An update on the 2025 vintage from Bordeaux

As the 2024 En Primeur campaign ends, we’re taking a quick peak at the 2025 harvest in Bordeaux.

 It is late October and most of the wines have been run off from their fermentation tanks into the mix of different barrels which will host the 2025 vintage as it ages. A decade or so ago, these would be traditional 225 litre oak Bordeaux barrels, often new. Today, walk into a cellar and you will see an array of barrels, large wooden tonneaux (varying between 300 and 600 litres), terra cotta jars, cement tanks, amphora and glass. This mixture of old and modern is sought to bring out the complexity and the character of the vintage. 

 ‘A brilliant vintage’

 The tumult of the harvest is now just a memory. Tools and machinery have been cleaned and stacked away. Cellars have been meticulously hosed down. The pile of marc waiting for the distiller’s truck to come and collect it, will soon be gone. Outside in the vineyard, the tractors and horses ply their way through the vineyard rows, ploughing the soil to dig in the cover crops and stacking the soil around the feet of the vines so that they are ready for their silent winter’s nap.

A feeling of relief, happiness and accomplishment reigns over the region as the Union des Grands Crus of Bordeaux proclaim that 2025 is a “BRILLIANT VINTAGE”. At first, the year was marked by very early picking dates, but yields are sometimes historically low, caused by the peak of a heatwave when temperatures climbed to the dizzy heights of 40°C in August. Until then, the growing season was quite unexciting, and we like it that way. The vines woke up properly escaping the spring frosts and enjoying the sunshine.  The rise in temperatures in May, followed by a hot June punctuated by storms, prepared the ground before the heat waves of July definitively established the early character of the vintage. In August, the heatwaves intensified the concentration and colour of the berries, while the late summer rains sealed the perfect maturity, suggesting ideal conditions for the harvest. For his part, Axel Marchal, Professor of Oenology at the Bordeaux Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences, highlights "the rarity of a vintage spared from health pressures, allowing producers to approach this harvest with serenity.” It was a relief after the drama of mildew which we encountered in 2024. 

Looking forward with optimism

All three categories of Bordeaux wines seemed to have had good results. In the red wines, after the dry summer, the rainy episode at the end of August stopped the accumulation of sugars, allowing reasonable degrees of potential alcohol to be reached (13–13.5°). The different grape varieties display beautiful concentrations with polished tannins. Remarkably balanced and fresh, this very accessible profile is undoubtedly in tune with the times although finer and more elegant this year. For the dry whites: in Graves and Pessac-Léognan, the harvest began very early at the beginning of August, dragging growers away from their summer holidays at the Arcachon Basin. The whites are aromatic, bright and fresh with clean and expressive profiles which are already apparent and showing a certain charm which is already quite expressive. In Sauternes and Barsac, we saw the noble rot (botrytis) spreading through the vineyards very early thanks to the rains at the end of August. This welcome precocity brings freshness and aromatic intensity, a guarantee of balance and complexity. The first juices confirm a very high potential, in a fresh and elegant style. Axel Marchal speaks of Sémillons of “remarkable quality”. “Despite a hot summer, 2025 displays a classic style, perfectly in tune with the times: balanced, fresh, with silky tannins,” emphasizes François-Xavier Maroteaux, President of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux.

In a demanding climatic and commercial context, 2025 seems to have produced a resolutely modern vintage. Far from being overripe, it seduces with its freshness and accessibility, perfectly in tune with market expectations. Bordeaux looks forward, with a certain degree of optimism, to presenting the vintage to the wine trade during the Primeurs Week (the wine trade’s answer to Fashion Week) from April 20th to the 23rd, 2026. Save the date to see if the wines live up to their promise.

Fiona Morrison M.W.