Bordeaux EP Tasting Week – Cult Wines’ favourites from a unique vintage

There’s nothing quite like a week in Bordeaux to remind you why it’s great to be involved in the fine wine world. We’ve already profiled the regional market outlook and the potential for the 2022 EP campaign. But Cult Wines’ experience on the ground during the EP tasting week brought fresh insights into this historic region’s dynamism beyond the numbers.

First Growths

Second Wines

Super Seconds

QPR

“Tasting during En Primeur week is always a whirlwind, zig-zagging across the region to more than 10 châteaux per day and often tasting multiple wines per visit. But it’s never hard to find the energy among all the grand châteaux, the hospitality, and the great wines - Bordeaux never ceases to inspire,” explains Hermione Egerton-Smith, Cult Wines’ Senior Bordeaux Buyer.

Days usually begin around 7:30am, and we’re not often back in the city until 12 hours or more later, teeth stained purple, a myriad of tasting notes filling our notepads. We’re often asked how, after tasting over 100 wines across dozens of visits, can our palates differentiate between wines and how can we keep track of the many discussions and insights from each visit?

The answer lies in Bordeaux itself. This is where the region’s grandeur works in its favour. Each producer boasts a historic, fairy-tale-splendid château, which means each one makes a distinct impression as we pull up the long driveways. Even though we are among thousands of guests visiting over the week, the interior setups exude tranquillity, helping us focus on the new wines.

Here, we go beyond the high-level vintage view by delving into what we learned from our week meeting producers, negociants and tasting through the unique 2022 vintage.

Cult Wines’ main takeaway from 2022:

1. Heterogeneous & unique – The 2022s are distinct from other recent top vintages. Bordeaux isn’t short of high-quality vintages in recent years (2015, 2016, 2018-2020), but we think the 2022s offer a unique profile that can’t easily get compared to any of these recent benchmarks.
   
   The best 2022s managed to weave together silky concentrated fruit with deep savoury minerality. This first characteristic made many of the wines enjoyable even at this young age. Long mineral finishes, however, really make the best 2022s something special and raise expectations that these wines will remain among Bordeaux’s better vintage long into their lifespans.
   
   Unlike some other top vintages, the 2022s were not uniform. Harvest timing and managing extraction before and during fermentation were key to rein in the power of the hot 2022 growing season. Occasionally wines came across as overly dense and tannic, reminiscent of new world wine stereotypes.
   
   
2. Vines adapting – Different theories abound as to the cause of the distinct savoury finishes to many of the wines, which were especially pronounced on some of our favourite left bank wines from Château Lafite to Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion. Many of our hosts gave an explanation about how the vines’ root systems have adapted by digging deeper into the mineral layers of the terroir.
   
   This forms one of many ways the vines seem to be adapting to the changing climate. Several people we spoke to opined that had the extreme conditions of 2022 struck a few decades ago, the results would not have been the same. But Bordeaux experienced hot vintages in 2018 and 2020, and it seems the vines are becoming acclimatised to dryer, warmer summer weather.
   
   
3. Investment matters – The vines are not the only thing adapting in Bordeaux. The growers and winemakers have made big changes that helped them cope and, in most cases, thrive in 2022. In a vintage with so much power and tannins, investments in technology and equipment to improve berry selection and sorting proved their worth.
   
   Many producers spoke of how more rigorous and precise grape sorting methods leads to greater consistency during different vintages. Others, especially those with brand new cellars, explained how added space for additional fermentation vessels allowed them more flexibility to ferment and age parcels separately, which can improve precision in the final blend. Many estates have also increased the biodiversity of their vineyards, which helped the soils retain moisture during the hot summer.
   
   
4. Merlot’s not dead – Both Merlot and Cabernet (Franc and Sauvignon) excelled in 2022. The success of Merlot caught many by surprise as some commentators have warned that the warming climate could hurt Merlot.
   
   The adaptions described above were vital in Merlot’s ability to thrive in 2022. Harvesting too late risked excessive alcohol or overripe, jammy Merlot. If extraction wasn’t managed just right, the final wines came out overly tannic and dense. The best winemakers were able to learn from the previous hot vintages and refine their decisions in these departments in 2022.

First Growths

Super Seconds

QPR