Bordeaux 2022 at Two Years: Appellation Bordeaux
As I head at breakneck speed towards the conclusion of this series of reports on the recently bottled Bordeaux 2022 vintage (which will of course finish with my imminent foray into Sauternes), there is one more instalment that must first be published, on the wines of the generic Bordeaux appellation. As always I find this a fascinating report to pull together, as it takes in wines from the most renowned châteaux, down to wines from little known and easily overlooked properties, as well as a few (although their numbers seem to be on the rise) rule-breakers working without an appellation.
Among the famous names we have the white wines from Margaux, Cheval Blanc, Cos d’Estournel and Lafleur (in the shape of Les Champs Libres) and even a brand new whites from Pichothieun-Baron and Pichon-Lalande, as well as representatives from the ever-growing band of dry white wines produced in the Sauternes region. In this report that means new and new-ish cuvées from Climens, Suduiraut, Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Guiraud and Coutet, not to mention the ultimate poster child for dry whites in this region, Clos des Lunes, where Olivier Bernard and team take the fruit from a multitude of minor Sauternes châteaux and fashion it into a small portfolio of highly successful dry whites.
Among the reds there are some similarly exalted names, such as Tempo from Angélus, and Les Perrières, again from the Guinaudeau family, and both Balthus and the Grand Vin de Reignac from Reignac. But, as hinted above, there is also a host of minor châteaux turning out decent early-drinking reds.
And then there are the aforementioned rule-breakers, wines made as Vin de France, usually because of the esoteric varieties. These include Gros Manseng, Viognier, Chardonnay, Savagnin and this year, for the first time, the long-forgotten Bordeaux variety Merlot Blanc.
