2019 Barolo is a puzzler. Without doubt it is a highly successful vintage – that part isn’t at all puzzling. Tasting widely across the region last October quickly confirmed that impression. What is puzzling is the nature of the wines in the glass relative to climatic conditions – in simple terms, the wines reveal a much more classic profile than many growers expected, they don’t reveal the character traits associated with wines produced from a vintage with a notably hot summer.
On paper, 2019 shouldn’t necessarily reveal this classical, cool profile. The 2019s belie the fact that they are the product of a warmer year. Budbreak took place in early spring only to be followed by a wet April and May. By June, the weather pattern shifted dramatically with growers recounting that temperatures shot up to the high 30s. July had some significant rainfall, but remained hot. The pattern changed again in August when a period of more settled warm and dry weather kicked off, leading to a more optimistic outlook on the vintage as we entered September. The diurnal shift is really important to the ripeness of Nebbiolo – cool nights and warm days are ideal for the final phase of ripening, ensuring aromatics and freshness are retained along with fully ripe tannins. When we discuss Barolo vintages, words like ‘classic’ are often employed to indicate a later harvest – the implication being that it was cooler year, though as 2019 shows, the weather pattern can be more complex than that. The weather eased back from the extreme to permit a harvest towards mid-October, but to term 2019 a cool vintage seems erroneous.
Elements of the 2019s reminded me of 2010 and 2013, both vintages that showed freshness but a more evident tannic structure than some Barolo vintages, but neither comparison clicked completely. Asking growers for insight into vintage comparisons did not prove particularly fruitful either, as climate change has led to the impression that Barolo has entered a new era. This point is hard to stress enough – in the 1990s, growers were leaf-plucking to expose the fruit as they struggled to attain full ripeness, nowadays growers are training neighbouring rows higher to provide additional shade to the fruit. Volte-face hardly covers the extent of the change in approach. A recent fine run of vintages ranging from very good to exceptional has also coincided with the emergence of a vast array of talented winemakers, who have adapted to the new conditions encountered to the great benefit of the region as a whole. The skill exhibited in winemaking is remarkably high in Piemonte and we have entered an era where many growers have sufficient experience of modern conditions to know how to react to them and how to handle the fruit post-harvest.
The resultant wines are hugely impressive, they possess a wealth of fruit, underscored by freshness and with a tannic frame that is reassuringly assertive in these young wines. There is terrific concentration in the main and the sense is that these wines will need patient cellarage to reveal their best. I think there is great potential in 2019s, but it will take a bit of time for everything to come together. In contrast, 2016 was an easy vintage to appreciate at the same stage of evolution – the wines were more expressive and less brooding at the outset, with an outstanding, uncommon sense of harmony. In general, 2019 reminds me of some of my tasting experiences in the region in the 2000s, where you needed to assess the components and envisage how they would come together. I would not be surprised to see early views of specific wines elevated over time – some of the 2019s may not be placed on the pedestal immediately, but I think they will take a couple of steps up to it in time. I am not sure it is a vintage that lends itself to definitive judgements at this stage.
I have been visiting and tasting Barolo for many years and it remains one of the regions that fascinates me most. I am certain that we have never seen such consistently fine wines emanating from this region as we are witnessing today. Since 2010, there have been so many successes, even in the less homogenous vintages, with an incredible array of truly outstanding wines made in 2010, 2013 and of course, 2016. I would also argue that, while successes in vintages like 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 may not number as greatly as in the aforementioned trio, there are still some stunning wines – all of which were released at non-bank breaking prices.
