April is the cruellest month. No sooner have we mixed memory and your desire for good claret with our comprehensive retrospective of the 2022s then we make you wait a full month before the great Bordeaux highlight of the year – the review of the new vintage and en primeur!
But that’s coming in May don’t fret, and we’ll have plenty for you to swirl in your glass between now and then.
Bordeaux 2024 prep
To begin with, Bordeaux editor, Georgie Hindle, and I are going to be laying out some of the groundwork around the 2024 vintage; weather conditions, what to expect stylistically and the state of the market for Bordeaux.
It’s safe to say that 2024 was not an easy vintage in and around the Gironde. If one were a betting type than it’d be worth laying a fiver on hearing the phrase, ‘a winemaker’s vintage’ at least once.
Added to the mix is an increasingly bleak and unstable economic outlook. Belts are tightening, the current incumbent of the White House has mooted huge tariffs on European wines (as happened previously) and the secondary market is limping along after several boom years.
Not an auspicious market outlook for a new vintage, but if the Bordelais price is right, maybe there’ll be some bargains to be had…
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Champagne, Burgundy and beyond!
Coming in hot from the magazine is Tom Hewson’s report on the Aube region in Champagne. We’ll be running more analysis and tasting notes that couldn’t fit in print.
We have Charles Curtis on the 2014 vintage in Montrachet and a profile of Domaine Dugat-Py.
Our Italy editor, Jim Button, has a round-up of some of the big name releases from Tuscany in recent weeks.
TV’s Olly Smith was so charmed by the white wines of Greece at a recent tasting that he’s bursting to tell you all about his favourites that aren’t Assyrtiko.
Want to know the best wines from Sonoma for under $50? We’ve got you covered.
Napa correspondent, Jonathan Cristaldi, also has some thoughts on the best second labels among the Napa Valley elites.
Our South Africa editor, Julie Sheppard, presents a profile of Boekenhoutskloof Winery. You might know it better as the one that makes the (wildly popular) The Chocolate Block label.
And Jason Millar taking a glance at what is, increasingly, one of South Africa’s yummiest calling cards – Grenache.
There’ll be all the usual insight from our regular columnists and a round-up of some of the best Chardonnays that have been tasted by Decanter over the last 12 months and more.
Hopefully that’s enough to stir dull roots, knowing that soon it’ll be naught but Bordeaux, Bordeaux, Bordeaux.
Related articles
Bordeaux 2022: Wines from a superb vintage revisited in bottle
Barolo 2021: Vintage report & top wines from ‘a modern benchmark’
DRC 2022 in bottle: 12 wines tasted and rated
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