Shortlist Bordeaux 2025 en primeur wines with our early buying view, including Left Bank favourites, Saint-Émilion highlights and value-led Haut-Médoc.
Bordeaux 2025 En Primeur: a vintage to shortlist carefully
The 2025 Bordeaux en primeur campaign has a stronger story than the last few years, but it still needs to earn customers’ money.
On paper, the vintage has plenty in its favour: a warm, dry growing season, low yields in many places, small berries, concentration, and enough freshness in the better wines to avoid the heaviness that can define hot years. That is the encouraging part.
The more important point is that 2025 is not a vintage to buy blindly. The best wines look serious, and some may be excellent, but en primeur only works when release prices make sense. With back-vintages widely available, customers have options. Our approach is therefore straightforward: build a shortlist now, register interest where allocation may be tight, and make final decisions only once prices are released.
Where we refer to estate detail below, it should be read as useful vintage context rather than a substitute for final buying judgement. The release price, the quality in the glass, and the comparison with available back-vintages will decide what we recommend.
Browse the 2025 Bordeaux En Primeur campaign
Submit an allocation request
The style of the vintage
The best 2025s appear to combine ripe fruit, moderate alcohol, freshness and structure. This is not a vintage that should be judged simply by heat or concentration. In several areas, the better estates were able to preserve balance through water-retentive soils, older vines, careful picking, and gentler extraction in the cellar.
The wines we are most interested in are not necessarily the biggest. We are looking for wines with:
- fruit that feels ripe but not jammy;
- tannins that are firm but not dry;
- enough mid-palate to carry the structure;
- freshness rather than heat;
- and a release price that leaves the customer with a reason to buy en primeur.
That last point matters. A good wine at the wrong price is not a good en primeur purchase.
The clearest theme: Cabernet-led Left Bank wines
The Left Bank gives the campaign its most straightforward buying argument. Pauillac, Saint-Julien and parts of Margaux look particularly good, with Cabernet Sauvignon providing structure, definition and classical Bordeaux character.
In Pauillac, the wines to watch include Château Pichon Baron 2025, Château Pichon Lalande Longueville 2025 and Château Pédesclaux 2025. These sit at different price levels, which is useful. Not every buyer wants or needs the grandest name; some of the more practical opportunities may come from wines that offer Pauillac structure without the highest price tag.
Saint-Julien also looks important. Château Beychevelle 2025 remains one of the most visible names in the commune and should attract demand if the release is sensible. Château Léoville Las Cases 2025 is delicious, and the new winery is simply jaw-dropping, while Château Gloria 2025 and Clos du Marquis 2025 may prove more useful for drinkers if they land at the right price.
Further north, Château de Pez 2025 is worth watching in Saint-Estèphe. The appeal here is not glamour, but the possibility of proper northern Médoc character with a more approachable, polished edge. It will need a disciplined release price, but the wine could be very useful for customers looking for traditional claret with fruit, structure and drinkability.
The Haut-Médoc also deserves a proper place in the conversation. In a campaign where value will matter, two of our favourite value-led wines are Château Cissac 2025 and Château Beaumont 2025. These are not trophy wines, but they are exactly the sort of bottles that can make en primeur useful for drinkers: recognisable Left Bank structure, sensible pricing, and proper claret character.
For customers looking for well-priced drinking claret rather than labels to speculate on, Cissac and Beaumont should be part of the shortlist.
Margaux: elegance, but price sensitivity
Margaux is more nuanced. It has some very serious names, but the value spread is wide.
At the top end, Château Margaux 2025 and Pavillon Rouge 2025 will be collector-led purchases. The vintage detail suggests concentration and scarcity, but these wines must still be judged against available back-vintages.
More broadly, Margaux may offer one of the campaign’s more interesting middle tiers. Château Brane-Cantenac 2025 has a strong story in 2025: old vines, deep gravel, a polished tannin signature and a centenary year for the estate. Château Rauzan-Ségla 2025 should also appeal to buyers looking for a refined, aromatic expression of the commune.
Château d’Issan 2025 adds a classic Margaux note to the campaign, while Château Angludet 2025 sits in a different category: not a trophy wine, but potentially a useful drinker’s Margaux if pricing is modest.
The best Margaux buys will be those that keep the perfume and finesse of the commune without asking customers to pay collector prices for every bottle.
Saint-Émilion: stronger where limestone did the work
The Right Bank should not be treated as one uniform story. There is variability, and some wines will need care. But the best limestone and clay-limestone sites appear to have handled the vintage well.
