Photo: The author on the vineyards of Chateau Angelus in winter.
Text by: Gleb King
This column is written by the Symbolicwines’ editor-in-chief, Gleb King. The author is a graduate of 3 wine schools, ex-editor of Simple Wine News, National Geographic, Men’s Health and GQ, wine blogger, intern winemaker and a huge wine enthusiast.
For those curious about the subject, we have already explained what the Bordeaux En Primeur system is and how it works here. Every year Symbolic Wines takes part in this event to acquire some promising wines in advance – and there’s no reason for us not to advise you to do the same. So, let’s peep into the future together. The 2025 En Primeur campaign will happen in May-June of this year. There, the 2024 vintage will be displayed to the society via unaged, undressed and raw wines from the respected chateaux. Today, judging by the scarce 2024 vintage reports from the winemakers and analysts, we already may make some assumptions about the quality and price dynamics. Of course, knowing the subject, the scenario of En Primeurs may go in an unexpected manner, but let’s treat ourselves with some fantasy about the forthcoming major event in Bordeaux and go back to this article in spring – to check ourselves. So, what to expect on the 2025 En Primeurs?
The challenges of 2024
Seems like 2024 with its political clashes, wars and other turbulences was an ordeal not only for us, humans, but also for the more intelligent beings: the grapevines. The start of the year gave the Bordeaux winemakers the wettest winter since the 2000s with, however, some freezes. So yes, the brave gardeners fought both with mildew threat and with extremely low °Cs. The spring showed to be cooler and wetter than regular, though the flowering in April was okay. Anyway, the mildew knocked on the door again. In addition to that, at the start of summer, there were some episodes of hail throughout the region. In general, the hot season went normal, but in September the unevenly cool weather returned and some of the winemakers decided to harvest earlier – kind of to end this nightmare. Challenging? Some bloggers declare that 2024 is going to be the worst vintage in decades! Do I agree? No, because, as someone clever once said – there are no bad vintages, only bad winemakers.
The winegrower’s vintage
Those Bordeaux wineries that used organic and biodynamic techniques on vineyards – had surely more instruments to adapt harsh weather conditions. Some of them planted more grass in between the rows to catch the water surplus coming with rains, and some professionally balanced the leaves-bunches ratio to maintain the desired photosynthesis and ripening tempos. Though, as I know, these ways of work are ok in conventional winemaking too. Anyway, those who paid more attention to the vineyards – will do better on En Primeurs. By 2024 Nature itself proves one more time that to go green is not only a measure of fad but is a real way to survive.
The lucky rocky terroirs
As Led Zeppelin sang – if it keeps on raining, the levee’s gonna break, and in 2024 growing season, every Bordeaux winemaker should have understood these blues lyrics at 100%. As we know, in general, we may divide most of the Bordeaux terroirs into marl-clayish and the rocky ones. The latter, of course, has more drainage and lets the water go faster. And those are mostly cabernet-driven wines’ terroirs. So, we may expect the better Graves and Pessac-Léognan, but more challenged St.Emilion and Pomerol. Though, it all, as said before, will depend on the skills of the wineries’ teams.
The author somewhere in the vineyards of Bordeaux
The collector’s year
In general, the cool weather conditions through the growing season are not new to Bordeaux – the 2001 and 2019 are just a few to mention. If winemakers do a good job in years alike, they manage to preserve one very important quality: the acidity. And if so, the wines, with, maybe, some greenish vegetal touch, are a great option for a long-haul evaluation. So, the low-yielding 2024 (15% less than in 2023), if winemakers managed to obtain a good alcohol level, may give us many long-aging and beautifully disclosing wines. The time will show.
The summary
I deliberately don’t pick any of the chateaux as the good guys here, because the scenario after tastings may change dramatically. Also, the game of wine is a game of luck, so, as it’s said, if you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans. But here’s the summary by which anyone of us may guess – which chateaux will “shoot” on En Primeurs:
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The cold and rainy year with very low production
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Only the smart, nature-forward winegrowers win
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Low alcohol and high acidity
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Rocky and pebbly terroirs beat clayish and marlish
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Long-lasting wines with enough power to evaluate long
