The vintage of the century: Katrina Butler on Bordeaux 2022

Bordeaux is heating up. And the 2022 vintage, “shaped by unprecedented heat and drought... frost and hail,” was at the higher end of extremes, says LANGTONS Head of Auctions Michael Anderson.

One might be excused for presumptuous concerns over wine quality. But, for the best château, they're in good standing, having managed to produce evocative, fruit-forward wines with freshness at the core. More extreme climatic variations have greatly affected yield, and the resultant concentrated, powerful wines are one coup of a climate crisis slowly stewing beneath the surface. Indeed, this, coupled with the decline in consumer demand, has meant accessibility is writ large.

Château Belgrave, a Fifth Growth from Haut-Médoc, is one of the 160 wines LANGTONS has accrued.

LANGTONS has accrued an astounding portfolio of no less than 160 Bordeaux wines from the ’22 vintage. To mark the release, the Australian wine auction house presented a select 22 of them to media and trade in Sydney back in September. From the Right Bank’s St-Émilion through to the Left’s St-Estèphe and everything in between, the very white tablecloths of the Langham caught swills of Figeac and Pontet-Canet as we smelled and sipped. 

To start, a bracket of Bordeaux Blanc from the Pessac Leognan houses, Château Carbonnieux Blanc Cru classe, Graves ($80) and Château Smith-Haut-Lafite Blanc Cru classe, Graves ($399). These sauvignon blanc and semillon blends provide keen refreshment, and while on the lower side price-wise by Bordeaux standards, it’s perhaps hard to see the value when compared with Australian examples, which, for the most part, don’t edge above $40.

Halliday's Head of Tasting Katrina Butler.

But it was the Pauillac bracket that would procure the audible gasps around the table. The Château Batailley 5ème (Fifth Growth) cru classé ($135), exclusive to LANGTONS and one of the oldest estates in the Médoc, spoke of beauty and poise, with notes of fig and sweet spice. The tannins bold but evenly dispersed, long line and length, with fresh blue and black fruit carrying through its authoritative classic structure.

Château Pontet-Canet 5ème cru classe ($350) again carried the trademark finely integrated tannin profile, seductive, albeit less dense than previous vintages, a herbal thread woven intricately through the cassis and blackcurrant fruit. Mesmerising.  

Rounding out the bracket was the only First Growth of the tasting, Château Lafite-Rothschild 1er cru classe ($1950). Adhering to the vintage trend in Pauillac, the wine is so finely attuned, with no hair out of place. Fruit, oak, and structure each knit together, generating power, elegance, and finesse. A true marvel beholden to black fruit, crushed shell and stony tannin, a masterpiece. 

The tasting represented the spectrum of Bordeaux.

Other highlights included Sauternes from Château Coutet and Château Suduiraut. Again, pressing on my conscience to open these ‘nectar of the Gods’ wines at the start of the meal to save for missing out on them entirely. Dreams of roast chook with butter tucked under the skin and a glass of Sauternes are what true vinous visions are made of.

LANGTONS have carefully pieced together the breadth of Bordeaux from the vintage of the century to suit a diverse and varied budget.

The full line-up can be viewed here.

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