Bordeaux 1982 revisited: 45 wines tasted

Considered one of the region’s greatest-ever vintages, 1982 produced a plentiful crop and a raft of ripe, generous and rich wines that ushered in a new style of ‘rockstar opulence’ for Bordeaux.

It effectively launched the career of the now-famous (and retired) critic Robert M Parker Jr, who opposed leading US wine writers at the time by exuberantly praising the vintage. And it was a vintage that re-energised the Bordeaux en primeur market following a decade of economic gloom, bringing much-needed investment into the vineyards.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for all the 1982 Bordeaux wines tasted

Given the semi-mythical status of the 1982s, a large-scale tasting is almost unheard of, certainly at anything more than 10 wines, and rarer still when they include all five of the first growths.

So, when the chance arose to taste 45 of them, side by side, it was an opportunity no wine lover, much less a Bordeaux correspondent, could miss. It was, undeniably, a dream tasting, for both myself and the 22 attendees who had each paid to join the event, held as a fundraiser for cancer research.

All mature wines capture a moment in history, a snapshot of the past, where nature and winemaking expertise converge, but 1982 did it in style. I doubt this tasting will ever be recreated and I feel so fortunate to have been part of it.

The backdrop

Until the 1980s only two Bordeaux vintages then had, and still maintain, exceptional renown; 1945 and 1961. Certainly, a vintage hadn’t been as consistent in terms of quality across the region until 1982 arrived.

It was considered at the time a modern benchmark for the plush, fruit-forward wines; and today, a key milestone in shifting the perceptions of Bordeaux’s quality hierarchy by elevating previously lesser-known estates to prominence.

It married favourable weather conditions which resulted in ripe fruit with modern winemaking practices, giving structured tannins in the wines and overall exceptional ageing potential.

Of course, the viticultural endeavours and cellar technology were not the same as they are today, with less fruit selection then (estates produced far fewer second wines), and green harvesting – cutting away excess ripening bunches in order to control the vines’ yields – yet to be brought in. But on the back of a disappointing decade of largely weak and astringent wines in the 1970s, the 1982 vintage was quickly ushered into the hall of fame.

Weather influence

The foundation of a great vintage often rests upon the weather conditions throughout the growing season and 1982 was no exception.

The year has been called ‘perfect’ and latterly linked to the notably excellent climatic patterns of 1989 (also regarded as a standout year in the 1980s, alongside 1985) and 2005, as well as ‘an armchair vintage’ for producers, with no disease pressure or insects to be concerned about.

The growing season was idyllic with a relatively mild, sunny and dry winter and spring. In May, temperatures rose to 22°-28°C and there was only a little frost damage in isolated areas of the Médoc. Both an early budburst and flowering occurred under pristine conditions, setting the stage for a potentially brilliant vintage.

Balmy weather continued throughout the summer with July experiencing scorching hot days and August cooler ones just before a glorious and explosive Indian summer took place in September. The late heat spike ripened the Merlots to perfection and a late, two-day intervention from the rain helped the Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc to reach full maturity.

The harvest was equally fortuitous, with a bumper crop (also thanks to heavy fertilisation at the time) averaging 60hl/ha brought in under clear skies, officially starting on 13 September – the same date coincidentally as 1945 – and all over by 3 October.

At the end of fermentation, winemakers were greeted with dense, sensuously textured, remarkably deep wines with purity of fruit that had not been seen for decades. As James Lawther MW wrote in a 20-year review for Decanter: ‘The great thing about 1982 was that it was magnificent throughout Bordeaux, from generic wines through to the crus classés – something that only happens in exceptional years.

‘The wines emphasised the potential of well-ripened fruit and were ‘hedonistic’, with many buyers and writers at the time lauding their drinkability and accessibility, certainly in comparison to the majority of wines that had gone before. ‘This instant appeal, with fruit to the fore, provided a new reference for Bordeaux,’ Lawther wrote. The wines also extol the virtues of relatively lower alcohol levels, despite the heat of the year, with many referencing alcohols between 11%-12% – a far cry from the widespread levels that we encounter today, above 14% and even topping 15%.

‘The vintage successes also challenged conventional notions of which châteaux were considered worthy of the spotlight, although first growth Château Latour has long held the title of ‘wine of the vintage’ for 1982, as confirmed by this tasting, followed closely by fellow firsts Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild.’

Modern perspective

The 1982 vintage in Bordeaux maintains its status as one of the region’s greatest achievements, with the wines continuing to command attention and admiration among collectors and enthusiasts – such that people would happily travel across the world to Vancouver for this paid-for tasting.

However, it’s important to acknowledge that Bordeaux’s wine landscape has changed since then. Margaux third growth Château Palmer’s director Thomas Duroux said: ‘The [1982] wines are good, sometimes very good, but the link with their terroir is not what it is today, nor what it was before.’

