- Vinous has published Neal Martin’s Bordeaux 2023 scores and tasting notes.
- He awarded his top score of 98-100 to only one wine, Château L’Eglise Clinet.
- Though quality is ‘disparate’, the vintage is ‘bejeweled with a clutch of spell-binding wines’.
Vintage overview
Describing 2023 as ‘the dalmatian vintage’, Neal Martin (Vinous) reports on ‘patchy’ quality, depending mainly on viticultural decision-making.
Handling mildew this growing season required proactive and preemptive spraying. ‘Are you prepared to give up your Sunday to tack the vines?’ Martin asks, and importantly ‘can you finance the higher labor costs in doing so?’. June’s rains not only created a breeding ground for mildew, but left the berries bloated. According to Martin, acquiring non-diluted fruit required green harvesting ‘not once, but preferably twice’ to ‘reduce yields and enhance concentration’. Martin points out again that whether ‘you [could] do this depended on whether you [could] afford to’.
Martin points out a ‘disparity in quality’ but still believes the 2023 vintage is ‘bejeweled with a clutch of spellbinding wines’. He acknowledges that his top scores have been awarded to the ‘top tier’ but implores buyers not to ignore wines at the Cru Bourgeois and Petit Château level.
‘For this Primeur’, says Martin, ‘it is imperative to separate quality from price’. Wines of ‘astounding quality are scattered’ across the châteaux. ‘Shortcomings’, however, are equally diverse, and ‘include some of [Bordeaux’s] more famous names’.
In general, he says, the wines are ‘more tannic, more linear and vertical’ than in recent vintages, but ‘endowed with greater fruit concentration’. Underlying the best wines is a sense of ‘brightness’, deriving from ‘the fruit, acidity, tannins and the more intangible concept of their personality’.
Martin describes 2023 as an ‘unequivocally great’ vintage for dry white wines. This vintage of dry Sauternes is ‘the finest [he has] encountered’. Sweet Sauternes similarly benefitted from weather conditions this year – the same humidity that led to mildew also encouraged formation of noble rot.
Echoing both James Suckling and William Kelley (The Wine Advocate), Martin believes the success of this year’s En Primeur campaign will rely on serious reductions in release prices. ‘Deep cuts, not gestures’, he says, ‘are the only thing that will open wallets’.
Neal Martin’s top-scoring Bordeaux 2023 wines
Martin awarded his highest score of 98-100 to only one wine, Château L’Eglise-Clinet. He praises the wine for its ‘stunning bouquet with enthralling delineation and focus’.
Château Lafleur, Le Pin and Château Margaux followed with 97-99 points each. He describes Lafleur as ‘one of the few profound wines this vintage’, noting that it will be ‘fascinating to observe as it ages’. This vintage of Le Pin is ‘the best [he has] tasted from barrel, more serious and more floral than some recent vintages’.
Our Bordeaux En Primeur 2023 page contains everything you need to know about this year’s campaign. You can also sign up for our daily En Primeur email alerts using the form below.
