The Buyer | First taste of excellent Bordeaux 2025 as region feels the pinch

It felt like something of a fresh start for the annual primeurs tasting of the Grand Cercle des Vins de Bordeaux. Same time in late March but a move away from its traditional location in Piccadilly to a lighter, brighter setting at the Sabine Rooftop restaurant by St Paul’s Cathedral; and a new president in Philippe de Poyferré to succeed Alain Raynaud, who stepped down after 23 years in the role. De Poyferré spoke candidly about the challenges facing the association of Bordelais producers he represents.

“It was difficult for Alain to stop but he knew it was time,” de Poyferré said of the distinguished 72-year old, who was also once president of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux. “The Grand Cercle is something special - a very friendly association with no one in competition and all helping each other. The only criterion is the quality of the wine within the appellation.”

“To enter the Grand Cercle, your wines must go to a blind tasting, and have to have a rating of above 12 out of 20. 12 is good wine not medium. In a way you have to be courted by others. We don't want difficult people, and we want to keep what Alain built. It started out as Right Bank, but now we are about a third Left Bank.”

Appealing to younger consumers

The Grand Cercle currently comprises 107 members, of which 25 were represented at the tasting. More would have liked to come to it, de Poyferré said, but could not afford it. Indeed, 16 châteaux left the Grand Cercle last year for financial reasons, with seven new ones joining. For many estate owners in the Bordeaux region, times are tough.

“The situation in Bordeaux is dramatic – it’s very, very difficult for Bordeaux châteaux,” de Poyferré sighed. “The people understand they cannot rely on the négociants any more. Of course La Place is still important, but more and more the châteaux know they must sell direct. To do that, they are developing new cuvées, single varietals and original wines. You have a white from Fronsac or from Saint-Emilion, and there are two sulphite-free wines.”

Indeed, de Poyferré himself was responsible for the concept of Médoc producer, Château Loudenne’s single varietal Malbec, whose 2025 vintage was so appealing. “I created the first Loudenne Malbec - it was my idea,” de Poyferré exclaimed, although he no longer makes it. “We age it in concrete eggs as we look for the fruit and flavour of the Malbec. The idea is to bring a different style to the younger generation and customers to bring back some interest to Bordeaux.

“Really if we speak of the British market, and ask its drinkers about big brands, they say Australia or Chile. Research shows only 6% would say Bordeaux, although 96% know of Bordeaux but it is not in their mind any more. In the minds of the French, Bordeaux is first - 35% of people in France say they would buy Bordeaux, and that is the market share.”

“But the problem here in UK is that the trade is very traditional. The sommeliers and wine shops never push Bordeaux. But if you arrive with something new, you can go to the younger generation, and after that you sell your châteaux wines as they are tremendous value for money.”

Sales and pricing

As far as sales go, de Poyferré revealed that estates selling direct to customers are faring relatively well. “But through the négociants it’s difficult as they are in financial difficulty, so they don’t buy,” he added. “Their main target is to get rid of their stocks. For example, at Loudenne we sell quite a lot to Canada and the US, where our figures are not down. Our brand is established there, so the market is there.”

We moved onto the question of likely pricing for the current round of primeurs, but de Poyferré was reluctant to be drawn.

“Prices were reduced last year but I don’t know about this year,” he mused. “What they are going to do nobody knows. What they want to do I know but what they should do I’m not sure. The primeurs market is in real difficulty because more and more in two to five years after, there is no gain for the people who purchased that way. If you don’t give a real gain to those people, they stop buying en primeur. We all hope it will work, but it will probably work only for about 50 labels.”

Bordeaux 2025 – a quality vintage

If there is doubt about pricing of the 2025s, there should be none about their quality, although de Poyferré was careful not to over-eulogise.