There have been vast improvements in viticultural methods and vineyard management has changed, with more sensitivity to sustainability and crop management given the challenges of climate change – not limited to early spring hail and summer droughts – as well as technological advancements in the cellars.

Subsequent vintages including 2000, 2009, 2010, 2016 (a potential comparison to 1982 in terms of ideal growing season and yields) and the recent trilogy of great years 2018, 2019 and 2020 are all proof that quality is at an all-time high.

Each of the aforementioned has earned critical acclaim, offering a future full of even longer-lasting wines with purity, finesse and ultimate drinkability. Pierre Graffeuille, CEO of St-Estèphe second growth Château Montrose, said: ‘Stating that the 1982 vintage is the best ever produced is maybe one step too far, as recent vintages feature one-of-kind qualities and precision, but it’s for sure a milestone in the history of outstanding vintages in Bordeaux.’

The 1982s today

Fast-forward 41 years and how do the 1982 wines stack up now? Overall, very well. The Vancouver retrospective tasting was an impressive showcase, with many wines easily holding their own four decades on, and a few gems to be found across all regions and assigned classifications, still showing remarkable agility, energy, freshness and body.

There were a few disappointments, which is perhaps to be expected, with individual bottles to be assessed just as much as the wines inside at this age. Pomerols Petrus and Château Lafleur were good but didn’t quite hit the high I was hoping for; and St-Emilion’s Château Figeac, and Left Bank Cos d’Estournel, Léoville Barton and Léoville Poyferré were let-downs or faulty.

Surprises, however, came in the form of St-Julien Château Gloria and Haut-Médoc Sociando Mallet, with both outperforming expectations. Several bottles were poured from large-format bottles, drawing on the advantage of slower ageing, with magnums of Margaux’s Rauzan-Ségla and Pauillacs Batailley, Clerc Milon and Duhart-Milon all performing well.

The 1982s have continued to exhibit the ageing potential for which Bordeaux is known, enhancing the region’s reputation for producing cellarworthy, collectible wines, but there’s no doubt that all the wines are firmly in their prime and ready to drink. Although several will continue to provide drinking pleasure for at least the next decade, there is little need to prolong storage for the majority.

Only a few wines seemed past their best – including Châteaux d’Issan, Giscours and Le Bon Pasteur. One, though, was still astonishingly youthful and vibrant – the wondrous and simply mind-blowing Château Latour, which was closely followed by Cheval Blanc, Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild as the choice wines of the evening.

Understandably, the wines overall exhibit tertiary, savoury notes with meaty or soy tones, smoky aromas and prominent acidity where the tannins and plush fruit have subsided. Minerality is amplified in many, with more metallic aspects, salinity and graphite edges to the fore. The test of a successful 1982 vintage today should be overall harmony, balance and drinking pleasure alongside brightness, structure and grace.

The best are vibrant, still powerful, upfront and confident with grip, bounce and definition, and will carry remnants of seductive potency, highly charged fruit and generous tannins. Another measure would be to stand the wine up for comparison against its 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1990 counterparts, all of which are lauded vintages for various estates across Bordeaux.

The worst 1982s are dry, tired, watery, too highly acidic, austere and lacking length and depth. Sensory analysis aside, the significance of the 1982 vintage continues to reverberate through the wine world, having shaped the trajectory of Bordeaux winemaking and inspired subsequent generations of winemakers.

As with all great vintages, 1982 is a reminder of the magic that can occur when the elements align and the artistry of wine is at its zenith.

The wines were arranged into five flights, as follows:

Flight 1 Warm up • Giscours, Margaux 3CC • Angludet, Margaux • d’Issan, Margaux 3CC • Duhart-Milon, Pauillac 4CC (magnum) • Grand-Puy Ducasse, Pauillac 5CC • Le Bon Pasteur, Pomerol (magnum) • Magdelaine, St-Emilion 1GCC • La Lagune, Haut-Médoc 3CC • Sociando-Mallet, Haut-Médoc

Flight 2 Classic • Gruaud Larose, St-Julien 2CC (magnum) • Branaire-Ducru, St-Julien 4CC • Beychevelle, St-Julien 4CC • Rauzan-Ségla, Margaux 2CC (magnum) • Du Tertre, Margaux 5CC • Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Pauillac 5CC • Batailley, Pauillac 5CC (magnum) • Clerc Milon, Pauillac 5CC (magnum) • Calon Ségur, St-Estèphe 3CC

Flight 3 Super-seconds • Léoville Poyferré, St-Julien 2CC (magnum) • Léoville Barton, St-Julien 2CC • Léoville Las Cases, St-Julien 2CC • Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien 2CC • Montrose, St-Estèphe 2CC • Cos d’Estournel, St-Estèphe 2CC • Pichon Comtesse, Pauillac 2CC • Pichon Baron, Pauillac 2CC • Palmer, Margaux 3CC • Lynch-Bages, Pauillac 5CC

