Noteworthy Bordeaux En Primeur releases tomorrow – 21st May 2025

There are a couple of noteworthy wines released tomorrow, and here are my favourites!

2024 Château Ausone, Saint-Émilion

65 Cabernet Franc, 35 Merlot: 100% new oak for 20 months in underground quarries: 13.6% alc: The Merlot was harvested on 30 September and 1 October, and the Cabernet Franc was harvested on 4 and 5 October

An extreme selection was carried out at Ausone, resulting in an amazingly focused and unwavering style of wine.  They employed a very gentle extraction here, which brought out the fruit’s full potential, which was, thankfully, fully ripe and gloriously complex.  Alongside the indefatigable depth of flavour comes incredible composure.  While this wine is an enormous step up on the second wine, La Chapelle, which dutifully did the bidding of its master by sacrificing its Merlot, the result is undoubtedly one of the most long-lived wines of the vintage, given the tannin structure, which is unlike any other wine.  There is a cathedral of tannin here, with amazingly revitalising acidity, and these twin traits underpin a severity and strictness of fruit of the likes I have not seen anywhere else in 2024.  The nose is stunning, and the build quality is exacting.  Given the sensational rigour and determination, this wine will not be to everyone’s tastes.  There is an impression that each individual berry has joined forces with its teammates to elevate this wine to a new plane.  Typically atypical and shockingly addictive, this is one of the wines of the season, and you will have to wait 25 years before pulling a cork to see this for yourself.  19.5++/20

2024 Chapelle d’Ausone, Saint-Émilion (second wine of Ausone)

85 Cabernet France, 15 Cabernet Sauvignon: 100% new oak for 20 months: 12.8% alc: Certified organic

This is a noteworthy Chapelle, not least because it is made exclusively from the two Cabernets!  The property’s finest Merlot went into the Grand Vin at Ausone, leaving this wine with a lovely, long, bright and uniquely tangy blackberry-leaf-infused flavour.  There is an astonishing balance here, and while it could end up having the attitude and aggression of a Super-Chinon, it ends up being a product of its location, with amazing length and tenderness.  Bizarre and beguiling, this wine is a genuine collector’s item in 2024.  17.5+/20

2024 Château Léoville Poyferré (2ème Cru Saint-Julien)

64 Cabernet Sauvignon, 27 Merlot, 8 Cabernet Franc, 1 Petit Verdot: 80% new oak for 18-20 months: 13% alc: 3.71 pH: 63 IPT: Harvested between 24 September and 10 October

Poyferré starts quietly with a lovely, gentle, dark-fruited nose, and then it grows relentlessly on the palate.  The depth and sophistication here are a result of the epic terroir in perfect harmony with the fabulous viticultural team, whose efforts have been rewarded with a deeply resonant red and purple fruited wine that not only wows visitors but also seems to have shocked its creators with its precision.  They are so close to their wines, and they know all too well how tiring this vintage was, and yet I always encourage vignerons to stand back and admire their portfolio of commendable wines.  All too often, it is easy to become caught up in the minutiae and not realise just how unbelievably beautiful the wines are.  This 2024 is a thoroughbred – and yet it is not a massive muscular beast, but one built for agility and performance.  It is also a benchmark Poyferré, and this is what I most admire about its construction.  18.5+/20    

2024 Château Figeac, Premier Grand Cru Classé A

39 Cabernet Sauvignon, 33 Merlot, 28 Cabernet Franc: 100% new oak: 13% alc: 3.66 pH: 31 hl/ha: Harvested between 20 September and 5 October

