Bordeaux 2025: Summer rains save the day in St-Emilion

St-Emilion delivered wines of striking diversity and terroir transparency.

Limestone and clay-limestone plateau plots – the appellation’s signature soils – produced the most refined, balanced and vibrant expressions.

The slower sugar accumulation leading to wines with naturally higher acidity, refined tannins and lifted aromatics that gave the vintage a classic yet energetic feel.

In contrast, parcels with more gravel influence faced greater water stress, leading to extremely low yields and tighter, more concentrated fruit that required very precise management.

Frédéric Faye, technical director at Château Figeac, detailed the extreme drought after flowering (only 400mm of rain vs 850mm in a normal year), slow sap flow, cold nights and phenolic ripeness arriving before sugar, resulting in intense flavours and classic vinification.

He said: ‘We had 10 days throughout June, July and August over 40 degrees but the nights were cold so the vines could breathe.’

The late-August rains and cool September nights proved decisive everywhere, refreshing the vines and preserving acidity without dilution.

What emerged was a vintage of real personality: floral and mineral-driven, with juicy red and blue fruit, focused structure and a stony finish – less opulent or heavy than 2022, more balanced and drinkable than many recent warm years, yet still serious and age-worthy.

Lifesaving rain after the heat

Heat (and its consequences) is a major theme of the vintage

Nicolas Corpandy, technical director at Château Cheval Blanc, noted that there were 10 days above 35°C and a peak of 41.6°C on 11 August.

But, he added, that the 59mm of rain between 20–31 August, ‘revitalised the vines and freshened up the style’ and helped aromatics, freshness and phenolic maturity.

At Château Quintus, part of the Domaine Clarence Dillon stable, the message was: ‘without the rain at the end of August, we would have produced syrup’.

David Suire, technical director at Château Laroque, highlighted the ‘best possible conditions in the area for this kind of vintage’ on limestone and clay with old vines, noting the terroir ‘shines this year’ and the rain was ‘beneficial for freshness’.

He added; ’the vines really preserved themselves this year, they produced less sugar so less alcohol and had a slow evolution of the aromatics’.

He also noted that many of the previous ‘best vintages’ had much high alcohols: ‘For 25 years at least all outstanding vintages have had higher alcohol than this year which changes the sensation and balance of the wines. It’s possibly a new 2016 but with less alcohol and less firm than 2016.’

He said it was, ‘a vintage that will stay in our memories for a long time’.

Yields (and the lack of them)

Despite the rain, the heat meant grapes were ready for picking early. Nicolas Audebert, technical director at Château Canon and Château Berliquet, noted that his teams were out as early as 28 August.

Château Troplong-Mondot began exactly a month later – 28 September – but still a record early start, while Château Ausone started on 2 September.

Something that is a big feature of the 2025 vintage is the extreme disparity in yields.

Cheval Blanc's Corpandy reported an exceptionally low yield of only 15hl/ha – one of the lowest of any major estate and something the team has never experienced before.

Charlotte Krajewski, technical director and chief winemaker at Château Clos Cantenac (and also Château Seraphine in Pomerol), recorded a yield of 25hl/ha, the smallest harvest ever.

At Troplong-Mondot, the picking teams noted extreme variations in yield from one plot to another – from 12hl/ha to 40hl/ha giving an average of 27hl/ha.

Then again, Château Canon achieved great yields of 40hl/ha – mostly due to the homogeneity of Canon’s vineyards on the plateau.

Diminishing returns

Others also intentionally sought lower yields. Gregory Leymarie, new managing director at Château Valandraud, after Jean-Luc Thunevin sold his majority share earlier this year, oversaw stricter selection and lower yields of 36–37hl/ha.

He said for the first time not everything harvested on ‘grand vin’ plots will make it into the top red wine with a strict selection decreasing production from roughly 40-50,000 bottles down to around 35,000 bottles.

Similarly for the estate’s second wine, Virginie de Valandraud, the production will also decrease by roughly half to give the wine ‘a better signature’.

But while lower yields can mean higher quality, the balance with commercial viability comes into play.

The team at Château Bellefont Belcier, for example, picked 28hl/ha when closer to 40hl is considered necessary to start covering costs.

And such is the size of the harvest that certain cuvées won't appear this year, especially second labels such as Petit Cheval and Chapelle d’Ausone.

Happy overall

Nonetheless, most châteaux seemed happy with what they had accomplished given the tricky circumstances.

Benjamin Laforet, technical director at Château Angelus, said the biggest flex was, ‘to say we can produce wines people are eager to drink in bottle even in these conditions’.

Comparing and contrasting years, Jean-Christophe Meyrou, general manager of Vignobles K described 2025 as having ‘better potential than 2020 and 2022 with more balance and more definition’ as well as an ‘interesting touch of tannins and lower alcohol’.

Nicolas Audebert described 2025 as a combination of, ‘parts of 2016 and something of 2022 – there’s a balance between freshness and maturity with energy, intensity, concentration and density’.

Julien Barthe at Château Beauséjour Becot praised his 2025 as a ‘distinguished, racy wine – where we have the true identity of the vineyard – you know you’re in Bordeaux’.

Constance Vaulthier at Château Ausone noted: ‘There’s not the opulence of 2022 but a nice balance’.

Finally, Aymeric de Gironde, technical director at Château Troplong Mondot, described 2025 as a mix of 2022 and 2023 expressions with ‘brightness of aromas from 2023, some intensity of the 2022, but more mineral – salivating, fresh, lots of energy’.

However, there was a touch of ruefulness as he concluded: ‘We’ve seen heatwaves in August in every vintage for the last seven years, we know we need to protect freshness and ensure the berries don’t lose their brightness.'

‘2025 is exactly the style of wine we want to make – if only we made more’.

What's new

Chanel has brought its four estates – Rauzan-Ségla (Margaux), Canon and Berliquet (both St-Émilion), and Domaine de l’Île (on the island of Porquerolles) – together under a single unified banner: 'Les Vignobles’.

Each estate will retain full operational autonomy, its own team and its distinct winemaking identity while Nicolas Audebert will continue to oversee the four properties as a whole.

The 2025 vintage will be Jean-Luc Thunevin’s last at Château Valandraud after 35 years.

Planned changes have now formally taken hold for his estates that now mean Marie and Christophe Lefevere, who already own Moulin du Cadet, Soutard-Cadet, Villemaurine, and Sansonnet, have taken full ownership of Château Valandraud as well as the Thunevin négociant business.

At 75, Jean-Luc Thunevin is stepping back from day-to-day involvement at Valandraud while retaining owership of his other projects, including Clos Badon-Thunevin and Clos du Beau Père.

Château La Couspaude (St-Émilion) completed its final vintage under Aubert family ownership before its January 2026 sale with the winemaking now handled by Jean-Christophe Meyrou of Vignobles K.

Further reading from this report

• Pomerol
• Pessac-Léognan & Graves
• Dry whites
• Crus Bourgeois
• Pauillac
• St-Estèphe
• Margaux
• St-Julien
• Sauternes

Bordeaux 2025: Top wines from St-Emilion

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