Château Canon 2025 has a compelling vintage case: limestone and clay soils, clean fruit, and a style built around poise rather than force. Château Beau-Séjour Bécot 2025 should also be firmly on the shortlist. The appeal here is Saint-Émilion limestone character: freshness, texture and a sapid, mineral register rather than simple richness.
Château La Gaffelière 2025 remains one of the Right Bank names we are most comfortable following, provided the price is sensible. Clos Fourtet 2025 is another limestone-led Saint-Émilion to watch, particularly for buyers who like a more structured wine that may need time.
At the top of the collector market, Château Figeac 2025 and Château Pavie 2025 will attract attention. These are not value purchases in the ordinary sense. They need to be benchmarked carefully against recent physical vintages, but they remain important campaign wines for collectors.
Our view on Saint-Émilion is therefore not “buy the appellation”. It is: follow the best sites, focus on estates with freshness and texture, and wait for the price.
Pomerol: quality possible, value harder
Pomerol is always difficult in en primeur because the best wines are scarce and prices can quickly move beyond sensible drinking value.
Château Nénin 2025 and Château Rouget 2025 are both worth watching. They may appeal to customers who enjoy polished, Merlot-led wines with generosity and texture.
But Pomerol needs stricter discipline than almost anywhere else in the campaign. Good quality is not enough. Unless pricing is attractive compared with available back-vintages, we would be cautious.
Pessac-Léognan: buy by estate, not by appellation
Pessac-Léognan is not a blanket recommendation in 2025. Some reds may offer depth, freshness and polish; others may need scrutiny if the mid-palate does not fully support the structure.
The key is to buy château by château.
Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion 2025 will be one of the more individual wines of the vintage. It has built a loyal following because it does not taste like standard-issue Bordeaux: whole-bunch influence, infusion-style winemaking, lower alcohol and a savoury, energetic profile all help set it apart.
Château Smith Haut Lafitte 2025 is also important, particularly given the estate’s confidence in the vintage and the special Black Label release. It should appeal to customers who like a modern, polished, high-profile Pessac-Léognan, but again price will decide the recommendation.
Château Haut-Bailly 2025 sits in a more classical, restrained lane. It is one to watch for buyers who value balance and refinement rather than sheer scale.
Whites and Sauternes: a smaller but worthwhile part of the campaign
The reds will dominate the 2025 campaign, but the whites should not be ignored.
The best dry whites appear to have avoided the main risk of a warm year: heaviness. The most interesting examples combine texture with tension, rather than just ripe fruit.
At the top end, Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc 2025 is a serious specialist wine. Blanc de Lynch-Bages 2025 may offer a more accessible route into serious dry white Bordeaux.
For drinkers rather than collectors, G de Château Guiraud 2025 and Lune d’Argent 2025 are useful, practical wines: fresh, versatile and far easier to justify for everyday drinking.
Sauternes is also worth a look. Château Suduiraut 2025 looks like one of the more interesting specialist buys of the campaign. Sweet Bordeaux remains a niche category, but the best wines can offer remarkable quality for the money compared with red Bordeaux of similar pedigree.
Selected wines to watch
The guide ranges below are not final release prices. They are useful indicators for building a shortlist, but the final recommendation depends on the actual release price.
