It was “an exceptional year”, says Mark Pardoe MW. Ahead of the comprehensive En Primeur tastings, we asked our Wine Director to examine how a vintage of sweltering heat has yielded such balanced, lively and age-worthy wines.

The 2022 vintage will live long in the memory of the Bordelais. The year was so hot and dry that irrigation was permitted for the first time in some regions, and forest fires dominated the news during July. Yet what was harvested is of very high quality. These are luscious, plush wines that coat the mouth with flavour and intensity yet have somehow preserved freshness and balance. This is a vintage unlike any other in recent memory, with some older hands drawing comparisons with 1947 or 1929.

A COLD START

Winter was cold, and drier than usual. But from February, average temperatures were higher than normal. The vines were sufficiently advanced to be exposed when heavy spring frost (now an almost-annual event) hit in early April. Unlike in 2021, however, much of the damage was averted using candles and frost towers. It was a close call. There was then hardly any rain until June, which provided a little respite before the torrid temperatures in July and August.

There were two bands of heavy, fist-sized hail: one across the northern Médoc, just above St Estèphe; the other between Margaux and Bordeaux, leaving the famous communes of the Left Bank unscathed. The lower band continued to the Right Bank, bisecting Blaye and Pomerol. As with the frosts, it was a near miss for the big names, although many petits châteaux were badly affected.

FEELING THE HEAT

But the heat and drought are the keynotes of the vintage. It was the driest July since 1959, and there were five separate heatwaves between May and September. Temperatures hit 42 degrees Celsius, the highest since 1947. Forest fires destroyed nearly 30,000 hectares of woodland in Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch, the worst damage since 1949. Thankfully, concerns of smoke taint were unfounded. This was due to the thickness of the skins at the time, in turn due to the drought.

Amid these conditions, the vines seemed resilient – although younger vines with shallow roots did suffer. The berries were small, and the skins began to wrinkle, but at no stage did the vines fully shut down or stop ripening. This stage was key for the excellent levels of phenolic ripeness at harvest. So too was the decision to green harvest, reducing the number of grapes each vine had to nourish.

There was relief in mid-August when rain finally fell, just before the harvest for the dry whites. Some châteaux began picking on their earliest dates on record; others waited. The weather stayed warm and dry throughout, and picking was concluded quickly and safely. The bunches were very small, the fruit beautifully healthy and fully ripe.

This is a small vintage, due both to the fruit-dropping earlier in the summer and also the grapes’ low water content after the extended dry weather. Some châteaux yielded as little as 20hl/ha; most are around 35hl/ha.

IN THE CELLAR

Most châteaux recognised that extraction had to be restrained and intuitive, but others felt that the maximum should be made of such natural bounty. Successful wines are available from both camps. Alcohol is around 14%, and tannins are very ripe and intense. There are good levels of freshness also; although the pH levels are on the high side, the wines have energy and minerality.

THE PARADOX

Despite the year being so hot and dry, the wines are balanced and full of life. Empirically, such conditions lead to heavy, alcoholic and flat wines; that charge cannot be laid against 2022. There are some likely contributory elements here.

The early start to the warm (then hot), dry weather, starting from February, possibly encouraged the vines to start their search for water early on. This helped later in summer when temperatures turned extreme. This ongoing access to water kept the vines ticking over and stopped them from shutting down to preserve water.

Many people’s minds will turn to 2003, a similarly torrid year. But the nights in 2022 were significantly cooler, allowing the vines to recoup some of their energy. And in the two decades since, skills in vineyard and soil management have improved beyond measure. It is hard now to find a serious Bordeaux vigneron who does not appreciate the importance of the biodiversity of insects, nematodes and mycorrhizal fungi in the vineyard soils. These practices act almost as an immune system for the vines, allowing them to adapt individually to the climatic challenges. Other considerations, including the more forensic management of each plot, likely played a part this year.

THE VERDICT

There would not seem to be a winner between the Left Bank and the Right Bank. The Cabernets of the Médoc and Graves are outstanding, as are the Merlots of Pomerol and St Emilion. Those with more water-retentive soils or older vines will have benefited, but essentially: where a vine is well married to its terroir, it will have succeeded this year.

This is an exceptional vintage for reds, in all senses of the word. It is not easy to compare with others; perhaps a little like 2005 but with more weight, or 2018 with more freshness. The dry white wines, harvested in August, are plump, exotic, generous and rounded. The fruit is overt and succulent and should give a lot of pleasure in the short and medium term. The sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac have exceeded expectations. They are rich and well-perfumed, and volumes are not too drastically small this year – for a change.

BORDEAUX 2022: A SUMMARY

The reds combine accessibility with intensity. They are a remarkable expression of an extraordinary year, and they will age superbly. The dry whites will give pleasure to their slowly growing number of followers, and the sweet whites are rich and balanced. This is an exceptional year, but not without precedent. There have been hotter and drier years, and years with forest fires before, but never have these challenges come with such frequency. The 2022 vintage may have dodged a few bullets on its way to success, but it also acts as a signpost for the future of Bordeaux.