Archive for the
‘2022 Campaign’

Château Duhart-Milon 2022 was released this morning. It is being offered by the international trade for £756 per 12×75. This is a 12.5% increase on the 2021 vintage – The smallest price hike of the big gun releases so far. Prices for the 2022 vintage across Bordeaux are generally up due to low yields and high quality wines.

Kelley (Wine Advocate) scored the wine 91-93 points, noting that it had a ‘velvety palate’ and concluded ‘with a youthfully firm finish’.

James Suckling gave it a barrel range of 95-96 points, calling it ‘full-bodied yet compacted’, with ‘fine and intense tannins’.

Jean-Marc Quarin also awarded the wine 95 points, praising its ‘very aromatic, fine, fruity, subtle nose’.

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Carruades de Lafite was released this morning. It is being offered by the international trade for £2,256 per 12×75, an 13.9% increase on the 2021’s opening price (£1,980 a case). This looks like great value as it is the cheapest vintage on the market. According to the fine wine trading platform, Liv-Ex, Carruades de Lafite is 94% correlated with age – 2022 En Primeur offering the best value.

Neal Martin (Vinous) is yet to score the wine. Although his Bordeaux report and scores are due later this afternoon.

Antonio Galloni (Vinous) scored it 92-94 and deemed it a ‘real showstopper.’

James Suckling gave it a barrel range of 96-97, describing it as ‘nervy’ with an ‘intense center palate.’

William Kelley (Wine Advocate) awarded it a barrel range of 91-93 points and described it as ‘bright and velvety’.

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Château Beychevelle 2022 has been released and it is being offered by the international trade for £836 per 12×75, up 18.4% on the 2021’s opening price (£706 per 12×75). This release price is lower than the current market price of all vintages of the last 10 years bar 2021.

Interestingly Beychevelle is correlated more strongly with age than score, making younger vintages and en primeur potentially good buying options.

Neal Martin (Vinous) is yet to score the wine. However, William Kelley (Wine Advocate) awarded the wine a barrel range of 92-94 points. He noted that it was ‘unusually suave and polished tannins in the context of recent vintages at this address’.

James Suckling awarded it a slightly higher score of 94-95 points. He also noted that ‘the tannins are very well-integrated’ and commented on the ‘lovely bright fruit of currants and blackberries’.

Jean-Marc Quarin scored the wine 95 points and said that it had a ‘nice finish giving way to perfume rather than tannin. What charm!’

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The price for Langoa Barton 2022 was released earlier today. It is being offered by the international trade for £428 per 12×75, a 20.9% increase on the 2021’s opening price (£354 per case). Production at the estate was down 30% compared to the previous year. We consider this to be a fair price, especially when one takes into account that it is still lower than the 2016 release price.

William Kelley (Wine Advocate) has scored the wine a barrel range of 93-95+ points, calling it ‘polished and penetrating’. The critic also predicted it ‘should match or even surpass the 2019 and 2016 vintages’ and says it is ‘one of the most intelligent purchases of the en primeur campaign’.

James Suckling gave it a barrel range of 96-97 points, calling it a ‘big wine’ with ‘depth and structure’.

If you are interested in discussing your investment wine options – please follow this link and fill in the form.

 

The next Bordeaux En Primeur release is Chateau Leoville Barton 2022. It is being offered by the international trade for £780 per 12×75, which is a 16.7% increase on the 2021’s opening price.

Critics have highly praised the vintage’s wine, with James Suckling giving it a barrel range of 95-96 points. He called it ‘very polished and poised’, adding that it was ‘harmonious for the vintage’.

William Kelley (Wine Advocate) scoring it 96-97+ points, calling it “one of the stars of the Médoc and a wine likely to equal or surpass its 2019 and 2016 counterparts.”

Pleasingly, the release price has come out under the 2016 and 2019 vintages. We will be taking our full allocation.

If you are interested in discussing your investment wine options – please follow this link and fill in the form.

Kicking off the big gun releases for the 2022 campaign is Chateau Cheval Blanc. It is being offered by the international trade for £5,760 per 12×75, a 21.5% increase on the 2021 (£4,740). An important point to get excited about for buyers is that it is available at a 15% discount to the acclaimed 2016 vintage in a vintage where yields are down across the region.

It being very early doors, all the scores aren’t in yet (notably Neal Martin) however critics have highly praised this vintage’s wine.

James Suckling giving it a barrel range of 99-100 points and said that the wine ‘soars to new heights with its brightness and weightlessness’ and questioned if it might be the ‘wine of the vintage?’

