2022 was one of the earliest harvests ever, with most of the Cabernet Sauvignon (and Merlot) on the left bank picked before the end of September. Yet maturity was at a peak level thanks to the conditions that had prevailed throughout the year. Sugar levels were about the same as those found in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and ‘the level of phenolic ripeness comparable to or already higher than the highest levels recorded in recent vintages’, according to the ISVV official vintage report.
Acidity levels were low but picked up during the alcoholic fermentation, pHs being about correct (and lower than expected). Add in the fact that all five prerequisites for a great red-wine vintage as defined by the late Professor Denis Dubourdieu were met (quick, even flowering; correct conditions for early ripening; end of vegetative growth before veraison; ripe grapes with optimum photosynthesis; clement conditions for harvesting) and the scene was set for a potentially great year.
This has been confirmed in the tastings that have taken place over the past couple of weeks. The Cabernet Sauvignon is deeply coloured and firmly structured yet genial and surprisingly fresh with the Merlot also lending structure and a fine quality of fruit. Body and aroma have also been reinforced in several cases using a reasonable amount of press wine (17.5% for Ch Lafite, 28% for the total production at Ch Margaux). ‘With the tiny berries this year, the first pressings were more like free-run juice’, comments Philippe Bascaules, managing director of Ch Margaux. Petit Verdot also did well on soils that avoided water stress.
Alcohols on the left bank are admittedly on the high side, with 14% to 14.5% a regular occurrence, 15% not unknown, 13.5% more of a rarity. It adds to the power of the wine and glossy feel on the palate and, providing there is freshness and balance, it is not overtly noticeable. However, I did find several wines where the oak uptake was pronounced and wondered if there was any connection. Let us hope that future tastings of these wines will find better integration.
All in all, I found the characteristics of most of the appellations respected. Pauillac and St-Estèphe exuded power and concentration and St-Julien mellow fruit and a certain distinction. Margaux, as is often the case, was more varied, the terroir and winemaking playing a part, but also the higher alcohol, which provided more power. There was less rain in Margaux in June (Margaux 82 mm/3.2 in cf Pauillac 134 mm/5.3 in) and with the drier gravelly soils the berries reduced in size, yields dropped and sugar potential increased. All told, whatever the denomination, these are wines for long ageing providing, as I warned in my overview, they receive careful protection and élevage.
Everyone who has tasted the wines will agree that the quality and character of the 2022 vintage in Bordeaux is a surprise. How did conditions so extreme deliver wines of such aromatic range and freshness? How can wines of such density and structure exhibit such textural refinement and charm? After several weeks of intensive tasting and hundreds of visits to wineries, this article will offer some answers to that complex question. But for readers contemplating en primeur purchases, it is even more important to understand that the 2022 vintage is an amplifier, foregrounding differences between sites, viticultural practices and winemaking choices.
That explains not only the vintage’s potential greatness, but also its heterogeneity. Bordeaux has produced some monumental wines in 2022, but unlike many of the great vintages of the 20th century, the year was not a rising tide that raised all boats. At its best, this is a vintage of remarkable concentration, energy and harmony; but far from forgiving mistakes, 2022 punished them, and the less-successful wines are jammy, astringent and rustic. And where sunny vintages such as 2018 sometimes efface differences between sites and styles, 2022 has thrown them into heightened relief. This is true at every level of the hierarchy, and terroirs conventionally thought to be of only modest potential were also capable of delivering brilliant results this year.
What were the conditions that delivered this remarkable vintage? A cool, dry winter segued into a warm spring, with an early budbreak and flowering in mid-May in ideal conditions. The vines adapted to scarce reserves of water by more modest vegetative growth thereafter, producing fewer lateral shoots, and good rainfall in June helped to prepare the vineyards for what was to come. Extreme heat waves in mid-June, mid-July and mid-August set new records for the region, hitting 105 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius); and despite a good fruit set, the lack of water and intense sunlight delivered smaller-than-average grapes with thick skins. Harvest began in late August and concluded by the end of September. The vagaries of precipitation from place to place, and the hail that struck the northern and southern Médoc and the environs of Fronsac in June, did little to change the overall picture.
It’s no surprise by now that Bordeaux experienced record-setting drought and heat in 2022. “We are more stressed out than the vines were,” Alexandre Thienpont told me at Vieux Château Certan, echoing a refrain I heard often during my visits. Even driving throughout Bordeaux in April 2023, the signs of drought were evident in parched, brown trees in forested areas. Some compare 2022 to 2003, but I don’t see that at all. I lived in Europe that year, a year in which 40 days of non-stop, brutal heat day and night escalated into a public health crisis. Two thousand twenty-two is far more nuanced than that. The wines are even more surprising, as they do not correspond at all to the archetypes of vintages with these hot, dry conditions.
In short, much of 2022 can be explained by four factors:
1. Heat and drought started early and were constants throughout the year, rather than shock events.
2. The end of the growing season saw cool nights, which is always beneficial in preserving freshness.
3. Technical Directors have become far more accustomed to dealing with very warm, dry years.
4. Knowhow in the vineyard and technology in the cellar have advanced meaningfully over the last twenty years, giving winemakers the tools to make decisions that were simply not available in the past.
The top 2022s are positively riveting. These are some of the most compelling young Bordeaux wines I have ever tasted. Perhaps more interesting for the consumer, a number of the top performers aren’t the usual suspects, although many of those did quite well. One of the surprises of the year is the quality of the Merlot, which is stellar in many wines on the Right Bank. “All of these years, we have been told that Merlot is going to be severely challenged by climate change, but the 2022s show that might not be the case after all,” Christian Moueix told me, barely containing his glee for the variety he has long championed. At some properties such as Ducru-Beaucaillou blends favor a bit more Merlot because Cabernet yields were lower.
Beyond the very best wines, quality starts to become less consistent. Some 2022s feel overly tannic, as if yields were too low to make balanced wines. Alcohols in some wines are higher than the norm for Bordeaux, but generally not as high as in 2018. Acidities are on the lower side, typically lower than in 2018. Readers will observe a high percentage of press wines in many 2022 reds. Here, too, technical data requires some context. Because extractions were so gentle, quite a bit of juice was left enrobing the berries, so the press lots in the 2022s are very high-quality lots that are also different in terms of quality from those of the past. Ultimately, wines are not defined by blend percentages, alcohol, pH, tannin levels or any other technical parameter but rather by the balance and integration of all of these (and other) elements. In the end, each wine has its own story.
Tasting en primeur only provides a glimpse of a young wine’s potential. A quick look back at 2019 and 2020 might be helpful. Barrel samples in both vintages were promising. In time, bottle tastings revealed that the 2019s were less consistent throughout, while the 2020s were much more homogenous, especially among wines from smaller properties and lesser appellations. With the 2022s, the barrel samples already reveal considerable heterogeneity. That will only be amplified over time. In short, though, I came away from my tastings feeling that a number of wines are a bit fragile and that élevage will make or break them.