A Vintage to Love

After tasting nearly 1,100 barrel samples of 2023 vintage, the verdict is that it compares favourably to some of the region's great years, but with even more precise winemaking.

- JAMES SUCKLING

Three weeks in Bordeaux tasting nearly 1,100 barrel samples of the 2023 vintage and meeting more than 100 wine producers face-to-face gives you a broad view of a young vintage whose wines are now lying in cellars.

I still remember the smile on my face the first time I tasted a red 2023 during a meeting on April 4 with Olivier and Adrian Bernard of Domaine de Chevalier, the respected wine estate in the Pessac-Leognan appellation.

"This is going be fun and the wines should be excellent quality," I thought to myself, despite some negative publicity about high levels of mildew last June, which reduced grape yields for a number of vineyard owners but did not affect the quality for the best ones. In fact, many of the vineyard growers I talked to spoke of "large" or even "huge" grape yields, which could have had more of a negative effect on the quality for some winemakers.

"The 2023 is really classic," said Eric Kohler, the Technical Director of Chateau Lafite Rothschild. "I'm very confident. It really is Bordeaux." Added Fabien Teitgen, the Technical Director of Château Smith Haut Lafitte: "We have the ripeness from a warm vintage, but you don't taste it. It remains fresh."

I've seen a lot of young vintages of Bordeaux in my time. This year was my 41st vintage of young Bordeaux tasting from barrel. The first vintage I reviewed as a young taster for Wine Spectator was 1982-and I've never missed a vintage from barrel in Bordeaux since.

I think a few vintages of the past and present compare to 2023, such as 2019 or 2016 and something older like 2001 or 1996 or 1995. They all had ripe, balanced fruit and firm tannins with slightly lower alcohol and lower pH (strength of acidity) compared with hotter years.