2022 Bordeaux En Primeur: Balance Imbalance

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | MAY 09, 2023

Left Bank: Saint-Estèphe | Pauillac | Saint-Julien | Margaux | Pessac-Léognan & Graves | Left Bank Satellites | Sauternes

Right Bank: Pomerol | Saint-Émilion | Right Bank Satellites

The 2022s are some of the most memorable young wines I have ever tasted in Bordeaux. The best 2022s are magnificent, viscerally thrilling wines that show what is possible with thoughtful approaches to viticulture and winemaking. A number of properties at all levels made their best wines ever. But 2022 is not consistently great from top to bottom, so some selection is warranted.

Technical Director Marielle Cazaux turned out one of the wines of the vintage at La Conseillante.

2022: In Brief

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 solemn cellars at La Mission Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan.

The 2022 Growing Season & Wines

The year began warm and dry. Opinions on when vines entered a water deficit vary from estate to estate. Some winemakers hold the view that water deficit started as early as January-March, while others focus on a bit later in the season. However, the consensus is that water deficits were an issue very early on. Properties reported an unheard-of four to five heat spikes over the course of the season.

Quick intervention in the vineyards was critical. One common decision was to remove cover crops early in order to eliminate competition with the vines for water and nutrients. Severe heat and drought will cause vines to produce small leaves and canopies as they seek to regulate their output and survive. Vineyard managers had to follow the lead of the vines and not push too hard. Among other things, this meant matching production to the smaller size of the canopies. The most drastic choice I know of was at L’ Évangile, where the winemaking team dropped one-third of the potential crop to balance the vines, a remarkable and dramatic decision. There was no de-leafing, with the exception of just prior to harvest, for practical reasons. But I am getting ahead of myself.