Having had the chance to taste both 2020s and 2021s in growers’ cellars, it is clear that we have three different yet successful Barolo vintages on the cards. Interestingly, various growers I asked praised one or other of the vintages over the others; there was no dramatic consensus, aside from suggesting that the ability to compare and contrast three such vintages in time will prove a fascinating exercise. 2020 promises to be a more accessible vintage, still remarkably fine – it is quite an unusual vintage in a way, as the wines show striking harmony and poise at the outset with the tannins beautifully ripe but veiled by fruit. Such a vintage highlights how growers have adapted to deal with the challenges of climate change. And the 2021s seem, even at this early stage, to exude finesse and refinement allied to a classical structure. With such a run of vintages, it is hard to think that Barolo will not draw greater interest from drinkers and undoubtedly speculators. It is inevitable, as where else in the fine wine world can you find such complexity and quality at such favourable prices? A wine from a top Cru and a great vintage for around £300-£400 for a six-bottle case in bond? Such an opportunity is becoming increasingly rare in the wine world.
At Atlas, we enjoy a number of significant direct allocations from leading Barolo producers. We also add to this range by sourcing wines from other estates via our connections in the market.As Barolo releases do not follow a set pattern, with producers releasing at different stages of the year, I thought it would be helpful to show the estates whose wines we can access below. We will release wines from estates as and when we receive our allocations over the coming months. To avoid disappointment, you are advised to respond to offers as they are received.
The Bordeaux en Primeur campaign is underway, and has started in quick form this year. I was still slurping my way through a range of samples at a negociant’s offices in Bordeaux when the first releases were made. Making it a snappier, quicker campaign will be welcomed by the entire trade.
Another welcome sign has been the reductions in price over last year. In recent years, Bordeaux pricing has escalated to such a level that it is invariably more expensive to buy en Primeur than it is to pick up a back vintage from a merchant’s list. You might recall my first write up on Bordeaux this year, where I commented that the aim of en Primeur is to provide beneficial cash flow for the châteaux, a margin for both the negociants and their wine merchant clients, and an appealing price to the end consumer. This doesn’t always transpire, and often wines are priced right on the cusp of fair value, or just over. Invariably, when prices are dropped, the accompanying volume is often restrained by the Châteaux, who hold it back to release at a higher price once it is bottled. This allows the masses of journalists to write about headline price reductions but doesn’t ‘cost’ that much. Fortunately, this year, the volumes released seem to be reasonably good, so the economic backdrop is shaping decisions. We have seen estates like Léoville-Las Cases reduce their price by 47% over the 2022, for example. But as one contact of mine put it, you need to have increased your price fairly dramatically over a period of years to countenance such a move. That said, reductions of 20-40% have been welcomed and at least have generated some interest from consumers, who perhaps were feeling like they were on a treadmill of ever-increasing prices. Obviously, Châteaux that are already more moderately priced, or those that hadn’t pushed hard to elevate their prices, will not have the same scope to cut by 40%, but some of the bigger players have. It has been commented in the wine press that Bordeaux is at some form of crossroads; the appeal of en Primeur doesn’t entirely resonate with a younger audience and there is a lot of wine ‘stuck’ in the system, whether it be burgeoning stock levels with merchants or with negociants. The wine market in general needs to draw in younger consumers, and the traditional approach of en Primeur – buying early and storing for a decade or more even when the price is not necessarily advantageous – doesn’t have a lot to offer as an attraction. Acknowledging this backdrop, Bordeaux could have done more this vintage to make it a complete success, but perhaps lessons are learned in phases rather than in one rather sobering hit.
As ever, much has been written about the new vintage. Reading through and comparing the write-ups of different critics has been particularly interesting this year as they are more divergent on the merits of individual wines than we have noted in a while. One may be championing the qualities of a specific wine, while another’s words suggest they were relatively non-plussed, or are, at least, nowhere near as effusive. I think this speaks to the nature of the 2023 vintage; to my mind there is a raft of good to very good wines, wines with which it is difficult to find obvious fault, but where it is equally tricky to focus on outstanding qualities. That is not to do this vintage down, as I found many appealing wines, but I do not believe that it is an homogenous success nor do I believe it has delivered many epic or potentially legendary wines outside of 10-12 significant successes. I don’t score wines, but I would expect a good number to fall in the 93-96 category on anyone’s 100 points scale.
