Vintages

Drink, hold, or be careful.

Last fifteen years. Floor-staff calls, not scores. A modest year from a good grower beats a legend year from a lazy one.

Left Bank reds

Bordeaux

Atlantic weather, Cabernet on gravel, Merlot on clay. A vintage chart actually earns its keep here.

Calls are for a typical Médoc or Graves. Right Bank can run a year riper. Sauternes lives on a different calendar.

Bordeaux vintages, 2011 to 2025. Drink, hold, or be careful.
Year	Call	Character
2025	Hold	Small crop, sun without stew. Still in barrel — first reports are serious.
2024	Careful	Cool, wet, light. Buy to drink young, not to cellar.
2023	Hold	Uneven across the estuary. The good ones have crunch and line.
2022	Hold	Heat and tiny berries. Powerful, expensive, not ready.
2021	Careful	Classic and lean. Modest bottles: drink. Don’t blindly cellar.
2020	Hold	Concentrated and still clenched at the top.
2019	Hold	Complete and fresh — the one to keep from this stretch.
2018	Drink	Warm and opulent. Most crus are open.
2017	Drink	Frost cut the crop. Survivors are ready, not huge.
2016	Hold	The decade’s classic. Village wines drink; classified still climbing.
2015	Drink	Ripe and generous. Right Bank especially singing.
2014	Drink	Fresh Cabernet, classic line. Don’t wait.
2013	Careful	Wet and thin. Drink remaining bottles or skip.
2012	Drink	Medium-weight charm. Not a monument.
2011	Careful	Rain at harvest. Lean. Finish what’s left.