There are sixteen noteworthy 2024 Bordeaux En Primeur Releases this week!

After today’s Bank Holiday duo, this week, there is a flurry of En Primeur activity with no fewer than 16 wines, which I would like to bring to your attention.

2024 Château Cheval Blanc (Saint-Émilion)

48 Cabernet Franc, 46 Merlot, 6 Cabernet Sauvignon: 100% new oak (seven coopers, with a focus on medium toast, for 16-18 months): 12.8% alc: 70% of production contributed to the Grand Vin, which is close to the average

For the third year in a row, it was a great privilege to taste with Arnaud de Laforcade, Commercial & Financial Director at Cheval Blanc.  His detailed background notes inform so much about the flavour and stance of the pair of fascinating and forensically assembled wines made here.  Arnaud explained that only 66% of the harvest was bottled, and from a possible yield of 40 hl/ha, only 28 hl/ha were vinified.  Interestingly, the Cheval Blanc estate footprint has barely changed since 1832, and the joy of this wine is that it uses fruit from virtually all sectors of the estate to build complexity.  Only the sandier plots are regularly relegated to the second wine (which came in in 1988).  The difficulties of the vintage are well documented, and with a six-week-long flowering, irregular ripeness, even within bunches, was the biggest hurdle aside from obvious botrytis concerns.  Sorting was critical here, and this explained the cliff edge difference between potential yields and actual yields, and the fruit in this wine and Le Petit Cheval is pristine.  Cheval Blanc is another property that used a ‘densimetric bath’ to eliminate grapes that looked ripe to the eye but lacked genuine fruit weight and density of ripeness.  The level of care and attention needed to ‘drive’ a Delta Densilys is incredible, and Cheval Blanc has mastered this useful piece of kit.  The ‘baths’ used were plot-specific and considered the required changes that occurred overnight between harvested grapes and those that left the cold room the next day.  This extraordinary attention to detail eliminated significant percentages of sub-standard grapes, resulting in an incredible wine, built on terrific tannins and cool, long, immovable fruit notes.  There is tremendous strictness here, and this is undoubtedly a Cheval Blanc designed for committed purists and life-long devotees of this historic property.  This wine feels discreetly addictive and intellectually challenging.  With no unnecessary generosity or flattery, this is an unflinchingly honest and stunningly refined example of why this Château has remained so famous for nigh on two centuries.  Cheval Club Card holders need only apply, as they have the monastic patience to allow this wine to reach its apogee slowly and deliberately.  In time, 2024 Cheval Blanc will tell the story of its vintage with extraordinary clarity and determination – the twin traits responsible for its creation.  19+/20

2024 Le Petit Cheval (Cheval Blanc)

72 Merlot, 28 Cabernet Franc: 100% used barrels: 12.9% alc

Made from ‘the realm of clay’, eight plots, including some young Cabernet Franc, plus some Merlot on sandier soils.  Arnaud de Laforcade explained that aromatic ripeness was the key here.  Any fruit that showed fennel or dried herb detail over the black fruit tones made the cut.  Whereas anything that tipped over into green pepper/pyrazine notes was ditched.  That said, while Cabernet Franc only accounts for 28% of this wine, it makes itself heard with resonant clarity and direction.  This is a sophisticated and tailored Le Petit Cheval, and it appears to have absorbed the belief that ‘less is more’.  Cool, slender elegance is key in the Cheval Blanc wines in 2024, and there is a distinct absence of showiness or gaudiness.  This wine is made from stunning fabric and classical lines, and the result is a wine that will drink much earlier than the Grand Vin but signposts the direction in which it travels.  So, it is delicious and useful in equal measure!  18/20

2024 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Rouge (Pessac-Léognan)

67 Cabernet Sauvignon, 27 Merlot, 5 Cabernet Franc, 1 Petit Verdot: 60% new oak: 13.2% alc: 22 hl/ha: Harvested between 18 September and 9 October: Harvested between 18 September and 9 October