So, should you buy? We have dealt with the issue of fair value already, but in terms of the qualities of the vintage, the conditions in 2023 have delivered fresh, well-balanced wines with lower alcohol levels than we have witnessed in many recent ‘solar’ Bordeaux vintages. They have a supple appeal; my notes are littered with words like ‘fluidity’, ‘lithe’, ‘mineral drive’, ‘streamlined’, ‘agile’, ‘graceful’ and ‘supple’. This isn’t a vintage that has delivered bold, concentrated wines with a tight block of fruit that will need 15 years to unfurl. It lends itself to being broached earlier than most recent vintages, yet the best of the wines, and the majority, aren’t diffuse either. Despite the well-documented heat in 2023, it was not a solar vintage – that is a handy way to categorise it; it was not a year of continuous blazing sunshine. In recent years we have grown accustomed to hot, dry Bordeaux vintages where the vines suffer to a lesser or greater extent from hydric stress – think 2022, 2020, 2018 for example. We have had very few vintages in the last decade where the growing season has been punctuated by periods of regular rain. Invariably the model has been that winter should replenish the groundwater levels sufficiently to equip the vine with the ability to survive a hot, dry summer. 2023 was different. Equally, when needed, 2023 provided periods when the temperature spiked, which served to build greater ripeness and concentration. These could not be considered heatwaves, as they were not that prolonged, but they served to accelerate the berries towards full phenolic ripeness, giving the resultant wines a touch more density than you might expect in a ‘fluid’ vintage. I talked to a lot of winemakers about crop and berry size; yields were higher than the norm on account both of more berries, due to a very homogenous, efficient flowering, and of greater berry size, meaning more juice in each berry, on account of the more readily available moisture. A couple of commentators have talked about acidity, and yet I do not find the acidities in 2023 to be notably elevated above the levels encountered last year, though they are not offset by the same density of fruit. In many instances, the pHs in 2023 are almost identical to those of 2022. The key point of difference, and the one that has shaped the vintage and reduced the alcohol levels, is dilution. This word need not be pejorative; in many wine regions that I visit the question of yield is being debated. In a bygone age when sunny, hot vintages did not dominate, leaf plucking (exposing the fruit to the sun) and green harvest (reducing the crop so the vine focuses on ripening a lower volume) were de rigueur. Now, with markedly different conditions, there is a broader recognition that higher yields and a higher juice to skin ratio ease the density of the wine, can lead to lower alcohol and allow the winemaker to achieve balance in the wine more easily. The skins today are so rich in phenolics and fruit compounds that the presence of more juice allows you to extend the period of maceration (some winemakers cited this in the 2023 approach). This does not mean that diffuse wines result. If you had a much lower level of ripeness, with thinner skins, then dilution would be an issue in a negative sense and weedy wines would result. In 2023, there is more wine, yields are more generous and that attribute that I looked to describe with a whole host of synonyms in my tasting notes is key to the vintage.
Many merchants and critics have commented on the ‘transparency’ of the vintage. That is a fair comment, but it once more relates to the point on dilution. When you have a densely ripe wine like a number of the 2022s, the signatures of an individual vineyard’s terroir are very often masked in its youth. Terroir then starts to assert as the puppy fat falls away with maturity. Think 1989 or 2009 – both these years showed less evident sense of terroir in their youth and, in fact, many 2009s still have some way to go in their evolution before these signatures start to appear more clearly. In contrast, a vintage like 2014 had this clarity at an early stage. Such vintages were easier to taste young; the fruit was less copious and the vineyard character traits were more easy to read from one wine to the next. I think 2023 is far more successful than 2014, as the latter has a perkier acidity that may take some time to tame, and certainly that vintage did not benefit from the same boost to density that was brought about by the heat spikes in the run up to the 2023 harvest. Comparing such a vintage to previous years is really a mug’s game. I am not trying to argue that 2023 is like this vintage or that, but do believe it is worth highlighting that it has traits of cooler years, even though it was by no means a cool year, and traits of bolder vintages without being bold. All of this, coupled with that supple accent, render it a very appealing vintage and one which should chime with the canny buyer, who simply buys for future consumption as opposed to investment. Of course, speculators will be drawn to several outstanding wines that register as notable high points in this vintage and whose qualities can readily be compared to outstanding young vintages of the past, but I see 2023 as a vintage for the drinker, and I do not believe that the usual patience will be required to quite the same extent before the charms of the 2023 vintage can be enjoyed from bottle.
