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Bordeaux 2023 wine styles: What to expect

Summarising a Bordeaux vintage seems to get harder every year, especially given the heterogeneity of 2023, but many wines exude a sense of 'classicism' in its most positive sense – combining elegance and energy in the glass.

Bordeaux 2023 wine styles broadly mark a contrast to both the concentrated, plush and hedonistic wines of 2022 and the cool, crisp, sometimes austere wines from 2021.

They have elements of 2019 and 2020 in there, and some liken them to 2001, but they are really quite individual and set a new tone for fine, controlled and accessible Bordeaux.

Alcohols are moderate, pHs are low and, where winemakers picked at the right time and properly sorted out problematic grapes, the fruit is both juicy and ripe.


Subscribe to Decanter Premium to read the full Bordeaux 2023 En Primeur report, and see the top-scoring wines, when it goes live on Friday 3 May


The best wines have remarkable depth and concentration, with high acidities offering a lively freshness and sense of tang.

Despite the overall warmth of the year, there isn’t an overt ‘solar’ style and the wines are a curious combination of both a hot and cool vintage thanks to early wet and soggy conditions and late heatwaves and drought.

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