- Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate has published its Bordeaux 2022 report, scores and tasting notes.
- The two reviewers, William Kelley and Yohan Castaing, awarded three wines the top score of 99-100 points.
- 2022 strikes by its ‘potential greatness’ but also by its heterogeneity, according to Kelley.
As the trade returns from En Primeur tastings, the Wine Advocate has published its Bordeaux 2022 scores. This year, William Kelley was joined by Yohan Castaing in order to offer ‘deeper, better-researched and a more timely vision of contemporary Bordeaux’, according to the former.
For Kelley, the 2022 wines were ‘a surprise’. Following a growing season characterised by intense heat and drought, the critic was impressed by the wines’ ‘aromatic range and freshness’, their ‘textural refinement and charm’.
However, the picture isn’t rosey all round. If the sun and heat have proven advantageous for some domains, the quality of wines produced is heterogeneous, according to the critic. Kelley describes the less-successful wines in the vintage as ‘jammy, astringent and rustic’. Interestingly, he highlights the results are mixed at all levels of the hierarchy, with some of the more underrated terroirs producing great wines. As a result, 2022 is ‘not a year to buy blind’.
Kelley also points out that ‘the quality of second wines is especially high this year’; ‘the best second wines in 2022’, he says, ‘exhibit similar structure and texture to their grand vin counterparts’ and ‘merit more serious consideration this year’. Because of this, some estates (Cheval Blanc, Giscours, Corbin) have chosen not to produce a second wine.
Pricing-wise, the critic echoes the feeling of the trade that ‘few Bordeaux négociants will be able to absorb a vintage that doesn’t sell through to the end consumer’, weary of the ‘bullish’ pricing discussions at the start of the year. However, he did find grounds for optimism and hopes that high prices of the most collected estates won’t ‘distract from the riches contemporary Bordeaux has to offer’. We discuss this year’s campaign and the issue of pricing in our En Primeur report. Liv-ex members can read it here.
Wine Advocate’s top-scoring Bordeaux 2022 wines so far
Kelley and Castaing found potential perfection in eight wines. However, only three were awarded their top score of 99-100 points: Canon, Les Carmes Haut-Brion and Montrose.
According to Kelley, Canon 2022 is ‘a magical wine that will be worth every effort to track down’, one ‘built for the ages’. Castaing singled out Les Carmes Haut-Brion 2022 as ‘a strong candidate for the title of wine of the vintage’, calling it ‘one of the most singular, characterful wines being produced in the region today’.
Also in the top ten Bordeaux 2022s according to the Wine Advocate, we find Figeac (98-100 points), Léoville Las Cases, ‘one of the wines of the vintage’ according to Kelley, and Troplong Mondot.
Our Bordeaux En Primeur 2022 page contains everything you need to know about this year’s campaign. You can also sign up for our daily En Primeur email alerts using the form below.
Liv-ex analysis is drawn from the world’s most comprehensive database of fine wine prices. The data reflects the real time activity of Liv-ex’s 620 merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £100m of bids and offers across 16,000 wines.