Flight 4 Right Bank • Ausone, St-Emilion 1GCCA • Cheval Blanc, St-Emilion 1GCCA • Petrus, Pomerol • Lafleur, Pomerol • Figeac, St-Emilion 1GCC • L’Eglise Clinet, Pomerol • La Conseillante, Pomerol • Certan de May, Pomerol • La Fleur-Pétrus, Pomerol

Flight 5 Left Bank • Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac 1CC • Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac 1CC • Latour, Pauillac 1CC • Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan 1CC • La Mission Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan CCG • Margaux, Margaux 1CC

The trade perspective on Bordeaux 1982 in the market

Decanter spoke to Matthew O’Connell, CEO of the LiveTrade fine wine exchange and head of Bordeaux Index’s investment activity, to gauge how the much-vaunted 1982 vintage in Bordeaux is generally regarded across the wine trade today.

Are there many Bordeaux 1982s still being actively traded?

Matthew O’Connell ‘Yes there are, but in recent years it is becoming less common to see pristine cases. While the 1982 vintage was a large production year, at the same time the wines have always been delicious and had a certain kudos attached to them, so consumption has been high compared to 1989 as a vintage, for example.’

And the prices?

MOC ‘Some of the very top wines have seen significant step-changes over the last decade, largely as a reflection of the gradually dwindling supply – especially of cases in pristine condition. For example, Château Latour now trades around £25,000 per 12x75cl, and Lafite Rothschild in the £50,000 context.’ [Ed’s note: Pricings via wine-searcher.com (August 2023) suggest that to buy a single bottle each of the 10 wines in this article would total on average some £17,500 including tax; least expensive is Montrose, most expensive Petrus]

Are they worth buying?

MOC ‘From a raw relative value perspective, 1982s of course tend to look expensive (or very expensive!), but given its somewhat unique position as a vintage in the last 50 years, it is unsurprising that there are always buyers for the wines, and I think they rightly sit in the bucket of “must try” wines for collectors.’

Are there any 1982 ‘bargains’ to be found out there still?

MOC ‘I have always seen Gruaud Larose, St-Julien as the best value wine of the vintage – first growth quality, a long life still ahead. Granted, £400-£500 per bottle or more is not cheap, but for a top experience of the 1982 Left Bank, it’s the one to buy.’ [Ed’s note: The bottle of Gruaud Larose 1982 that I tasted was acceptably decent, which pointed to wide bottle variation as others at the tasting had enjoyed a ‘far nicer’ bottle just one week earlier.]

About the tasting: Bordeaux 1982 in Vancouver

The Vancouver tasting, held in May 2023, was organised by retired lawyer, long-time fine wine enthusiast and avid fundraiser James Killam.

His own appreciation of Bordeaux started in 1974 with ‘every spare cent spent on wine’. Some bargains at the time included a 1970 Château Latour for $8 and Petrus for $17.99, and a 1957 Château Rauzan-Ségla for $7. By the time 1982 came around, Killam was able to purchase a large quantity en primeur – some of those original bottles were provided for this tasting.

Fastforward to 2009, his wife ‘and drinking partner’ Becky was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Treated initially, it returned 11 months later with a poor prognosis. In a quest to find new, experimental treatments, Killam was introduced to two University of British Columbia (UBC) scientists, Dr Colin Collins and Dr Yuzhuo (YZ) Wang, who helped the couple through their work at the cutting edge of cancer research.

With a well-stocked cellar and armed with a new passion for cancer research, Killam held the first charity fundraising tasting in 2014 with 14 wines from the 1982 vintage, including the first growths and magnums of Petrus and Le Pin. Deciding that the wines were ‘too young’, Killam set about collecting more 1982s for a tasting at 40 years old.

Becky sadly passed away in April 2022, living 13 years post diagnosis with more than 11 years metastatic, and classed a ‘long-term survivor’, so the tasting theme was changed to ‘over 40’ [years old] and held in May this year.

Having fifteen 1982s remaining, more were sourced from auctions in Canada and the US and ‘a few at retail’. By 2022, Killam had 35 different estates with ‘multiple bottles of most’, and when a date was finalised for this tasting he ‘went nuts and bought everything he could find’, arriving at a total of 45. Petrus was elusive at first, but eventually Killam bought four bottles from different sources ‘hoping that at least some of them would be “really good”’. Le Pin was missing, given its prohibitive cost, but Killam got ‘the only bottle of Lafleur then available in North America’.

The tasting and dinner attracted wine lovers from across Canada and further afield and raised C$100,000 (£58,600) for The Sullivan Urology Foundation, of which 100% of the funds will go to supporting the ongoing cancer research of Dr Wang. Donations can be made, identifying support for Dr Wang’s research, at urologyfoundation.ca/index.html

See notes and scores for all the 1982 Bordeaux wines tasted

Some wines in the tasting were faulty or corked so were omitted from this list. 

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