2024 Futures

Administered by the Rothschilds (Mouton) since 1996, Coutet has joined the leading pack of the biggest Sauternes after Yquem. Like Climens, it is a true Barsac, pure and remarkably subtle, but with a more marked liquor. Since 2005, Coutet has been in great shape! In a rare feat, the exceptional 2020 vintage came top (ahead of Yquem) in the Revue du Vin de France's ranking of Sauternes 2020 « un sommet de pureté, de précoce harmonie, de naturel ! ».

The only 1er cru classé in the commune of Sauternes with Yquem, Guiraud offers rich, voluminous, powerful wines with a formal classicism. Certified organic since the 2011 vintage.

In the commune of Preignac, Suduiraut offers a wine that reflects its geographical position: halfway between Sauternes and Barsac. The latest vintages are dazzling in terms of contained power and aromatic distinction.

According to Bettane & Desseauve (Guide 2025), “Yquem is the only wine that can still do a little better”.

Although Les Carmes is adjacent to Haut-Brion and its vines were once part of those of Haut-Brion, the wines produced there are radically different from those of its prestigious neighbour. Due to a particular subsoil with the presence of clay, the vines are mainly Cabernet Franc (42%) and Merlot (40%) and the wines, deep and tasty, have an immediate generosity more typical of the right bank than the left bank. The new team set up following the acquisition in 2010 immediately propelled Les Carmes to the top of the Pessac-Léognan's wines.

Haut-Bailly is the most delicate of the Graves wines with a particularly silky tannic structure.

Haut-Brion is the most famous of all the Bordeaux growths, having twice been classified as 1er grand cru, in 1855 and again in 1959 (Graves classification). Haut-Brion is both the oldest of the Grands Crus, with more than five centuries (since 1509) behind it, and the most innovative, introducing stainless steel vats as early as 1960 and green harvesting as early as 1980.
Its particular situation within the Bordeaux agglomeration makes it the earliest Premier Cru on the left bank, a clear advantage in less mature vintages. For this reason, Haut-Brion's consistency is a benchmark for the whole of Bordeaux, with the intense bouquet of fresh earth, smoke and pine resin so characteristic of the appellation.
Fortunately, the unique silhouette of its bottle has disrupted the Asian market and has not triggered the same speculative interest there as it has for the other 1er grands crus classés. Haut-Brion is today without question the most qualitative and the least expensive of the premiers.

Back in top form since the early 2000s, the great Giscours estate has once again become one of the major Margaux growths, in its own distinctive style: very colourful, full-bodied and richly fruity for a Margaux. Its ageing ability has made its reputation as much as its always wise prices.

“The latest vintages are all priorities for the wine-lover,” emphasizes Bettane & Desseauve in its latest guide (2025).

An exceptional terroir classified in 1855 at the top of the second classified growths (with Mouton-Rothschild). Classicism in its purest form, an exemplary Margaux and certainly the cru classé whose style is the closest to that of Château Margaux.

Palmer, a Cru apart from the Margaux, delivers an original interpretation of the appellation with wines that are always charming, melting and voluptuous, which explains its 50% Merlot grape variety.

No other vintage can better express the magical association that is so difficult to obtain simultaneously finesse and power. A first growth without rival in its style!

Even if their evolution always involves a period of austerity, Léoville-Barton wines have a supreme class and elegance, due as much to the advanced age of the vines as to meticulous work. Always praised by the critics, as in 2015 "fine, sapid and very long, lots of class on the palate, with a juicy side and superb texture", rated 97/100 by the Revue du Vin de France.

Since the arrival of Bruno Borie in 2003, Ducru-Beaucaillou has been flying from success to success.  No one has forgotten that, until 1980, Ducru was the greatest of the Médoc's second growths, a position it is now regaining. Bravo !

Intended for very long ageing in the cellar (at least 10 years even in small vintages), the wines of Léoville-Las Cases represent in each vintage one of the most perfect and purest expressions of the Médoc vineyard. As Wine Advocate has written, "Léoville-Las Cases looks more and more like Lafite rather than its close neighbour Latour".

Every vintage, Léoville-Las Cases is one of the contenders for the title of "best Bordeaux of the year", as once again with its 2020, rated 98+/100 by M. Galloni "Las Cases is one of the wines of the 2020 vintage, there is no doubt about that" and 99-100/100 by the Revue du Vin de France "a superlative wine for its depth, richness, but above all its definition".

Bought in 1986 by the AXA group, initially under the leadership of Mr. Cazes (Lynch-Bages), Pichon-Longueville Baron regained its best form in the powerful and distinguished style of the great Pauillac. It must be said that a small half of its vines are located next to those of Latour, on a first growth terroir! For the Revue du Vin de France: "Pichon-Baron is at the top in the last vintages".

Mr Rouzaud (Champagne Roederer) acquired it in 2007 and has since strengthened the technical team by adding the advice of Mr Boissenot. Pichon-Comtesse remains faithful to the style that has made it so successful, as dense, suave, charming, enchanting and above all endearing.

Mouton-Rothschild's upgrade in 1973 from second to first grand cru classé was as legitimate as it was deserved in view of the quality of its terroir, a plateau of 90 hectares of deep gravel to the north of Pauillac, with Lafite-Rothschild as a neighbor. Despite this promotion, and even though it regularly tops the rankings in tastings, Mouton-Rothschild remains to this day the least expensive of the Médoc's premier crus classés. Its powerful, full-bodied style and its ability to age well have led Mr. Bettane to write "perhaps the most formally perfect wine in the Médoc...".

