in "a fresh and thankfully balanced vintage" where "the talent of the winemakers shines through". Charles Pashby-Taylor, also a Fine Wine Client Partner, was blunter about what it took. "Those estates with deep pockets will perform better when the going gets tough," he wrote, "but it takes a true winemaker out in the vineyard to work magic under challenging conditions."  In the glass: freshness first  The style in the glass was remarkably consistent. Delicate perfume. Silky to supple tannins. Bright acidity and moderate concentration. Floral notes recurred across the room, from Langoa Barton in Saint-Julien to Pichon Comtesse in Pauillac.  "Freshness," as Charles put it, "should be the buzz word." He is right.  The view from the room: better than its reputation  Our guests arrived with plenty of questions, and some with the doubts the press had raised. Many left impressed by the style. The words we heard most were "approachable", "fresh" and "elegant".  "Better than portrayed in the wine media," wrote one guest. Another, who has followed Bordeaux for decades, called it "a very usable restaurant vintage. Ready to go now", adding that "overall, the wines are better made today". A third described "a cooler Bordeaux vintage – very elegant and fine tannins. Less in alcohol, more fruit driven", and "a labour of love for the producers".  Two views came up again and again. Many guests felt the Right Bank had the edge, with Merlot from Pomerol and Saint-Émilion showing "real freshness". And the whites and Sauternes were popular across the room.  When we asked guests to name their three favourite wines of the evening, Léoville Barton came out on top, followed by Canon and Coutet. Haut-Bailly, Pichon Comtesse, Trottevieille and Brane-Cantenac were close behind. Four of those seven also made our own team's shortlists: Léoville Barton, Haut-Bailly, Pichon Comtesse and Trottevieille. Encouraging.  For the buyer of 2024  So what is the opportunity? Simply put, great claret you can drink soon.  "This is not a vintage that requires patience," said Morgan Richards, our Senior Sales Manager. Our team's drinking windows agree: most reds from 2027 to around 2045, with the best Pessac-Léognan and Sauternes going considerably further.  Dara de Lacy, our Head of Sales, UK, summed the vintage up as "very pretty for the reds, and in keeping with the styles of the estates". As Dara kept saying, "an estate you love generally won't make a wine you dislike, it's simply a question of drinking sooner, or drinking later." Langoa should be "delicious from the get-go", the freshness will suit Saint-Émilion, and the whites are lovely, "where they can be found".  For younger collectors, Alanna argued, 2024 is "an inviting introduction to Bordeaux". For established ones, it is a chance to enjoy great claret "while their 2022s and 2023s continue to mature". Quality is not universal, of course; as in any vintage of this style, the best estates made the best wines. Here is where we would look.  The Left Bank: Saint-Julien, Pauillac and Margaux  The Barton estates led the way in Saint-Julien. Léoville Barton stood out for its structure and ageing potential, a good choice for anyone wanting a wine to cellar. Langoa Barton should not be overlooked. Its floral note makes it the one to drink while Léoville ages. Talbot, as ever, was consistent: smooth and round.  On to Pauillac, where Pichon Comtesse was perhaps the prettiest wine of the evening. Extremely perfumed, with cocoa-powder tannins and mouthwatering acidity.  In Margaux, Cantenac Brown led the line-up: depth, structure, body and acidity, and the most age-worthy wine of the appellation. Lascombes stood out for its touch of mint and black fruit. Kirwan was lighter, but already very complete. And Rauzan-Ségla is a classic example of well-made Bordeaux. Even in a tricky year, extremely elegant.  Pessac-Léognan: the whites led the way  White Bordeaux was one of 2024's great successes, and Domaine de Chevalier Blanc was the standout of the evening. Vibrant acidity carries preserved lemon, green apple, nashi pear and white peach, lifted by jasmine and honeysuckle. Precise, fresh and fine.  Among the reds, Haut-Bailly exceeded high expectations. Soft, supple tannins; blackcurrant, black plum, dark chocolate and violets. Concentration, with restraint. De Fieuzal showed more richness and complexity than several more expensive wines.  Sauternes and Barsac: a dream vintage  While much of Bordeaux struggled through the season, Sauternes did not. Sébastien Olivar, managing director of Rayne Vigneau, called it a dream vintage: abundant noble rot and beautifully preserved acidity.  His Rayne Vigneau offers orange blossom and rosewater, Turkish delight and marmalade, with fresh lime. All for under £50 a bottle. Guests also liked Coutet, praised for its "fabulous rapier-like acidity".  The Right Bank: depth in Saint-Émilion, elegance in Pomerol  In Saint-Émilion, Trottevieille was one of the wines of the night. Most 2024s are about freshness and lightness. Trottevieille has real depth of flavour and should age very well. Valandraud was the find of the evening: polished and charming. Guests kept coming back for another glass.  On to Pomerol. Rouget was very elegant, with blackberry, thyme and mocha. It is made organically and biodynamically by the sixth generation of a Burgundian winemaking family. La Pointe followed close behind: redcurrant, kirsch, graphite and liquorice on a soft, medium-bodied frame.  Where to find value: the Médoc over-delivers  The Médoc’s lesser-known names offered more than their prices suggest. Poujeaux, with mocha, blackcurrant, cedar and winter spice, is almost ready to drink, at £89 for six in bond. Chasse-Spleen, a true classic-style Bordeaux, comes in at around £17 a bottle in bond.  Gloria, a guest favourite on the night, is an ideal way into Saint-Julien for anyone starting their Bordeaux journey, and La Tour de By is already drinking beautifully. All are worth buying to drink. Among the classed growths, Cantenac Brown, at £165 for six, is a standout.  A vintage to drink, not to fear  2024 will not be remembered as a monumental year. We expect it to be remembered as a vintage people actually drank and enjoyed.  Our warm thanks to the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux for their partnership in bringing the 2024 vintage to London, and to all the château owners, winemakers and teams who travelled to share their wines with us and our guests. To talk through the 2024s, or how they sit alongside your 2022s and 2023s, speak to your Account Manager or Fine Wine Client Partner.  Explore all released Bordeaux 2024 