Jean-Marc Quarin awarding it a perfect 100-points.

William Kelley (Wine Advocate) gave it a slightly lower score of (97-99)+ points but still considered it ‘one of the stars of the vintage.’

If you are interested in discussing your investment wine options – please follow this link and fill in the form.

What’s it all about?

En Primeur week is a highly anticipated event in the wine industry, drawing Wine Merchants, Critics, and Journalists from around the world to the Bordeaux region. It offers a unique opportunity to taste and evaluate the latest vintage wines directly from the barrel or pre bottled, months or even years before they are released to the public.

During our visit to Bordeaux, the Waud Wines team had the chance to taste 99 wines over three days from some of the most prestigious wineries in the region, such as Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Palmer and Chateau Angelus. There were a lot of black teeth and purple lips in Bordeaux airport on Wednesday night!

View of the Vintage

Before we started our Left bank tastings on day one, we, amongst others were expecting the 2022 vintage to be totally characterised by the harsh growing conditions and extreme heat. In fact, a question often asked in tasting rooms was ‘How would you compare this to 2003?’ which many of you reading this will know was a VERY hot summer. While the 2022 Bordeaux vintage and the 2003 vintage share some similarities in terms of the challenges faced during the growing season, they are really nothing alike. One of the key distinctions is the winemaking approach adopted by many winemakers in the 2022 vintage was that they prioritised low intervention techniques to allow the fruit to express itself fully. This resulted in wines that were notably fresh and fruit-forward, despite most wines showing higher tannin and alcohol levels. In contrast, the 2003 vintage was characterised by riper, more concentrated wines that were sometimes criticised for their lack of freshness and balance. The 2022 vintage showcases the remarkable skill and ingenuity of many winemakers in Bordeaux, who were able to overcome the challenges of the hot and dry growing season to produce wines of remarkable finesse, structure and even early drinkability.

Click here to see our scores for the 2022 Vintage

A Word for the Viticulturalists

The high-quality wines produced in what were truly unique conditions (for now) is not only a testament to the talented wine makers but also to the Viticulturalists and the agricultural practices used.

One of the techniques used was a clay spray, high in calcium carbonate as sunblock for vines. This mixture is applied to the leaves and grapes of the vines in the vineyard to reflect the sunlight and prevent excessive heat from causing sunburn to the fruit as well as limiting evaporation.

With hot summers becoming the norm, it is now common practice to grow grasses between the vines to keep the humidity up (preventing evaporation) as well as forcing the vine roots to grow deeper down rather than sideways. This allows the vine to remain healthy in arid conditions.

Low Yields

A common feature at all the Chateaux we visited, was very small berries in the 2022 vintage. Smaller berries tend to have a higher skin-to-pulp ratio, which means that they contain a higher concentration of aromatic compounds, as well as tannins and other phenolic compounds. This can result in wines with greater depth and complexity of flavour, and a more intense colour and structure. Yields varied from vineyard to vineyard, however a common output of around 33-38 Hectolitres per Hectare and some 20% down on the expected yields was commonplace. This of course gives the grower less wine to sell and he has to get his income from his release price!

The hot dry summer seems to have resulted in wines that have heaps of complexity and structure that will age very well however there isn’t very much of it. A couple of producers told us that their yield is down ~50% compared to a ‘normal’ year.

We would expect release prices to be higher this year compared to previous years but providing the demand for Bordeaux’s top names remains high and the supply is limited we are sure it will be another investable vintage. Perhaps one that will accelerate as time goes on? What can be said is that the quality is exemplary, and we have a finely tuned shopping list to acquire your wines for you as soon prices are quoted and we can determine if we think the wines represent sound investment opportunities for us and our fellow investors.

In Summary

  • 2022 vintage faced harsh growing conditions and extreme heat.
  • Low intervention techniques allowed fruit to express itself fully.
  • Wines notably fresh and fruit-forward with generally higher tannin and alcohol levels.
  • Small berries resulted in greater depth and complexity on the palate.
  • High-quality wines produced in unique conditions thanks to talented winemakers and viticulturalists.
  • Expect higher release prices due to limited supply but investable vintage with exemplary quality.

What Next?

If you are interested in securing an allocation of what promises to be a fantastic vintage or if you would like to learn more about how wine investment works, do not hesitate to get in contact. We will be hosting an online investment presentation on the 15th May at 18:00. If you would like to watch this, please send me an email.

Edward Stevens
Waud Investment Wines
edward.stevens@waudwines.com