Blandine de Brier Manoncourt kindly explained that a massive 21% of the fruit was eliminated from this wine after super-strict sorting and re-sorting were ruthlessly employed in the winery.  The result is a stunning nose that acts as a fabulous welcome, followed by a velvety, succulent, super-complex, and enveloping palate.  There is no dip, just relentlessly silky, mouth-filling fruit notes that romance the senses with elegance, length and coolness.  In addition, the finish is not overtly tannic, just crisp and alert with its barely visible tannins and crystalline acidity.  The Cabernet Sauvignon, in particular, has done a stellar job in straightening the whole wine up, giving it a fabulous length and control.  Apparently, the signs of greatness were evident in the vineyards as the seeds were already ripe in August.  All that was needed was a decent hang time to build complexity, and the conditions were favourable, albeit tense!  The crew was patently aware of the phenolic perspective and potential here, and all that was required was patience. No fewer than 80 vineyard staff were on standby for harvest, and as these specialists come back to Figeac year after year, they are superbly well-drilled, amazingly reliable and precise.  Their skill and dedication have paid off.  In common with the other elite wines of this challenging vintage, the property’s hallmarks are telegraphed directly and unflinchingly throughout this wine, meaning Figeac’s incredible identity is plain.  As Blandine says, “The identity of Figeac is to say hello to the pebbles and feel the air.”  And it is overwhelmingly evident that she has helped rediscover and elevate the identity of this remarkable property.  This is a spectacular wine.  19/20

2024 Château Lafon-Rochet (4ème Cru Saint-Estèphe)

72 Cabernet Sauvignon, 25 Merlot, 3 Cabernet Franc: 40% new oak, 10% wooden casks & 10% concrete vats: 13% alc: 3.67 pH: 67 IPT: Harvested between 24 September and 9 October

I enjoyed my romp around the wines from the Lorenzetti family portfolio, and as a long-term fan of Lafon-Rochet, having missed out on tasting a couple of vintages in the last few years, it was a joy to taste this delicious wine.  The intention here is to bring more refinement and more definition to the wines, and this was achieved in 2024.  While the perfume and front of the palate are bright, correct, and teasing, the main action happens as the violet and blackcurrant notes expand towards the finish, where the tannins cascade perfectly, ending in a classically dimensioned and perfectly tailored finale.  This is an excellent vintage for Lafon-Rochet and another confident step forward for this superb property.  18+/20 QP

2024 Château Pédesclaux (5ème Cru Pauillac)

68 Cabernet Sauvignon, 21 Merlot, 10 Cabernet Franc, 1 Petit Verdot: 50% new oak: 13% alc: 3.66 pH: 55 IPT

This is the third certified organic vintage at Pédesclaux, and despite the conditions, the team stayed the course.  There is generosity and a palpable sense of pride in this wine, which manifests itself with roundness, ripeness and a pinpoint accurate flavour. It is forward, and I imagine cunning collectors will consider drinking this wine young to capture its energy and flair!   17.5/20 QP

Membership supports matthewjukes.com 

MATTHEW JUKES SCORE CONVERSION CHART

As a wine taster and writer, I prefer you to read my words rather than focus on my scores.  This is why I rarely score wines unless I write an extensive report like this one.  I believe that scores taken from the context of tasting notes are essentially meaningless.  I describe my featured wines fully so you can imagine the aroma, shape, and flavour.  Scores don’t help with this.  You will know that several different scoring methods are used in the global wine trade.  Most of my wine-writing colleagues have been tempted to the dark side, using the 100-point rating system.  A few, usually older types, cling to the venerable five-star rating.  As you know, I favour the 20-point score.  It’s how I was taught and dovetails nicely with how I judge wines.  For those unfamiliar with the 20-point scoring system, here is a table that translates it into various other formats.

AND THERE IS MORE – Every year, when I write my Burgundy En Primeur Report, I select only the Rapport Qualité Prix (which I shorten to QP) wines that represent stunning quality and accuracy combined with fair pricing. It is these wines I make a fuss about, and I am extremely strict about only featuring the very most important of the campaign.  Fair pricing is a commodity that has avoided Bordeaux for many years, causing global consternation and, in most cases, a tacit boycott of many of the wines. If wines are released with timid reductions this year or come out with more expensive pricing than any comparable bottled wines already on the market, then I regard this as a miss.  So, for the first time, I will add QP accreditation to my very favourite Bordeaux En Primeur wines. Suppose these wines are released at appropriate prices (which I deem to be in the 30% reduction compared to last year’s prices, and somewhere along the pricing of the 2014s for the most expensive wines). In that case, you should seriously consider buying them.  Remember that lower-priced wines cannot possibly reduce their prices by tens of percentage points because of ever-rising costs.  Bordeaux is a multichannel region, and it must work together across all price points to entice collectors back to the market.  There ought to be fascinating wines available at all prices in 2024.