“I don’t like to talk about the quality of a vintage, as all the Bordeaux terroir is not the same and each grower had different conditions,” he declared. “It’s good, definitely it’s good, but I’m not going to give you a general opinion. It was an easier vintage than most vintages as weather conditions were better, we didn't have a lot of grapes which made it easier, and there was very little disease pressure. But you always judge a grower on the difficult vintages. I’m not going to tell you it was better than 2022. We did pick earlier though as the trend for over-ripe grapes and high percentage of alcohol is gone. We go more and more to harvesting earlier to go back to the fruit of the grape and the Bordeaux we used to produce.”

Above all, de Poyferré wants to heighten awareness of the Bordelais people who produce its wines.

“More and more, my communication is not about wine but the people,” he stressed. “It’s more than just about marketing and presuming someone is going to buy the wine. What is important is the people. Terroir means soil, climate and also the people and the way you work. They are super passionate about their wines, so I want to communicate about the people. For example, the Vayron family at Bourgneuf, which is on a tremendous terroir, are passionate about their wine.”

Marie Vayron was present to pour the 2025 vintage of Château Bourgneuf, the highly regarded Pomerol producer, where her sister Frédérique has been winemaker since 2008, and where the oldest vines are 75 years old. She revealed that yields in 2025 were down, with 28,000 bottles produced, compared to a norm of 32-35,000.

“Because of the drought and high temperatures, we had to start picking very early on September 4, rather than in the second or third week. The lack of rain was not an issue as we’re on clay soil but we got smaller berries than normal. The cépage was 93% Merlot and 7% Cabernet Franc, which is normally 85:15. Freshness was good despite the drought with a pH of 3.6. That was similar to 2019, so we were lucky for that.” The wine showed superbly, with firm but fine tannins, notable concentration and length.

Pénélope Godefroy, the new CEO of Dourthe, which manages several Bordeaux estates, was also present on behalf of one of them, Château de Ricaud in Loupiac.

“2025 was a very nice vintage although the yield was down from 50 to 40hl/ha,” she said. “It was very sunny but we still had a lot of freshness as nights were cool. We made sure extraction was gentle, and the alcohol for our grand vin was 13.7%.” What was a well-balanced blend was 84% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

Anthony Crameri, sales and export manager of Saint-Emilion estates, Château La Croizille and Château Tour Baladoz, as well as Château Haut-Breton Larigaudière in Margaux, was another to laud 2025.

“It was a very good vintage,” he said. “It was a complicated spring with a lot of rain and humidity, but we went from very humid to drought and very hot from early May till nearly the harvest. We were a bit scared of the maturity but the limestone of Saint-Emilion really did a great job, giving back the water during the drought. A little bit of rain at the end of August cleaned the berries before the harvest, which was a small one as the berries were very small but very concentrated.”

“It was a lower yield by 30% in Margaux and 20% in Saint-Emilion. In Saint-Emilion it can compare to the famous heatwave vintage of 2003. It was the first time in 34 years we picked so early - on 7 September, finishing on the 24th.”

By contrast, François-Thomas Bon, winemaker and co-owner of two Saint-Emilion grand cru estates, Château La Grâce Fonrazade and Château Argemonia, revealed he delayed harvesting black grapes until late September.

“The rain in mid-September changed quite a lot the profile of the vintage, which is a good one,” he said. “It was a very dry summer, so the maturity was there, although there was a bit of stress unless vines were on clay. In September, we had the patience to wait for the rain and harvested late in the month. If vines are stressed, you get more sugar and alcohol. Our reds are between 12-14% and the Sauvignon Gris 'White Peak' 13.5%. I’ve been making Sauvignon Gris for 30 years and sell it easily.”

The final word must go to the venerable Alain Château, owner-winemaker at Château Yon Figeac, the Saint-Emilion grand cru classé estate.

“2025 was one of the best vintages of the last 10 years as everything was ripe and it was easy to make the vinification,” he purred. “We had to make very small and delicate extraction as the wine was very powerful. The yield was 38hl/ha - only a little less than 2024 when it was 40hl/ha.”

Meanwhile in Fronsac, Château de La Dauphine also reported very similar yields to 2024.