SHL Technical Director Fabien Teitgen and his team fought tooth and nail against the climatic conditions in 2024 with multiple treatments of copper combined with infusions of oak bark, horsetail, and alder buckthorn.  He believes this helped his organically farmed vines to engender extraordinary resilience during this difficult vintage.  The result is a beautifully elegant wine with sleek curves and thrilling natural purity.  There is a tremendous density of fruit here, coupled with surprising levity and freshness.  These qualities are in perfect proportion, making this a wine with modern brightness and verve built on old-school dimensions.  The tannins are fabulously crisp, making this an unqualified success in 2024.  18.5+/20

2024 Le Petit Smith Haut Lafitte Rouge (Pessac-Léognan) (second wine of Smith Haut Lafitte)

60 Cabernet Sauvignon, 40 Merlot: 30% new oak: 12.8% alc: Harvested between 18 September and 9 October

There is nowhere to hide in 2024, and the gulf between successful wines and those left wanting is immense.  In addition, most wines, even the most delicious and balanced, are relatively easy to inspect.  They are naked and exposed; this lack of artifice makes the best seem even more defined and refined.  As we know, Cabernet is King on the Left Bank, so Le Petit has the edge over the other SHL cuvée, Les Hauts, which leads with Merlot.  The result is a refreshingly classical and stylish wine, bursting with honesty and deep-seated balance.  It will require a good few years to blossom, but this is a hidden gem in 2024.  17.5+/20 QP

2024 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc (Pessac-Léognan)

90 Sauvignon Blanc, 5 Sauvignon Gris, 5 Semillon: 50% new oak: 13.4% alc: Harvested between 29 August and 13 September

As close to perfection as I can remember, this is a spectacular Grand Vin, with super complex flavours and a mid-palate, followed by the length of finish that is nothing short of sensational.  This is also a shockingly delicious wine in a world context.   The detailed perfume, heavenly texture and finely tuned balance conspire to make this a breathtaking creation.  It already seems to have found a near-perfect equilibrium, but it is likely to evolve further for a decade and perhaps two.  The crystalline purity underpinning the staggeringly complex citrus, ginger, and patisserie notes is incredible, and the finish is 15 minutes long.  While there are a number of incredibly pretty white wines in this vintage, SHL is the one that made the biggest impression on my taste memory.  19.5/20

2024 Le Petit Haut Lafitte Blanc (Pessac-Léognan) (Smith Haut Lafitte)

80 Sauvignon Blanc, 20 Semillon: 50% new oak: 12.8% alc: Harvested between 29 August and 13 September

The perfect balance between Sauvignon tanginess and mid-palate Semillon plushness is simply stunning.  This glittering jewel is a phenomenal example of a spectacular ‘second wine’.  This ‘chip off the SHL block’ will drink early and possess the ability to age like clockwork.  It is lighter and more dynamic at this stage than the Grand Vin, so this is the elite pick for at least the next five years while SHL Blanc enjoys its slumber.  18.5/20 QP

2024 Château Ferrière (3ème Cru Margaux, from the G&C Lurton Estates portfolio)

70 Cabernet Sauvignon, 18 Petit Verdot, 10 Merlot, 2 Cabernet Franc: 40% new oak, 40% one-year-old oak, 20% in ovoid vats and amphorae: 12.2% alc: 16 hl/ha: 3.80 pH: Biodynamic since 2018: Harvested from 17 September to 8 October

Half the vineyard is 70 years old, and these vines are responsible for the amazingly dark core of fruit.  But what makes this such a noteworthy wine is that this fruit, while inky and brooding, there is terrific freshness here with a superb crunch of acidity.  Among the darker tones, there are hints of exoticism, and among the suave fruit notes, there is a raspy note throughout, which keeps your taste buds perky and alive.  17.5+/20

2024 Château Durfort-Vivens (2ème Cru Margaux, from the G&C Lurton Estates portfolio)

94.5 Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 Merlot, 0.5 Cabernet Franc: 70% new oak & 30% amphora for 18 months: 13.2% alc: 37 hl/ha: 3.75 pH: Demeter-certified in 2016: Harvested from 23 September to 8 October

With more volume and more red fruit tones than its portfolio partners Ferrière and La Gurgue, this is a superb wine with glorious bitterness, and this character is now a hallmark for this estate, lengthening the palate and bringing a degree of drama to the cherry-soaked fruit.  17.5+/20