Record rain and a cautious press made 2024 the most doubted Bordeaux vintage in years. In bottle, at the Union des Grands Crus tasting in London, the wines showed far better. 

Bordeaux 2024 exceeded expectations at the UGCB tasting. Explore our team’s highlights and standout wines from a much-debated vintage, now in bottle.

Bordeaux 2024 in Bottle: Highlights from the UGCB Tasting

Bordeaux 2024 in bottle: vintage overview 

St Pierre (Pomerol)

Saint-Julien

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We're in the final stages of upgrading to our brand-new trading platform. As part of this transition, we're currently migrating all customer-owned inventory to ensure a smooth and seamless experience.

Our new and improved platform will be ready for you on Friday, April 4.

Thank you for your patience - we can't wait to show you what's next.

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Sign in to your {name} account to buy, store, value and sell fine wine and spirits, and track your order history and account details.

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Please note: delivery, duty and VAT charges may apply

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About description for demonstration purposes

shows all the items you currently store with us. These items can be sold, delivered or transferred.

At {shortName}

Your allocation will be cancelled. Are you sure you want to continue?

Your pre-order item will be deleted. Are you sure you want to continue?

Your delivery request will be cancelled. Are you sure you want to proceed?

represents all the wines that are in your possession and have been consumed.

This is the price you paid for this item.

Cost price

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The lowest price you're willing to sell at. If the net price goes below this value your listing will be removed.

shows all the items that you have pre-ordered, including en primeur wines, and all the items on your watchlist.

Futures

You can set a floor price on items you're selling based on a % of current unit net value.

