Château Petit Bocq: Tasting & Drinking
While Château Petit Bocq only has a short history, there is no denying the quality of the wines. Having encountered them as barrel samples during the primeurs, and as bottled wines also tasted during my visits to Bordeaux, or sometimes at events hosted by the Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, I have consistently found joy in these wines.
Looking to recent vintages, I thought the little triumvirate of vintages that came at the end of the second decade of this century to be the strongest, with 2019 showing particularly well, followed closely by 2020 and 2018. Looking back another year I also thought the wine punched above its weight in 2017, a difficult vintage as many vineyards suffered in the spring frosts which blighted the Bordeaux region. Perhaps the very parcellated nature of the Petit Bocq vineyard helped in this regard, as clearly some parcels will have been hit much less hard than others, and this arrangement may have facilitated a more delineated response to the damage done.
The 2021 vintage was less of a charmer, but this was a difficult year, having again been plagued by frost and other viticultural miseries. More surprising was the 2022, which showed a very robust and drying structure when tasted from barrel, but it is early days for this vintage, which clearly needs reassessment from bottle. I look forward to the opportunity to do that. The same could be said of the 2023 vintage, which showed well when tasted as a barrel sample. (17/7/24, updated 27/12/25)
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