2024 Château Haut-Bages Libéral (5ème Cru Pauillac, from the G&C Lurton Estates portfolio)

94 Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 Merlot, 1 Cabernet Franc: 40% new oak, 40% one-year-old oak, 20% in ovoid concrete vats: 13% alc: 3.57 pH: Harvested between 24 September – 4 October

A remarkable brightness of tannin and acidity is evident here, which is amplified by this property’s resolute owners and their dedication to biodynamism.  While the fruit appears less luscious and upholstered than many Pauillacs, the style and accuracy found here are superb.  While many estates have made relatively precocious wines, this is a rapier-sharp and amazingly dynamic wine, loaded with pristine, brittle minerality and stays resolutely honest and impactful, singing the uninterrupted song of its soils.   18+/20 QP

2024 Château La Gurgue (Margaux from the G&C Lurton Estates portfolio)

60 Cabernet Sauvignon, 25 Merlot, 15 Petit Verdot: 12.11% alc: 3.74 pH: 12 hl/ha: Harvested from 25 September to 8 October

There was no botrytis recorded here, which is absolutely remarkable.  Claire Villars-Lurton said that this was wholly due to their Demeter-certified practices.  While Merlot suffered slightly with mildew, Petit Verdot was quite resistant, and Cabernet took the strain in the blend.  The nose here is superb, and there was no need for chaptalisation.  The ripe tannins and gentle extraction mean this is a dark, spicy, gourmand style with innate balance and lip-smacking freshness.  17+/20

2024 Château Montrose (2ème Cru Saint-Estèphe)

80 Cabernet Sauvignon, 17 Merlot, 3 Cabernet Franc: 38 hl/ha: Harvest took place between 23 September and 7 October: 13% press wine

After a very wet Spring, a very dry Summer, and a wet September, Montrose battled the conditions like every other estate, but they were one of the few organic estates that ended up with surprisingly impressive yields.   There was enormous disease pressure here, and they removed leaves in June, a month earlier than usual.  Removing leaves during fruit set is uncommon, but improving the atmospheric conditions around the grapes to fight mildew was crucial.  The teams left lots of grass in the vineyard rows to improve competition between the vines and the grass.  They also preserved the canopy to enhance photosynthesis.  The main aim was to produce sugar and anthocyanins.  A substantial green harvest ensued to concentrate the power of the vines, removing a lot of grapes on younger vines (halving crops) and around 30% of veraison, to remove all the ‘late grapes’.  They also worked especially hard with Merlot, removing the ‘wings’ with a couple of tries.  By this stage, they had never done this much work in the vineyards.  The final exercise was removing leaves on the west side of the vines on the 20th of August.  They usually do this just before harvest.  By the end of August, they had pristine, ripe fruit and a decent yield of 38 hl/ha – remarkable for an organic estate.  In truth, this was a real Bordelais vintage, with classic rainfall and multiple challenges, but they picked all 78 lots, block by block, with perfectly ripe fruit.  In common with the other finest estates, they worked extremely hard on the press wine.   The Montrose theme of the 2024 vintage is ‘Embruns Atlantique’, which translates as Atlantic sea spray or wind-blown breaking waves, which have greatly influenced this magnificent wine.  Made from Terrace 4 only, or the original plantings at Montrose – its name is derived from its historic position as a hillside covered in pink heather (Mont Rose).  The wine itself is super-intense, strict, powerful and staggeringly long.  I sensed a wine built for eternal life because of its incredibly dense fruit tones and magnificent tannins.  That these monumental traits can be delivered with such freshness and cadence is baffling.  I particularly admire the Barolo-like bitterness that teases the taste buds, bringing magical qualities to the finish.  This is an insanely delicious and compelling wine, and it completely took my breath away.  19.5+/20 QP (NB, notes on Terrasse III will appear in my Report)

2024 La Dame de Montrose (Montrose)

73 Merlot, 20 Cabernet Sauvignon, 4 Petit Verdot, 3 Cabernet Franc: 20% foudre with 15% new oak:  38 hl/ha: 13.2% press wine

Juicy, direct, and pristinely clean, with silky fruit, lovely volume, and enticing exoticism, this wine is the light-hearted side of the Montrose story. While the fruit notes are amazingly pure, the finish is loaded with minerality and brightness, and the tannins wait patiently until the finish appears. When they do, they are raw, active and refreshingly delicious.  17.5/20 QP

