Our Exceptional Wines from Vintage 2023 Bordeaux Primeurs presentation

      Maître de Cave presents our list of Exceptional Primeurs 2023  from the Tastings in Bordeaux during the last 2 weeks of April 2024. The list of Exceptional Wines from the 2023 vintage has grown by 23 wines from the 2022 total of 22 wines (2 – dry white wines, 2 sweet white wines, and 18 red wines) to 45 wines (7 dry white wines, 1 sweet white wine, and 37 red wines), double the 2022 quantity.

Our Scoring System

Our scoring is based on a 100-point scale. The wines that score from 96 – 100 are Exceptional with the potential to cellar extensively and to improve greatly with additional age. Wines scoring from 90 – 95 are Outstanding with the potential to cellar extensively and to improve with the additional age. Wines scoring from 85 – 89 are Fine wines with the potential to cellar and to improve with the additional age. Wine scoring from 80 – 84 are Satisfactory with a limited potential to improve with additional age.

Two posts about our tastings

We present our Exceptional selections as the first of two articles concerning the 2023 vintage. The second article will be a release of our Outstanding Wine Selections in conjunction with the publication of the results for all of the wines we tasted.

Please enjoy our reviews:

Vintage Quality

We tasted almost the same number of wines that we tasted last year, and the average score is approximately the same. So, neither of the variables, quantity of wines tasted and average score, impacted the results from the 2023 vintage. The reason there are so many more Exceptional Wines is that the 2023 vintage is significantly better than the 2022. The best wines in 2023 are better, achieved higher scores, than the wines in 2022, and there are more wines that achieved an exceptional level of quality. Our overall assessment of the 2023 wines is that the vintage is outstanding and, ultimately, better in quality than the 2022 vintage.

Our wine scores

Wine scores are

   A Difficult Vintage in 2023, all Opportunities for Disaster

One might assume, as many domains repeated to us, this vintage was a winemaker’s vintage. On the contrary, it was a difficult vintage with many variables, multiple specific events, that might have ruined the harvest and the wine quality if the decision-makers guessed wrong. One might argue that it is not a guessing game, but, when it requires a sound forecasting of the weather, it is always a guessing game. There are many who guessed correctly throughout the year, however, there were many more who did not.

Rain…

Certainly, the winter and spring rains offered the necessary water for good vine health and to replenish the ground water. This positive beginning provided an excellent foundation upon which one could build a fine vintage and an exceptional harvest. However, adverse conditions soon arrived and included at least 2 different periods of powdery mildew onset, hail, grey rot, excessive heat, drought, and late season rains.

Anticipation was required

An estate’s failure to respond properly or quickly enough to any of these issues severely and adversely affected the quality of the final wine. Adequate and timely responses proffered exceptional quality, and the lack of an adequate and timely response offered only poor quality.

The estates that produced the finest wines correctly guessed all the time. In addition, they specifically pointed to their decision not to harvest their Cabernet Sauvignon before the rains that were predicted to fall in mid-September. These rains were not severe storms. Instead, they were sustained showers that refreshed the grapes. It allowed extended hangtime; better ripened the fruit; and provided grapes with better freshness. And also, it allowed higher sugars, better phenolics, better flavors, and greater intensity. Those estates that picked before the rains had under-ripe fruit that gave them bitter flavors, greenness, and underdeveloped phenolics.

Attendre la fin des pluies, ou pas ?

2023 is also A Year of Promise, so the Opportunities for Quality

As we indicate in our review of the effect of 2023 weather on the vineyards and grapes, hail and mildew played the greatest role in determining the quality of the vintage. The outstanding quality of many of the wines reflects the excellence of the work in the vineyard. As it turns out Powdery Mildew and Hail are both at random destroyers of vines and fruit. Neither has a favorite grape variety to destroy, As is always the case, domains had to be creative to assemble the best and most delicious wine possible from the fruit they harvested.

The right decision at the right moment

If there were slow or non-existent responses to either the hail or mildew, then the loss of grapes and vines added to the diminished quality and quantity of fruit.  The ability of each individual producer to protect their crops and to successfully adjust their assemblage when needed, determined the quality of the final wine. Certainly, those producers who did not suffer losses due to powdery mildew and hail were able to continue their work on the vintage the same as always and without any concerns.

Paradoxal Merlot/Cab Sauv

Due to many reasons, Merlot plays a greater role in the wines of the Right Bank, and Cabernet Sauvignon plays a greater role in the wines of the Left Bank. In our tastings and from the results, we found that poor quality  wines and high quality wines are not concentrated in any specific AOC.

Around 600 wines tasted for you

The team wile tasting the Bordeaux Primeurs 2023

After our tasting of close to 600 wines it is obvious to us that the success of the 2023 vintage rests in the hands of the farmers and vineyard managers who protected their vineyards and vines against great danger and potential disaster.

The wines included on our list of exceptional wines are divided equally among Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominance and Left Bank and Right  Bank production.

Left and right bank ex-aequo

So, we will not recommend for or against any AOC. We would recommend reading through all the tasting notes available to you on the 2023 vintage and make any decisions based on that research. Quality, as well as inferiority, were spread evenly throughout the vineyards of Bordeaux in 2023.

Maitre de Cave team is deeply grateful for bieng able to taste labo consultings,