Bordeaux Futures: Peter's Thoughts on 2025

Peter’s Thoughts on 2025

Arriving in Bordeaux for En Primeur Week this year, I expected the wines to reflect a hot vintage, perhaps similar to 2003. Instead, the 2025s revealed a profile much closer to the great 2022, 2016 or 2010 vintages, with freshness, energy, and balance standing out across the best wines. Some Châteaux noted that the summer heat was even more extreme than in 2022, but well-timed rainfall and a cooler harvest period helped preserve acidity, resulting in wines with moderate alcohol, vibrant fruit, and impressive structure. 

After tasting more than two-hundred-barrel samples over four days, I found a number of great and outstanding wines that clearly rose above the vintage. St-Estèphe and St-Julien were especially impressive, showing remarkable consistency and producing some of the most compelling wines of the year. Elsewhere, quality was more variable, particularly on the Right Bank. 

On the Left Bank, the more clay-rich soils gave St-Estèphe a great advantage, retaining enough moisture to help the vines avoid hydric stress. Its northern exposure also helped keep the wines classically concentrated, while still elegant and balanced, resulting in outstanding wines across the appellation. St-Julien retained its classical, terroir-expressive character, even with some of the lowest yields in the Médoc. Pauillac embraced the concentration of the vintage, producing some of the most structured wines, with excellent cellaring potential. Margaux, being such a vast and diverse appellation, showed more variation, but the best examples expressed their own distinctive identities beautifully. Overall, the Médoc produced wines with power, precision, and moderate, restrained alcohols. 

On the Right Bank, Pomerol emerged with consistent quality, benefiting from its blue clay-rich soils. With some of the lowest yields in Bordeaux, allocations will be limited, but the top wines showed impressive concentration and poise. St-Émilion was more varied and among the riper expressions of the vintage, though several Châteaux on the limestone plateau produced some of the truly outstanding wines of 2025. 

Pessac-Léognan delivered precise, mineral-driven red wines with purity and definition. The white wines were more selective, with only a few Châteaux producing truly great examples, resulting in a smaller but very focused selection of the most outstanding whites for this campaign. Sauternes showed good fruit concentration and a more approachable style, with less emphasis on botrytis, making many of the wines enjoyable in their youth. 

For 2025, I focused Willow Park’s selections on the Châteaux that delivered the greatest quality, structure, and long-term potential. Despite very low yields, pricing has remained quite close to the approachable 2024 releases, making this a particularly exciting opportunity for collectors and enthusiasts alike. The wines of this vintage will be approachable in their youth, while still carrying the balance and structure needed for top cellaring potential. 

Top Recommendations: 

• Château Léoville Las Cases 

• Château Montrose 

• Château Troplong Mondot 

• Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion 

• Château Pontet-Canet 

Honourable Mentions: 

• St-Estèphe – Château Phélan Ségur 

• Pauillac – Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 

• St-Julien – Château Léoville Barton 

• Margaux – Château Rauzan-Ségla 

• Pessac-Léognan – Château Haut-Bailly Rouge & Domaine de Chevalier Blanc 

• St-Émilion – Château Beauséjour Bécot 

• Pomerol – Château Clinet