You can set a market price on items you're selling based on a % of current unit net value.

shows all the actions that you have taken on items in your Portfolio.

groups every action by type - Purchase, Sale, Delivery, and Inbound Transfer - so it's clear at a glance what happened to each item.

History

shows all the items that are currently in transit to or from {shortName}.

In transit

Local delivery is free for orders over HK$1,800 (to a single location). For orders below this value, delivery is HK$150 for up to four cases and HK$50 per case thereafter.

Shipping starts from €15 within Italy and €45 to Switzerland and the rest of Europe for up to 48 bottles (75cl). Costs vary by destination. Larger shipments can be quoted on request.

The date shown below is when your order will ship from our local warehouse. Your final delivery date, along with full tracking details, will be provided once our team has processed your request.

You can arrange collection from our Retail store on 22nd Floor, 8 Wyndham Street, Central Hong Kong.
Collection times are between 9:30am-13:00 and 14:00-18:00pm, Monday to Friday. We are closed on public holidays.

You can arranged collection from our warehouse STI INTERNAZIONALE SPA, on Viale del Lavoro, 57, 37051 Bovolone, Verona.
Pick-up hours are between 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM and 1:30 PM to 5:30 PM, Monday to Friday. We are closed on public holidays.

This is the current estimated market value for this item.

Manually set prices will be overwritten. Already listed wines are not affected.

Updates all unlisted wines to current market price.

Set all at market

represents all the wines you currently have in your Portfolio that aren't stored with us. Press the

My cellar

Name

Net price

New portfolio available

New portfolio

You do not have any invoices at this time.

shows all the items from your Portfolio that are currently on the market.

On sale

shows all the items you currently have in your Portfolio. You can perform individual actions on them from this page.

Overview

shows any items that are currently awaiting user action.

Pending

This is the dynamic market price of the item with trading margin removed.

This is the amount of profit you will receive if your listing sells.

Pre-authorised payments enable automatic transactions on your behalf, ensuring seamless and hassle-free payments. This allows recurring charges, subscriptions, or scheduled payments to be processed without manual approval each time.

The number of cases you wish to place on sale

Your catalogue item will be archived. Are you sure you want to continue?

Your catalogue items will be archived. Are you sure you want to continue?

Before you request delivery, you can adjust the quantity for each item in your selection below.

*Market price is dynamic and may change. At time of sale a 10% trading fee will be deducted from the final sale price.

Total market price*

The fixed custom price you wish to sell each item for.

Split into {caseSize} individual {bottleSize}cl bottles.

Title

shows all the items you currently store with us. These items can be sold.

Available for sale — items stored with {name} eligible to be listed on the marketplace.

Profile

This item is at FINE+RARE, available for storage, transfer or delivery.
 Most UK deliveries can be made within 3-5 working days, with next day delivery for London;
 an exact date will be available when arranging delivery.
 International deliveries have longer lead-times, please contact us for details.

This item is at FINE+RARE HOME Hong Kong, available for delivery or local pickup. Most Hong Kong deliveries can be made within 3 working days, an exact date will be available when arranging delivery. International deliveries have longer lead-times, please contact us for details.

Wines sold en primeur will be released from the producer after bottling, typically 18 months after the so-called campaign ends. Your wine will then be stored by FINE+RARE in a bonded warehouse until you decide to take delivery.

We will source this item at the guaranteed price from our network of suppliers and arrange expedited shipment to FINE+RARE.
 The lead-time depends on many variables, but 2-4 weeks is typical for expedited sourcing.
 Once your order is confirmed, we'll keep you updated on its ETA.
 Every item is checked on arrival by our expert team, with photographs available on request (please note that charges may apply).

We will source this item at the guaranteed price from our network of suppliers and arrange shipment to FINE+RARE.
 The lead-time depends on many variables, but 6-12 weeks is an average estimate.
 Once your order is confirmed, we'll keep you updated on its ETA.
 Every item is checked on arrival by our expert team, with photographs available on request (please note that charges may apply).

St Pierre (Pomerol)

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