Bordeaux 2022 at Two Years: Bottles to Buy
There is only one question you should ask yourself when weighing up a Bordeaux 2022 buying decision.
Can I afford it?
I say this because, in terms of quality, and restricting my comments to the red wines, buying into the 2022 vintage is what might be termed a no-brainer. The wines are, at a very elementary level, simply delicious; they are gorgeously aromatic wines with unprecedented floral complexities, now giving way to gloriously fresh yet dark fruit character; and they have beautifully formed palates, sinewy and polished, but also elegant and bright. These features come supported by ripe tannins but also appropriate levels of acidity, keeping a sense of freshness alive in the wines.
They taste this way now; they will only taste better in ten, fifteen or twenty years.
There are other reasons – beyond mere immediate pleasure (although does anything else really matter when it comes to wine?) – why you should consider buying into this vintage. First, slipping on my academic’s trencher cap for a moment, this is a fascinating, cerebrally stimulating vintage to taste and drink because it offers a complete paradox; a dry and sunny growing season which engendered the textures and flavours typical of a warm vintage, but with the aromatics, acidity and freshness of a much cooler year. It is a paradox which reminds us that it is not possible to simply sum up a vintage as warm, cool or something between the two; we have to look at the timing of the heat as well. Before or after the véraison? Before or during the vendanges? Earlier rather than later? Or vice versa?
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