As ever, the trade is keen to make this vintage work. It is completely understandable given that the fine wine market has lacked direction for this last 12 months. It has been a quiet period for the market on the back of high interest rates and the general global economic backdrop. This has given rise to the usual hyperbole and we have seen some bizarre comments and scores. My advice to anyone interested in buying Bordeaux 2023 is simple: cut through the nonsense, consider whether the style of the vintage that I have described is one that appeals, and do not hesitate to ask us any questions about specific wines that catch your eye. I do think there are a number of bargains to be had this year if you are looking for Bordeaux that you could drink earlier and that represent more of a classically-balanced style, even if the conditions that brought that style about are markedly different. The trade will no doubt debate the reductions witnessed on various wines, and whether the reductions are enough to bring about easy sales and to add some form of a draw to the slightly flagging en Primeur market. We will see how these things play out. In the meantime, at Atlas, we will continue to highlight wines that impressed us and where we believe the price is favourable. The decision is yours, but we remain on hand to advise as and when you need it.
I opened by saying that the 2023 Bordeaux en Primeur campaign started quickly. It is now taking a pause for French May Bank Holidays and will resume in earnest next week with the goal of releasing most wines before Bordeaux decamps to Hong Kong for Vinexpo Asia from 28th to 30th May.
As ever, we will do our best to highlight wines where we feel confident in the quality and the value offered. This isn’t an exact science, but we won’t be shy in sharing the Atlas view. This year we will also flag the availability of a wider number of wines (below), as we acknowledge that some clients follow specific Châteaux and enjoy following each vintage. Equally, we fully understand if you have read something interesting by a critic that we haven’t opted to highlight ourselves. Please contact Simon Larkin MW (Atlas' Managing Director) by clicking on 'Express Interest' below, or choosing 'Express Interest' or 'Buy Now' next to the wines in the table below.
Wine Name
Price (In Bond)
Unit Size
Enquire
Château Ausone, Premier Grand Cru Classé (A), St Emilion 2023
£2,640
6X75
Buy Now
Château Beauséjour Bécot, Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion 2023
6X75
Express Interest
Château Berliquet, Grand Cru Classé, St. Emilion 2023
6X75
Express Interest
Château Beychevelle, 4ème Cru Classé, St Julien 2023
£360
6X75
Buy Now
Château Branaire-Ducru, 4ème Cru Classé, St Julien 2023
£201
6X75
Buy Now
Château Brane-Cantenac, 2ème Cru Classé, Margaux 2023
£267
6X75
Buy Now
Château Canon, Premier Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion 2023
6X75
Express Interest
Château Cantemerle, 5ème Cru Classé, Médoc 2023
£120
6X75
Buy Now
Château Cantenac-Brown, 3ème Cru Classé, Margaux 2023
£195
6X75
Buy Now
Carruades de Lafite, Pauillac 2023
£930
6X75
Buy Now
Château Cheval Blanc, Premier Grand Cru Classé (A), St Emilion 2023
£2,340
6X75
Buy Now
Château Clerc Milon, Pauillac 2023
£330
6X75
Buy Now
Clos Fourtet, Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion 2023
£420
6X75
Buy Now
Château Cos d'Estournel, Saint-Estèphe 2023
£720
6X75
Buy Now
Château Ducru Beaucaillou, Saint-Julien 2023
£744
6X75
Buy Now
Château Duhart-Milon-Rothschild, 4ème Cru Classé, Pauillac 2023
£342
6X75
Buy Now
Château Figeac, Premier Grand Cru Classé (A), St Emilion 2023
6X75
Express Interest
Château Gazin, Pomerol 2023
£291
6X75
Buy Now
Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac 2023
£273
6X75
Buy Now
Château Gruaud-Larose, 2ème Cru Classé, St. Julien 2023
6X75
Express Interest
Château Haut-Bailly, Cru Classé, Pessac-Léognan 2023
£540
6X75
Buy Now
Château Haut-Batailley, Pauillac 2023
£216
6X75
Buy Now
Château Haut-Brion, 1er Cru Classé, Pessac-Léognan 2023