Right Bank
|
Wine |
Appellation |
Current guide / status |
Buying view |
|
Saint-Émilion |
£425–£695 guide; allocation request open |
Strong Right Bank candidate if priced sensibly |
|
|
Saint-Émilion |
Price TBC; allocation request open |
One to follow closely |
|
|
Saint-Émilion |
£275–£335 guide; allocation request open |
Strongly consider if the release is fair |
|
|
Saint-Émilion |
Price TBC; offer details to follow |
Worth watching as a limestone-led Saint-Émilion |
|
|
Saint-Émilion |
£840–£1,315 guide; allocation request open |
Collector interest; benchmark carefully |
|
|
Saint-Émilion |
£2,230–£3,140 guide; allocation request open |
For committed collectors only |
|
|
Saint-Émilion |
£1,310–£1,835 guide; allocation request open |
Quality interest, high price sensitivity |
|
|
Pomerol |
£275–£380 guide; allocation request open |
Only if attractively priced |
|
|
Pomerol |
£180–£250 guide; allocation request open |
Consider, subject to price |
Left Bank and Margaux
|
Wine |
Appellation |
Current guide / status |
Buying view |
|
Saint-Julien |
£325–£440 guide; allocation request open |
Strong watch-list wine |
|
|
Saint-Julien |
£845–£1,320 guide; allocation request open |
Collector wine; needs discipline |
|
|
Saint-Julien |
£200–£260 guide; allocation request open |
Useful Saint-Julien if priced well |
|
|
Saint-Julien |
£145–£195 guide; allocation request open |
Potentially useful drinker’s buy |
|
|
Pauillac |
£625–£805 guide; allocation request open |
Serious Pauillac candidate |
|
|
Pauillac |
£500–£585 guide; allocation request open |
Collector interest; price-led |
|
|
Pauillac |
£340–£395 guide; allocation request open |
Worth following if release is fair |
|
|
Pauillac |
£165–£200 guide; allocation request open |
Practical Pauillac option |
|
|
Saint-Estèphe |
Price TBC; offer details to follow |
Interesting if priced modestly |
|
|
Haut-Médoc |
£50–£70 guide; allocation request open |
One of our value-led Haut-Médoc favourites |
|
|
Haut-Médoc |
£55–£75 guide; allocation request open |
Dependable, value-led drinking claret |
|
|
Margaux |
£1,525–£1,780 guide; allocation request open |
Blue-chip collector wine |
|
|
Margaux |
£775–£1,165 guide; allocation request open |
High quality, high price sensitivity |
|
|
Margaux |
£260–£365 guide; allocation request open |
One of the more interesting Margaux names |
|
|
Margaux |
£335–£510 guide; allocation request open |
Follow if pricing is disciplined |
|
|
Margaux |
£240–£330 guide; allocation request open |
Classic Margaux candidate |
|
|
Margaux |
£130–£175 guide; allocation request open |
Only if attractively priced |
Pessac-Léognan, whites and Sauternes
|
Wine |
Appellation |
Current guide / status |
Buying view |
|
Pessac-Léognan |
£445–£585 guide; allocation request open |
Distinctive, allocation-sensitive wine |
|
|
Pessac-Léognan |
£460–£630 guide; allocation request open |
Strong estate; price will decide |
|
|
Pessac-Léognan |
£490–£660 guide; allocation request open |
Classical, refined Pessac candidate |
|
|
Pessac-Léognan Blanc |
£540–£750 guide; allocation request open |
Specialist white; not cheap |
|
|
Bordeaux Blanc Sec |
£170–£205 guide; allocation request open |
Potentially useful white Bordeaux buy |
|
|
Bordeaux Blanc Sec |
£65 live offer |
Practical dry white drinking |
|
|
Bordeaux Blanc Sec |
From £56 live offer |
Good everyday white Bordeaux candidate |
|
|
Sauternes |
£235–£290 guide; allocation request open |
Strong specialist sweet wine candidate |
Our buying advice
The best way to approach 2025 is to think in tiers.
For collectors, the obvious names are there: Château Margaux, Figeac, Cheval Blanc, Léoville Las Cases, Pichon Baron, Pichon Lalande and the top Saint-Émilion limestone estates. These should be considered carefully, but not bought automatically.
For drinkers, the more interesting part of the campaign may be the middle and value end of the Left Bank: Cissac, Beaumont, Gloria, Pédesclaux, de Pez, Angludet and Brane-Cantenac, plus selected Right Bank names such as La Gaffelière and Rouget if pricing is sensible. This is where en primeur can still make practical sense: proper wines to drink and cellar, not just famous labels to follow.
For cautious buyers, the answer is simple: wait for release prices, compare against back-vintages, and be prepared to pass. There is no need to chase every release.
For sweet-wine and white-wine buyers, the campaign offers a few worthwhile diversions, but these should remain a supporting act rather than the main 2025 story.
Final view
2025 Bordeaux looks like a serious campaign, but it is not a blank cheque.
The strongest wines seem to have concentration, freshness and structure. The Left Bank gives the clearest and most reliable buying theme, particularly Cabernet-led wines from Pauillac, Saint-Julien, Haut-Médoc and selected Margaux estates. Saint-Émilion is more selective, but the best limestone sites look compelling. Pessac-Léognan should be bought estate by estate, while Pomerol requires the most price discipline.
The message to customers is not “buy everything”. It is:
shortlist carefully, request allocations where interest is serious, and only buy where the final price makes sense.
That is how en primeur should work. Not as speculation, not as habit, but as a disciplined way to secure the right wines at the right price.