The Primeur's week in Bordeaux 2024 - Vintage 2023
The 2023 French wine futures campaign — Bordeaux En Primeurs 2023 — held in late April 2024, presented a vintage characterised by contrasting weather conditions that largely determined the style and quality of the wines produced.
Matthieu Gombault
Head of Wine and Forest Investment Solutions at Societe Generale Private Banking
The weather and its impact on the vintage
Crisp and clouded over, early winter 2023 was good for vines, which were able to avoid early bud break1 and be less susceptible to damage caused by late frosts. Spring brought alternating mild and cool spells and high humidity, creating ideal conditions for the development of mildew2. The disease was particularly aggressive this year, attacking vineyards on the right bank and resulting in disparities in yields between estates. Despite these challenges, and in a show of the savoir-faire of the region’s winegrowers, the Saint-Emilion wines stood out for their elegance and diversity.
The hot summer helped to offset the adverse effects of the spring months with intermittent thunderstorms combined with the heatwave in mid-August that extended the véraison3 and favoured the ripening of the grapes.
Harvesting began on 12 August in Sauternes, and continued into early September with the Merlot grapes followed by the Cabernets. Clement weather conditions also made for great flexibility in the choice of harvesting dates. The result: a superb vintage for white and dessert wines, and a more mixed vintage for the reds.
Another distinguishing feature of the 2023 campaign is its significantly lower prices compared to previous years. The reasons for the markdown are manifold, including pressure from the secondary market4 and an abundance of wine left over from previous vintages, lowering demand and compelling wine merchants to ask the châteaux to make an effort for the sake of the industry.
According to data from global fine wine trading platform Liv-ex5, the 2023 En Primeur Bordeaux release prices are on average 30% lower than those of 2022. A trend mainly attributed to the disappointing performance of recent vintages on the secondary market, despite their recognised quality.
Troubled times for wine
The French wine market is facing a complex crisis. Consumption is decreasing as consumer trends change, climate change is having an adverse effect on yields, and French wine exports are bearing the brunt of the global economic situation.
There is also a glut in production — especially of mid-range red and rosé wines — in relation to domestic demand. Added to this are structural difficulties, such as rising production and raw material costs (glass, aluminium), as well as cash flow problems for many winegrowers.
Outlook and conclusions
With marked differences between regions and estates, the 2023 vintage is somewhat inconsistent in nature. The white wines benefited from weather conditions that maintained good acidity, resulting in top-notch dry and sweet wines. The red wines vary widely in style and structure, offering a range both rich and diverse for wine connoisseurs and professionals alike.
The 2023 vintage unveiled at En Primeurs in April does not quite measure up to 2022; yet it remains a very promising vintage, despite the vagaries of the weather, with amply opportunity for wine lovers to discover unique, high-quality expressions of the Bordeaux region.
1 The flowering of trees and vines
2 Name given to various fungal diseases of plants, identified mainly on the underside of leaves where a fine white, grey or purplish down appears.
3 When fruits, and in this case grapes, change colour as they ripen.
4The market for wines that have been sold a first time by producers and distributors.
5https://www.liv-ex.com/
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