£1,890
6X75
Buy Now
Château Kirwan, 3ème Cru Classé Margaux 2023
£174
6X75
Buy Now
Château La Clotte, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2023
6X75
Express Interest
La Dame de Montrose, St Estèphe 2023
£144
6X75
Buy Now
Chateau La Gaffeliere, 1er Grand Cru Classé, Saint-Emilion 2023
£270
6X75
Buy Now
Château La Mission Haut-Brion, Cru Classé, Pessac-Léognan 2023
£1,110
6X75
Buy Now
Château Lafite-Rothschild, 1er Cru Classe, Pauillac 2023
£2,460
6X75
Buy Now
Château Lafleur, Pomerol 2023
3X75
Express Interest
Château Langoa-Barton, 3ème Cru Classé, St Julien 2023
£177
6X75
Buy Now
Château Laroque, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2023
£120
6X75
Buy Now
Château Léoville Barton, St. Julien 2023
£336
6x75
Buy Now
Château Léoville-Las-Cases, 2ème Cru Classé, St. Julien 2023
£830
6X75
Buy Now
Château Léoville-Poyferré, 2ème Cru Classé, St. Julien 2023
£337
6X75
Buy Now
Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pessac-Leognan 2023
6X75
Express Interest
Les Perrières de Lafleur, Pomerol 2023
£325
6X75
Buy Now
Château Lynch-Bages, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac 2023
£420
6X75
Buy Now
Château Mangot, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2023
£114
6X75
Buy Now
Château Margaux, 1er Cru Classé, Margaux 2023
6X75
Express Interest
Château Meyney, Saint-Estephe 2023
£114
6X75
Buy Now
Château Montrose, 2ème Cru Classé, St. Estephe 2023
£714
6X75
Buy Now
Château Mouton-Rothschild, 1er Cru Classé, Pauillac 2023
£2,034
6X75
Buy Now
Château Palmer, Margaux 2023
£1,440
6X75
Buy Now
Château Phélan Ségur, Cru Classé, St Estephe 2023
6X75
Express Interest
Château Pichon Baron, 2ème Cru Classé, Pauillac 2023
£616
6X75
Buy Now
Château Pichon-Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac
£660
6X75
Buy Now
Château Pontet-Canet, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac 2023
£395
6X75
Buy Now
Château Prieuré-Lichine, 4ème Cru Classé, Margaux 2023
£144
6X75
Buy Now
Château Saint-Pierre, Saint-Julien 2023
£195
6X75
Buy Now
Château Soutard, Grand Cru Classe, Saint-Emilion 2023
£144
6X75
Buy Now
Château Tronquoy, St Estèphe 2023
6X75
Express Interest
Château Troplong-Mondot, Premier Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion 2023
£534
6X75
Buy Now
Vieux Château Certan, Pomerol 2023
6X75
Express Interest
The Bordeaux En Primeur season is upon us and two of our team have just returned from the UGC tastings and a series of independent chateau visits. On Monday, three more of us head out to taste – this time focusing largely on the Right Bank. Our Vintage Report will follow shortly, but it suffices to say that 2023 has the makings of very good vintage. Recent Bordeaux vintages may be showing a progression towards hot and dry conditions, but 2023 was a vintage where the growing season received regular intervals of rain, and not in dramatic amounts. This has boosted berry size and thereby eased concentration back from the 2022 level, where rich wines were more the norm, with relatively significant alcohol levels. Conversely, the best of 2023 show fine balance, good freshness, and more moderate levels of alcohol. Winemakers were able to carry out lengthier macerations as the juice to skin ratio was higher on account of a larger berry size – when the vines are subject to increased hydric stress clearly resultant berry size is smaller. With lower alcohol and more juice, winemakers did not have quite the same concerns about over-extracting as they had last year. Despite vastly different vintage conditions to back in the day, it is more of a throwback vintage, more classically styled than the heat summation data might lead you to believe. It begs the question that, if conditions are moving towards the hot and dry end of the spectrum in general, how many such years where the season is punctuated by adequate rainfall are we likely to witness in a decade? One could be forgiven for thinking that such years are likely to prove to be the anomaly as opposed to the norm. Our impression