2024 Château La Gaffelière (Saint-Émilion)

60 Merlot, 40 Cabernet Franc: 60% new oak and 20% amphorae: 13.5% alc

Always showy and exotic, like a candle shop or perfumers, this is a fascinating wine with a swirling vortex of heady oak notes which combine with the roses, violets and an entire greengrocer’s array of berries to make a gorgeously indulgent wine. I am not sure how many glasses I could charge through without needing a change of scene, but I am certain this wine will turn heads, and there will be palates out there who will fall for this degree of showmanship in a moment.  18+/20

2024 Château Haut-Bailly Rouge

58 Cabernet Sauvignon, 40 Merlot, 2 Cabernet Franc: 50% new oak for 16 months: 30 hl/ha: Harvest took place between 18 September and 4 October

Véronique Sanders’s nickname for the 2024 vintage is ‘Singing in the Rain’ – a red umbrella became the unofficial logo for this year!  The humid, oceanic climate presented many challenges in 2024 at Haut-Bailly, and this is yet another elite estate that knuckled down and worked relentlessly in the vineyard, knowing that despite the trials and tribulations, it would all come good in the end.  I encountered a rare sense of luxuriousness and textural silkiness in a handful of the finest wines in 2024, and Haut-Bailly is one such wine.  I don’t often write the words ‘Bonnes-Mares’ about truly great Bordeaux, but there is more than a haunting, ethereal character about this wine that reminds me of the wilder, more densely packed Grand Cru wines from the Côte de Nuits.  The perfume is heart-stopping, more complex and lifted than I can remember, and the fruit is mind-blowingly beautiful, combining levity and profound depth.  Remarkably elongated and refined, there is an unhurried feel that promises the drinker everything will be revealed in the end, but in the meantime, layers of intrigue will be offered up metronomically over the coming decade.  Every nuance will be worth waiting for.  They will eventually combine to create a stunning landscape of glorious, velvety flavours detailed with roses, cherries and deeper, darker, wilder hedgerow notes.  Formal tannins and louche acidity wait patiently until the last moment to greet you like long-lost friends, making 2024 Haut-Bailly an unmissable and uniquely compelling adventure.  19+/20

2024 Haut-Bailly II (Haut-Bailly)

45 Merlot, 45 Cabernet Sauvignon, 8 Petit Verdot, 2 Cabernet Franc: Harvest took place between 18 September and 4 October

An immediately comforting nose here makes you feel welcome and at ease.  This is one of the vintage’s most vibrant and expressive second wines, and it does not necessarily play a different game to its parent Grand Vin.  The impression is of simply a more forward drinking creation, and this will please the impatient among us (my hand is up!).  The delicious red fruit sings with remarkable clarity and levity, and gorgeous black fruit decorations surround this sculpted core.  There is distinct ‘air de Haut-Bailly perfume’ and precision here that is irresistibly melodic and enchanting.  18/20 QP

2024 Château Berliquet (Grand Cru Classé Saint-Émilion)

60 Merlot, 39 Cabernet Franc, 1 Malbec: 37% new oak and 22% amphorae: 13.5% alc: 43 hl/ha: 3.37 pH: Harvested between 20 September and 3 October

I love the perfume, which divides neatly between an intricate, teasing limestone suspension and stunningly complex red and purple florals!  Acidity and fine minerality replace noticeable tannins, and these sensations are both mouth-watering and regal.  These anti-fruit notes provide a platform on which the fruit lounges resplendent, and the resulting balance is sensational.  I feel the transformation at Berliquet is all but complete.  A vintage like 2024 and its challenges bring all facets of this wine into high definition.  While 2017-2019 have been nicknamed ‘the discovery years’ by the team, from 2020 onwards, this wine has been gaining definition and detail, while this is not the richest or the most luxurious vintage, from 2023 onwards, when the new winery was completed, there is a definite augmentation in exoticism and flair.  The use of amphorae brings a sense of tension to the beautiful fruit, and with black and purple fruit notes waltzing on the palate, combined with magical, slender juiciness, this Berliquet is a future classic and another terrific milestone for this famous Château.  18.5+/20

 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.

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