BORDEAUX 2025 EN PRIMEUR - Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste

BORDEAUX 2025 EN PRIMEUR - Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste

BORDEAUX 2025 EN PRIMEUR
Château Grand Puy Lacoste
 
This is a complete Pauillac that is going to give immense pleasure.
Neal Martin, vinous.com, May 2026
 
2025 Château Grand Puy Lacoste
£228 per 6 bottle case in bond


When I tasted 2025 Château Grand Puy Lacoste in Bordeaux at the end of April, I really liked it... I have no doubt it will mature into a truly beautiful glass of Pauillac as it reveals terrific purity and balance. I have seldom tasted a young vintage of GPL that has made such an impression on me – their team have really nailed it this vintage. This is a very classy Pauillac for the money. 

I’ll leave you to wrestle with the big questions such as whether you need to be buying it now, and I’ll continue to wrestle with whether I need to be offering it! 

For those craving a bit of data, the 2025 is released at the same euro cost as the 2024. The 2024 was released at £213/6 in the UK. The 2022 has a market price of £265/6, the 2019 is £205/6 and the 2016 is £310/6. 

Blocking out the noise, it looks like a very fair price for a very fine vintage to me.

2025 Château Grand Puy Lacoste
£228 per 6 bottle case in bond

(95-97) points, Yohan Castaing, robertparker.com, April 2026
The 2025 Grand-Puy-Lacoste reveals a classic, refined bouquet of cassis, dark berries, cedar and lead pencil, with discreet floral nuances. Medium- to full-bodied, structured and precise, it’s built around a well-defined core of fruit framed by finely grained, youthful, filigreed tannins with a tensile profile. Less demonstrative than some of its peers in Pauillac, it privileges balance and typicity over sheer power, concluding with a long, elegant and mineral finish. Produced from a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, this is the first vintage vinified in the estate’s new gravity-fed cellar, enabling more precise parcel selection—an evolution that appears to reinforce the wine’s precision and coherence.

(94-96) points, Neal Martin, vinous.com, May 2026
The 2025 Grand-Puy-Lacoste is the first to be made in the new gravity-fed winery. It was picked between September 4 and 18 at 30 hl/ha, much lower than normal, with a high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon (76%). Matured in 65% new oak, it has a perfumed bouquet with blackberry and raspberry fruit, touches of graphite emerging with aeration, beautifully defined. The palate is medium-bodied with edgy tannins. Definitely one of the most refined GPLs that I have tasted at this stage, very harmonious, complex and engaging. Superb persistence on the finish, this is a complete Pauillac that is going to give immense pleasure. Drink 2032-2060

Let us know if you would like a case or two.

Simon

simon.larkin@atlasfinewines.com

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BORDEAUX 2025 EN PRIMEUR - Chateau Brane Cantenac

BORDEAUX 2025 EN PRIMEUR - Chateau Brane Cantenac

BORDEAUX 2025 EN PRIMEURChâteau Brane-Cantenac Another feather in the cap for Lurton and, moreover, this is often one of the best values on release.Neal Martin, vinous.com, May 2026 2025 Château Brane-Cantenac£237 per 6 bottle case in bond Well, I have pushed my calculator off the far side of my desk, and I am only focusing on quality here.  I thought that Brane-Cantenac 2025 was simply one of those magical wines... Such a classy, effortless Margaux with a glorious sense of symmetry. To my mind, something of a must have and possibly the most startling barrel sample I have ever tasted from Henri Lurton's superb estate.  I am not worried whether the price has gone up, or down, or round the corner for that matter - not that Brane-Cantenac has ever pushed its release price too far. This is an utterly brilliant wine in the making - it is as simple as that. 2025 Château Brane-Cantenac£237 per 6 bottle case in bond 95-97 points, Neal Martin, vinous.com, May 2026The 2025 Brane-Cantenac was picked from September 2 to 29, finishing with that 1% of late-ripening Carménère, cropped at 32.2 hl/ha. It has impressive purity on the nose, an aspect of the Grand Vin that Henri Lurton and his team have improved immensely over the last decade. Black cherries, bilberry, violet and crushed stone unfold in the glass, classical in style, which is Brane-Cantenac's signature. The palate is medium-bodied with supple, finely sculpted tannins allied with disarming sapidity and brightness. Not powerful like the 2022, yet pixelated with a mineral, tensile, complex finish. Another feather in the cap for Lurton and, moreover, this is often one of the best values on release. Drink 2032-2060 97 points, Jane Anson, janeanson.com, April 2026This is luscious and full of wonderfully bright fruits, great concentration, cushion of air underneath, high Cabernet and it comes through in the floral aromatics, clearly a plentiful tannic structure but luscious and layered damson and black cherry. Yes yes yes. Drink 2036-2055

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BORDEAUX 2025 EN PRIMEUR - Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste

BORDEAUX 2025 EN PRIMEUR - Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste

BORDEAUX 2025 EN PRIMEURChâteau Grand Puy Lacoste This is a complete Pauillac that is going to give immense pleasure.Neal Martin, vinous.com, May 2026 2025 Château Grand Puy Lacoste£228 per 6 bottle case in bond When I tasted 2025 Château Grand Puy Lacoste in Bordeaux at the end of April, I really liked it... I have no doubt it will mature into a truly beautiful glass of Pauillac as it reveals terrific purity and balance. I have seldom tasted a young vintage of GPL that has made such an impression on me – their team have really nailed it this vintage. This is a very classy Pauillac for the money.  I’ll leave you to wrestle with the big questions such as whether you need to be buying it now, and I’ll continue to wrestle with whether I need to be offering it!  For those craving a bit of data, the 2025 is released at the same euro cost as the 2024. The 2024 was released at £213/6 in the UK. The 2022 has a market price of £265/6, the 2019 is £205/6 and the 2016 is £310/6.  Blocking out the noise, it looks like a very fair price for a very fine vintage to me.2025 Château Grand Puy Lacoste£228 per 6 bottle case in bond (95-97) points, Yohan Castaing, robertparker.com, April 2026The 2025 Grand-Puy-Lacoste reveals a classic, refined bouquet of cassis, dark berries, cedar and lead pencil, with discreet floral nuances. Medium- to full-bodied, structured and precise, it’s built around a well-defined core of fruit framed by finely grained, youthful, filigreed tannins with a tensile profile. Less demonstrative than some of its peers in Pauillac, it privileges balance and typicity over sheer power, concluding with a long, elegant and mineral finish. Produced from a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, this is the first vintage vinified in the estate’s new gravity-fed cellar, enabling more precise parcel selection—an evolution that appears to reinforce the wine’s precision and coherence. (94-96) points, Neal Martin, vinous.com, May 2026The 2025 Grand-Puy-Lacoste is the first to be made in the new gravity-fed winery. It was picked between September 4 and 18 at 30 hl/ha, much lower than normal, with a high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon (76%). Matured in 65% new oak, it has a perfumed bouquet with blackberry and raspberry fruit, touches of graphite emerging with aeration, beautifully defined. The palate is medium-bodied with edgy tannins. Definitely one of the most refined GPLs that I have tasted at this stage, very harmonious, complex and engaging. Superb persistence on the finish, this is a complete Pauillac that is going to give immense pleasure. Drink 2032-2060Let us know if you would like a case or two.Simonsimon.larkin@atlasfinewines.com

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Updated thoughts on Bordeaux 2025 releases

Updated thoughts on Bordeaux 2025 releases

Updated thoughts on Bordeaux 2025 releases Despite appearances, we have not forgotten that the 2025 Bordeaux en primeur campaign is underway. Earlier this month, in Simon’s “At a crossroads” note (5th May), we asked whether châteaux might recalibrate release prices to re-engage buyers. So far, the answer appears to be no—and the tone of the campaign has been set accordingly. Château Palmer has emerged nearly 20% above the 2024 release and comfortably ahead of the 2019 market price, a confident move in a market that has yet to show much appetite for it. Château Branaire-Ducru follows a similar path, up 13% and now sitting above most available vintages—despite the last eight trading at double-digit discounts to their original release prices. Châteaux Talbot and Langoa-Barton, both up 9%, also find themselves priced beyond a number of back vintages that are not only cheaper, but readily accessible today. Château Cheval Blanc has been positioned as one of the campaign’s brighter moments, with very low yields and the suggestion that this constitutes the full release lending some scarcity appeal. Even so, it arrives 20% higher than last year, while the previous five vintages all trade below their release prices—and below the 2025 in most cases, the exception being 2022, which itself is down more than 20%. Château Lafite-Rothschild has at least struck a slightly more pragmatic note, releasing below the Liv-ex Market Price of all but the 2023 and 2024 vintages, though even here there are signs of resistance. The underlying issue remains unchanged. For En Primeur to function as intended, it needs to offer a clear incentive—pricing that sits meaningfully below the weight of available back vintages. Releasing 10–20% above a wine that has already softened in the market is a difficult proposition to reconcile. None of this detracts from the quality of the wines themselves. Bordeaux continues to produce wines of remarkable quality, consistency and longevity, often representing strong value in a global context. Château Branaire-Ducru is a case in point: a well-established Fourth Growth with a long track record of polished, classical St Julien. At £186 per 6 in bond, it is, in isolation, attractively priced. Yet time is not costless—storage, financing, and patience all accrue—while older vintages quietly drift lower in the market. (See Liv-ex table of Market and Release Prices for Château Branaire-Ducru.)So the question is not one of quality, but of strategy. Does En Primeur still earn its place as a necessary part of buying Bordeaux? I will leave you to draw your own conclusions. Richard O'Mahony

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