of the 2023s, largely based on our sampling of the Left Bank, leads us to believe there are a range of impressive, appealing Cabernet dominant wines that show good volume of fruit and fine natures, with good balancing acidities. The big question concerns price – 2023 could be a successful vintage for the region, if release prices are well-judged. All in all, 2023 maybe a welcome surprise, even if it does not register as one of thee more dramatic vintages of recent times. As ever, we will make our recommendations to you, based on quality and value, in our stream of regular offers. Atlas has always remained selective in its approach to Bordeaux en primeur, rather than opting to offer every single release far and wide as most of the trade does. We do however have availability of more wines than those we choose to endorse; for which you will be able to register your interest.
A word on pricing The aim of Bordeaux’s En Primeur system is to allow the sale of the wine, on paper, two years before it is bottled. When the system works well it provides beneficial cash flow for the chateaux, a margin for the negociants and their wine merchant clients, and allegedly an appealing price for the end consumer. Release pricing used to be influenced by the negociants and the courtiers (the agents between the negociants and the chateaux), but all that changed in the early 1980s when demand for the wines started to build and the chateaux assumed far greater control, now absolute control, over price setting. Negociants find themselves in a position where they are obliged to buy, even if they don’t agree with the price, as if they opt out one year, they will lose their allocations in the subsequent year. What does this interesting background have to do with the 2023 Bordeaux en primeur offer? Well, I think it is in the balance this year. 2023 is a good vintage overall, rather than exceptional, though, as always, the generalised view masks the notable successes that push above the average quality. We are told the Bordelais Chateaux owners are aware of the economic backdrop, the fact that en primeur has perhaps lost some of the limelight in recent years, and the fact that the fine wine market is feeling a little flat right now. We are told we can expect significant reductions on last year’s levels. But what kind of reduction might be required to fully resuscitate the patient? There has been plenty of discussion in the market about reductions in the realm of 30-40% on average. If that were to transpire, I think it would be a good sign that the decision-makers in Bordeaux do not exist in some parallel universe, and it should lead to clients who perhaps have hung back on the sidelines during en primeur season to enter the fray once more. The last time I can recall such a significant reduction in release pricing was the 2008 vintage, which served to re-engage the market and led to a far better campaign than many envisaged at the outset. The sad reality of Bordeaux en primeur is it becomes a discussion of price above almost everything else. The system of selling has led to this as it was supposed to deliver benefit down the chain from chateaux to consumer, but it hasn’t always transpired that way. The hiatus of 2009 and 2010 left many people who purchased high and dry, many still holding stocks that are underwater today. If the Bordelais get the pricing ‘right’, then perhaps the conversation will return to the relative merits of the wines themselves. Either way, we won’t have to wait long as one lesson that appears to have been learned is not to protract the period of releases. We already know that the release schedule will commence in earnest as early as Tuesday or Wednesday next week and expect a quickfire campaign condensed into three to four weeks rather than the usual drawn out affair with the last releases emerging as everyone starts to disappear on summer holidays.
Our Vintage Report will be sent to you next week which will provide further information on forthcoming Bordeaux releases.
