If you have already read our blog posts about Bordeaux’s 2022 vintage, you’ll know that it is an excellent year. Despite the drought that occurred, 2022 produced harmonious, balanced wines with very concentrated, complex aromas and powerful tannins. A perfect vintage if ever there was one! But which wines are best suited to being aged for many years to come?
Remind us again, what was 2022 like in Bordeaux again?
2022 will go down as one of the most memorable years of the century in Bordeaux. A vintage of extremes with heatwaves, drought and record sun, it still produced balanced and elegant wines that command our admiration. After a rather dry winter, the region experience a spring that was more like summer with heatwaves hitting as early as May. Storms came in June, hitting different appellations at different times, but nonetheless, they were the saving grave of the vintage, allowing the clay and limestone-clay soils to lap up all the water before a scorching summer set in. July and August brought several heatwaves that rolled in one after another, halting grape growth and concentrating the aromas and sugars.
Under these extreme conditions, the vines showed remarkable resilience. The harvests, serene and earlier than usual, collected completely healthy grapes with no signs of botrytis or dilution. The Merlots reached unheard-of levels of richness and ripeness, the Cabernet Sauvignons took full advantage of the ideal conditions at the end of the season to refine their tannins and complexity. As for the sweet wines, patience paid off. Botrytis took a long time to come, finally arriving in mid-October, creating wines with a rare purity and depth.
What are the intrinsic characteristics of a wine for cellaring?
To be able to age a Bordeaux fine wine for many years, it must have several crucial characteristics, the main ones being:
- Good tannic structure: Tannins play a key role in the ability to age a Bordeaux wine. They give it structure and firmness as well as contributing to its longevity. The tannins must be well integrated and dense, but also not too course so that they mellow and melt as the wine ages.
- Concentration and intensity: A Bordeaux fine wine selected for cellaring should have pronounced aromas and significant concentration. This means that the aromas and flavours must be complex and have depth while the palate needs to be particularly long. High concentration is often gained by having lower yields of ripe grapes that are rigorously sorted.
- Acidity: High acidity is essential as it insures freshness and liveliness as the wine ages. Acidity also helps to preserve the wine and avoid premature oxidisation. Bordeaux wines, particularly those from the fresher regions like the Médoc, often have good natural acidity which contributes to their ageing potential.
- Balance: A good balance between all the components of a wine – tannins, acidity, alcohol, fruit – is essential for guaranteeing that it will age well. Each of them has to take its rightful place without overpowering the others to create the perfect balance.
Now that we have defined the characteristics needed for a wine to age 20, 30 or more year (as long as it is stored in the optimal conditions), let’s take a look at some possible candidates which could withstand the test of time. We should say that this is a non-exhausted list and the vast majority of 2022 Bordeaux wines tick all the boxes listed above. iDealwine awarded the red wines from both the Left and Right Banks 19/20, sweet whites 18/20, and dry whites 17/20. It could just be a vintage of the century!
The wines with the best cellaring potential from the 2022 vintage
Château Pontet-Canet’s 2022 wine is momentously concentrated all while remaining extremely voluptuous and silky. Its depth is phenomenal and will win you over with its black fruit compote flavours and complex aromas of camphor, ink, graphite and balsamic. An extraordinary wine with a staggering length, it’s an icon that will transcend the ages superbly.
Cellaring potential: at least 40 years
Critic’s scores: 97/100 from Vinous (Galloni), 97/100 from James Suckling, 94/100 from Wine Spectator
Produced from 70% whole bunches, this 2022 possesses a deep and captivating nose with delicious red and black bruit aromas (blackberries and blueberries) as well as mineral and floral notes. The palate is incredibly silky, offering perfect, very elegant tannins, a great purity and density as well as a superb length. Highly successful, it is full of fresh black fruits of blackcurrants and blackberries.
Cellaring potential: at least 30 years
Critic’s scores: 100/100 from Vinous (Galloni), 99/100 from James Suckling
Aromas of undergrowth and black fruit rise from the glass. On the palate, the texture is soft, silky, dense and powerful, with robust, yet well-integrated tannins. Its undergrowth flavours give it that extra bit of complexity and the finish is particularly long.
Cellaring potential: at least 30 years
Critic’s scores: 97/100 from Vinous (Galloni), 97/100 from James Suckling
The wine delivers a nose perfumed by notes of wild blackberries and liquorice. The first drop reveals a harmonious wine with integrated, silky, fine tannins. The finish goes on and on and contains beautiful aromas of black fruits and a delicate peppery note.
Cellaring potential: at least 30 years
Critic’s scores: 94/100 from Vinous (Galloni), 96/100 from James Suckling
For this first vintage certified biodynamic, the wine offers a very mentholated nose full of liquorice and black fruit notes. On the palate, it is beautifully concentrated and powerful thanks to the silky tannins and the enveloping body. The long finish is sunny and warm.
Cellaring potential: at least 25 years
Critic’s scores: 95/100 from James Suckling, 17/20 from Jancis Robinson
This wine reveals black cherry aromas. On the palate, the first drop is gentle and becomes silky with an acidulous fruitiness, freshness and power which creates a crescendo. The long finish ends with fresh, fruity notes.
Cellaring potential: at least 25 years
Critic’s scores: 95/100 from Wine Spectator, 94/100 from Adrian van Velsen
Château Branaire-Ducru’s 2022 vintage is full of raspberry and cherry aromas. Once on the palate, it is fresh and energised from the very first drop with red fruit aromas that are almost acidulous, giving it an excellent spirit. Its dense body and melted tannins stretch right into a more gentle, delicate finish.
Cellaring potential: at least 20 years
Critic’s scores: 96/100 from James Suckling, 95/100 from Wine Spectator
So what is the conclusion? The 2022 vintage produced wines that are cut out for ageing and long ageing at that! They are to be bought, placed in the cellar and forgotten about for a few decades.
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