Bordeaux: 2022 a vintage of the century?

Great wines despite great drought

26 April 2025
Werner Elflein

Image: weinfreaks.de

Preparations for the presentation of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux

Apostrophising a vintage as the vintage of the century even before a centenary has passed may seem premature. However, with regard to the 2022s from the Bordeaux region, the assessment that exceptional wines were produced in that year is undoubtedly anything but bold. Of course, not all châteaux were able to triumph. Moreover, the 2022 was anything but a sure-fire success. The course of the vintage presented the winemakers with major challenges. However, in many cases, the result in the bottle can be downright inspiring. We tasted a cross-section of the vintage on the occasion of the presentation of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux at this year's ProWein. Unfortunately, we were unable to observe the development of the wines in the glass over a longer period of time. In a few cases, this may limit the validity of our ratings.

2022 will go down in Bordeaux's history as probably the hottest and driest vintage to date. From May to September, average temperatures were 2.3 °C above the long-term average and reached a record high of 31.8 °C in August. In late spring and summer, the air warmed up to 42 °C over the day during a total of five heatwaves.

There was hardly any rain during the summer months. Only in Pauillac did it rain a little more than in the other appellations in June. With only around three millimetres of precipitation, July was the driest since 1959. Overall, the amount of precipitation in 2022 was between 35 and 50 percent below the long-term average.

The flowering period of the vines from the end of May to the beginning of June was short, even and led to a good fruit set. The lack of rain, which often lasted for weeks, slowed down the vegetative growth of the vines. This was followed by a moderately warm and dry early autumn in September. The pronounced differences in temperature between day and night, which are typical of Bordeaux, encouraged the development of aromas in the grapes and contributed significantly to the stabilisation of acidity levels. The red wines of the 2022 vintage therefore show a great deal of freshness in addition to opulent fruit and high alcohol.

The different soils in the individual appellations played a decisive role in 2022. In the Médoc and Haut-Médoc, the vines benefited from the well-drained and heat-retaining gravel soils. The old, deep-rooted vines in particular were able to benefit from the water stored in the deeper soil layers. Young vines, on the other hand, often showed signs of drought stress. Cabernet Sauvignon was generally able to ripen perfectly, especially in Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe. The dense wines are characterised by dark berry aromas and have ripe, firm tannins that are only slightly astringent even in their youthful development phase. In Saint-Julien in particular, the wines are characterised by exceptional harmony and elegance. Margaux felt the effects of the drought more clearly.

The situation in Pessac-Léognan and in the Graves region was similar to that of the Médoc, even if the vines in Graves suffered somewhat more from the drought. Soils with a clay content proved to be in favour of sandy soils.

In the appellations on the right bank of the Gironde, Saint-Émilion and Pomerol, the clay, limestone and loam soils stored the little water available, so that the vines survived the summer well. In Saint-Émilion, which is more diverse in terms of topography and soils, the old vines showed impressive resilience on the limestone soils of the plateau. The Merlot developed small berries, the wines have enormous concentration, finesse and supple tannins. In the sandier sites, on the other hand, the drought stress led to lower yields and the wines were sometimes more rustic. In general, the Cabernet Franc 2022 proved to be a great partner for the Merlot. It gives the wines freshness and the necessary structure.

Conditions were particularly difficult in the sweet wine regions of Sauternes and Barsac. The prolonged drought inhibited the development of noble rot. The concentration of berries on the vine was mainly due to sultana formation (passerillage), which produced denser but less complex wines. The châteaux only produced very small quantities or skipped the vintage. Nevertheless, Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey produced a magnificent noble sweet white wine.

“Castel daou rey”, the king's keep, in Saint-Émilion

Stylistically, a clear turnaround is recognisable with the 2022 vintage at the latest, which was already apparent in previous years. Bordeaux seems to be slowly overcoming the unspeakable Robert Parker era. Wood and roasted flavours are becoming less important, and the Châteaux have dispensed with barrique excesses (as in 2005, for example). Instead, the wines are increasingly regaining finesse, elegance and balance – despite the high alcohol levels due to climate change. This is not least Bordeaux's response to the global decline in wine drinkers' interest in the region's red wines, whose price development has not always been in line with quality in the past.

In their vineyard work, the châteaux have responded to the challenges of the vintage with intelligent decisions. Some châteaux made targeted use of infrared analyses, drone technology or satellite monitoring to identify stress zones in the vineyard at an early stage. Foliage work was adapted to protect the grapes from sunburn and minimise evaporation. In addition, soil cultivation was limited in order to maintain water retention capacity and protect the microorganisms in the soil. Suspension or selective removal of permanent vegetation helped to avoid water competition between vines and grass. Where permitted, for example in Pessac-Léognan, young vines were irrigated selectively. Finally, most châteaux abandoned the green harvest in order to reduce the stress on the vines and favoured an earlier, selective harvest in several passes. In this way, grapes with sufficient acidity reached the cellars. Overripeness is found in only a few wines of the vintage.

In the cellar, gentle extraction of the ingredients from the berries was crucial. Shorter maceration, reduced remontage and lower fermentation temperatures were important measures to avoid overloading the wines with tannins. Therefore, also the use of new wood was reduced.

The wines at a glance

Château Marquis d’Alesme Becker

7 Rue de la Tremoille
33460 Margaux-Cantenac
France
Phone: +33 5 57811320
Internet: www.marquis.wine
E‑mail: contact@marquis.wine

🯅	The rating of the wine is based on a single taster. The taster is named in the context of the rating. The tasting was either open or blind. In case of a blind tasting, it is explicitly labelled as such.
🯅🯅	The rating of the wine is based on two tasters. The tasters are named in the context of the rating. The tasting was carried out according to the four-eyes principle, in which both tasters agree on a joint rating.
🯅🯅🯅	The rating is based on a tasting by our jury and indicates the Mean value calculated by us from the individual ratings of the tasters. Our mean value is based on the median.
⚖	The wine was evaluated in a blind tasting. We have strict rules for blind tastings. The tasters do not receive any information that would allow them to identify the wines. The tasters are only given access to further information that goes beyond the subject matter if it is absolutely necessary for understanding the wines.
🕓	We only had limited time to taste the wine - typically during an open tasting event, such as a wine fair. It was therefore not possible to observe the development of the wine in the glass over a longer period of time. The informative value of our rating may therefore be limited under certain circumstances.
⛬	The wine was tasted as a barrel sample or before an official test number (Amtliche Prüfungsnummer or Staatliche Prüfnummer) was issued. We only accept samples of unfilled wines in exceptional cases, and then only if we can assume sufficient stability in the bottle for a period of at least three months.
▲	During our tasting, the wine showed conspicuous sensory characteristics. This does not necessarily have to be a wine fault. We categorise the quality and quantity of the abnormality and include it in the rating. Wine faults such as cork taint or an atypical ageing generally lead to a complete rejection.
	Tastings that refer to the same bottle of a wine are visually summarised by a dotted line.

The wines at a glance

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