As expected, Pomerol’s Chateau Gazin became the first Bordeaux estate to release its en primeur wine this week, coming out at an ex-Bordeaux price of €39, a reduction of 7.14% on last year’s price of €42 ex-Bordeaux.
Watch an eye opening insight into Château Malartic Lagravière with video commentary by proprietor Jean Jacques Bonnie.
The dry whites of Pessac Leognan have come out of this year's en primeur tastings with a solid vote of confidence from Decanter's tasting team – followed by Pomerol and Margaux.
Bordeaux negociants say they are ‘serene’ about the quality of 2012, but most agree that it will severely affect the saleability of the 2011 vintage – for the time being.
A flurry of early Bordeaux 2012 releases is expected next week including Chateau Gazin in Pomerol, Rauzan Ségla in Margaux, and ‘a high probability’ of a First Growth.
In a year where even the successful Sauternes and Barsac producers made incredibly low yields (the average in Sauternes was just 2.5hl/h), the trend for dry white wines from the region is proving an important source of cash flow.
As the en primeur tasting week gets underway in Bordeaux, there are differing reports as to the quality of the vintage.
Chateau Raymond Lafon has joined Chateau d’Yquem and Chateau Rieussec in announcing that it will not make a 2012 vintage wine.
JP Moueix sets the early tone ahead of en primeur tasting week by releasing their full 2012 range.
'Brittle' and 'lots of make-up' were two of the comments from critics as London had its first look at the 2012 vintage from Bordeaux’s Right Bank properties.
Bordeaux’s 2012 wines will express finesse rather than power after a year in which the weather tested winemakers' nerves to the limit, producers say.
Chateau Rieussec, the Sauternes estate owned by Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) has joined Chateau d’Yquem in announcing that it will not be making a 2012 vintage wine.
Chateau d'Yquem has pulled out of making a Sauternes in 2012 after the vintage failed a post-harvest taste test.
Watch Decanter's exclusive video interview with Emmanuel Boidron of Chateau Corbin Michotte talking about the 2012 St Emilion harvest in Bordeaux.
Watch Decanter's exclusive video interview with Francois Despagne of Chateau Grand Corbin-Despagne talking about the 2012 harvest in St Emilion, Bordeaux.
Watch Decanter's exclusive video interview with Anabelle Cruse Bardinet, owner of Chateau Corbin Grand Cru Classe in St Emilion, talking about the 2012 harvest.
Bordeaux 2012 is a vintage with low, soft tannins and good fruit flavours, vignerons say – but a good deal of work is necessary in the winery to deliver that potential.
Sauternes will not be a great vintage, one producer has said, as vignerons hope last week’s rains will finally kick start development of botrytis, or noble rot.
Independent winegrowers across France are calling on the government to underwrite an insurance scheme to protect them from the effects of bad harvests or currency fluctuations.
The majority of white grapes in the 2012 Bordeaux harvest have been brought safely in to the cellars under warm and sunny conditions, but the forecast for the week ahead is rain, complicating decisions over when to bring in the red grapes.
The Cru Bourgeois Alliance is planning to introduce two or three new levels into its annual listing – possibly for the 2012 vintage.
