Wine critic Antonio Galloni has published his Bordeaux 2022 tasting notes and scores on his website, Vinous.
While some have been comparing the vintage and its growing conditions to 2003, Galloni disagrees, writing that ‘the wines are even more surprising, as they do not correspond at all to the archetypes of vintages with these conditions’. According to him, ‘the best 2022s combine flavor intensity, energy and finesse in a way that [he] can really describe as magical’.
That said, Galloni also takes a moment to reflect on the state of the market and macroeconomic conditions surrounding this year’s En Primeur campaign. He notes that rising interest rates might negatively affect négociants, who often rely on bank loans to take their full allocations from the Châteaux in fear of losing them.
The success of the campaign, according to Galloni, will be determined by how attractively the wines are priced this year. If they don’t sell, he writes, ‘proprietors can look in the mirror for the sole explanation of why not’.
Antonio Galloni’s top-scoring Bordeaux 2022 wines
The critic found the potential for perfection in six wines, which he scored his top score of 98-100 points. Château Cheval Blanc 2022, released earlier today, is one of the wines which received the highest score from Galloni. He awarded his next best score, a barrel range of 97-99 points, to four wines, including Château Latour 2022 which will not be released En Primeur.
Both Pessac-Leognan and Saint-Emilion feature heavily in the list of top-scoring wines with three wines each. Interestingly, Haut-Brion is included three times, with Château Les Carmes scoring 98-100 points, while Château La Mission and Château Haut-Brion scored 97-99 points.
Also of note is the fact that aside from Cheval Blanc, most of the Saint-Emilion wines in Galloni’s lists are Grand Cru Classé B, not A; La Gaffelière, Beau-Séjour Bécot, and Figeac for example feature over Ausone, Angélus and Pavie, Grand Cru Classé A estates which all opted to withdraw from the Saint-Emilion classification last year.
Liv-ex members can compare scores from multiple critics via our Critic Scores grid on the Bordeaux 2022 page.
In his report, Galloni also lists the 2022 wines he found most exciting, which can be found in the table below.
Among them, the critic picks out Figeac which he calls ‘truly magnificent’, La Conseillante, ‘superb’, Les Carmes Haut-Brion, ‘tremendous’, and Léoville Las-Cases, ‘epic’. Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is also deemed ‘a masterpiece’ by Galloni.
Liv-ex Bordeaux 2022 En Primeur coverage
Liv-ex will be publishing release posts during En Primeur and has a range of tools and insights to help navigate the campaign. Our Bordeaux 2022 page contains links to key prices, critic scores, and reports and release blogs.
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Liv-ex analysis is drawn from the world’s most comprehensive database of fine wine prices. The data reflects the real time activity of Liv-ex’s 620+ merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £100m of bids and offers across 16,000 wines.
