Bordeaux Wine Vintage 2024: A Perfect Year for Lovers of Medium-Bodied, Aromatic Wines
The 2024 vintage is tailored for enthusiasts who appreciate medium-bodied wines with rich aromas and moderate alcohol levels, ideally suited for early to mid-term enjoyment.
This year, wineries with excellent terroir conditions and substantial financial resources for vineyard management and winemaking have successfully produced a series of exquisitely elegant red wines that showcase the region's characteristics. In terms of white wines, they stand out for their exceptional aromatic complexity and refreshing palate. Furthermore, the sweet wines of this vintage are notable for their richness and the captivating flavors of noble rot.
Weather Conditions
The 2024 Bordeaux vintage faced a challenging start with a severe outbreak of downy mildew, resulting in the lowest regional yields since 1991. A mild, rainy winter followed by a sudden rise in temperatures accelerated the spread of mildew. While this did not impact wine quality, wineries had to focus on disease control to protect their harvest.
Regular applications of Bordeaux mixture were the only effective means against the mildew, but persistent rainfall made reapplication difficult, hindering mechanized operations. Wealthier estates employed manual spraying, such as Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, which hired 100 workers over eight weeks. Wineries with fewer resources prioritized specific plots and accepted reduced yields.
By late May, flowering was slow and uneven, with Château Cheval Blanc experiencing a prolonged five-week flowering period. The cool, rainy weather led to poor pollination, resulting in flower drop and variability in grape size, necessitating strict selection during harvest.
In July and August, warmer temperatures brought relief, with rainfall significantly below the ten-year average, aiding grape color change and phenolic maturity while avoiding extreme heat. Although some areas saw higher temperatures, sugar accumulation was slow during this period, resulting in moderate alcohol levels, with some instances of chaptalization but maintaining good balance.
In September, cooler, humid weather returned, affecting harvesting schedules for most wineries. Merlot harvesting began around September 20, coinciding with the heaviest rainfall, leading to some grapes being diluted and under-ripened. In contrast, Cabernet Sauvignon was harvested in early October under warmer, drier conditions after a longer hang time.
Brewing & Aging
In winemaking, the selection process has been a central topic of discussion across the region. Wineries with sufficient budgets have utilized density measurement tanks as a valuable tool. This equipment allows precise selection by immersing grapes in a sugar solution of specific density: riper, denser grapes sink to the bottom for further processing, while under-ripe grapes float to the surface and are discarded. For instance, Château Cheval Blanc's selection process resulted in a 34% loss in grape volume.
Following this, the wine undergoes an 18-month critical maturation period. During this time, wines that exhibit excellent balance gradually develop body, aroma, and richness, ultimately transforming into high-quality, flavorful products.
Given the light characteristics of the 2024 vintage, most winemakers have favored slower, gentler extraction methods, often at lower temperatures, to fully express the year’s unique style. However, a few wineries have managed to produce wines with both strength and richness, though these are the exception rather than the rule.
In terms of oak barrel usage, strategies vary among wineries. Some have opted to reduce new oak barrel usage to highlight the wine's pure flavors, while others have maintained or even increased their use to build more complex mid-palate structures and overall profiles.
Quality
The red wines of Bordeaux in 2024 display a distinctive charm, with captivating aromas and alcohol levels typically between 12.5% and 13.5%, making them very approachable. Despite frequent rainfall during the growing season, the warm, dry weather in July and August ensured the full maturity of phenolic compounds, resulting in soft tannins without bitterness. Consequently, there are few issues of dilution from excess rain in the final wines. Cabernet Sauvignon excelled this year, shining in many blends, offering refreshing fruit flavors of red currants and black cherries rather than the deeper, richer notes of blackcurrants and blackberries.
Wineries with top-tier terroir and rigorous selection capabilities have crafted high-quality wines suitable for early to mid-term consumption. The finest wines from this vintage demonstrate remarkable aging potential. Overall, the left bank wines have shown more consistency, particularly those from Saint-Julien and Pauillac, which exhibit excellent quality. However, Saint-Émilion and Pomerol also produced outstanding wines, showcasing the strength of their exceptional terroirs and the diverse appeal of the 2024 vintage.
Dry white wines are the surprise stars of the year. The cool vintage has provided them with exceptional concentration, richness, and fragrant aromas, resulting in a delicate and captivating palate. Sweet wines have also performed excellently this year, with high sugar content and prominent noble rot characteristics. These sweet wines offer luxurious tasting experiences even at a young age while possessing sufficient structure and density for elegant aging.