Appointed cellar master in 1994, Mr. Chevallier focused on developing Lafite-Rothschild wines without losing any of the characteristic bouquet of blackcurrant, graphite and cedar. This objective was quickly achieved, placing Lafite at the top of the 1st classified growths (this was already the case in 1855), and revered as such by the Chinese market. The incredible qualities of Lafite's terroir make it a unique vintage and give Cabernet Sauvignon (more than 90% present each year) its most beautiful aromatic expressions.

The great 2020 vintage was awarded the supreme score of 100/1000 by the Revue du Vin de France: "Spectacular, bordering on perfection".

The acquisition of Calon-Ségur in 2012 by a subsidiary of Crédit Mutuel (a French bank) heralds the great awakening of this famous terroir of gravel on limestone, in one piece and entirely surrounded by a wall (a unique fact in the Médoc). All of Bordeaux wants Calon-Ségur to be as fabulous as those of the middle of the last century after a 15-year investment plan.

The very high quality of Cos d'Estournel's recent vintages is impressive, placing it undoubtedly among the first great classified growths of the Médoc. A single qualifier comes to mind when we think of Cos d'Estournel: monumental, for its wines as well as for its cellar.

After 43 vintages, Mr Charmolüe sold the estate to Mr Bouygues in 2006. The change of ownership was accompanied by a spectacular project designed to bring Montrose into the 21st century: use of geothermal energy, installation of photovoltaic panels, recycling of CO2 from alcoholic fermentation...

There has also been a change of style in the wines, with a move towards greater aromatic complexity and textural refinement. Montrose nevertheless remains a wine of great breed, resting on a powerful tannic architecture and reserved for the most patient connoisseurs.

Delicately perfumed (the aromatic bouquet is always very floral, with violets and peonies in the lead) and elegantly suave whatever the vintage, La Conseillante occupies a special place among the greatest Pomerols, perhaps the most endearing of them. Its finesse and superiorly sensual and refined texture are reminiscent of the great wines of the Côte de Nuits (on the Vosne-Romanée side). However, behind the apparent friendliness of La Conseillante lies a wine of great energy and excellent ageing potential.

Vieux Château Certan is one (the last?) of the very few Bordeaux grands crus where the owners, Alexandre Thienpont and his son Guillaume since 2011, are still the only cellar masters on board. Thanks to its Cabernet Franc (30% on average), Vieux-Certan offers a firm, distinguished and refined version of Pomerol, closer to Lafleur than Petrus. Its 2022 vintage has been showered with praise, as in Vinous, where the two tasters (Galloni and Martin) each rated it 100/100.

A talented and demanding winemaker, Mr. Durantou, at the service of a great terroir flush with Pomerol's church (between Lafleur and Clinet), has revealed and propelled L'Église-Clinet among Pomerol's finest crus. L'Église-Clinet is undoubtedly one of the most subtle in terms of aromatic precision, fine grain and satiny texture. Much too soon lost in 2020, Mr. Durantou fortunately has three daughters, united and determined to continue their father's work with brio.

Like Pétrus, Le Pin is 100% Merlot. But if Pétrus has adopted a more classic style in recent years, Le Pin remains a hedonistic wine, often exuberant, sometimes even exotic. And unlike Pétrus, Le Pin is much rarer (500 cases per year).

An ultra-refined great wine, with a mineral tension that is out of the ordinary in Bordeaux, the fruit of the great terroir of the Côte Pavie, but also of the complicity of Mr Nicolas Thienpont and Mr Stéphane Derenoncourt since 1994.

Owned by Mr. Neipperg (Clos de l'Oratoire, La Mondotte, d'Aiguilhe) at the foot of the hill Ausone.

Self-taught, Jean-Luc Thunevin and his wife Murielle got their start in the Bordeaux vineyards when they bought a tiny 0.6 hectare plot in Saint-Émilion, near Pavie-Macquin. Produced in minute quantities, vinified with the means at hand but with meticulous care, Valandraud soon made a name for itself, to the point of giving rise to the 'garage wine' movement in the 1990s.

Now with a vineyard of almost 11 hectares on the cooler limestone terroirs of Saint-Etienne de Lisse (on the eastern edge of the appellation) and a bioclimatic cellar allowing gravity-fed vinification, Valandraud is now a Premier Grand Cru Classé in its own right.

Purchased in 1996 by the Chanel group (also in Rauzan-Ségla), Canon required a complete restoration, both of the vines and the cellar/vat room tool. Since 2008, Canon has fully justified its status as a 1er grand cru classé, with brilliant, distinguished wines that draw their energy from the Cabernets francs at the top of the limestone plateau.

Bought out in 2017 by the reinsurer SCOR, a page is turned in Troplong-Mondot, a formidable terroir in Saint-Emilion. Up to and including 2016, these are the richest in extract and most generous wines of the appellation, made by Christine Valette and her husband, under the aegis of Michel Rolland.

Radical break in style from the 2017 vintage, with less dense but oh so precise, elegant and racy wines, confirmed in 2018 by Mr. Galloni (vinous) "The 2018 is regal, refined and absolutely exquisite", rated 97/100.

Become a first grand cru classé in 2012, just reward for 20 years of effort by Mr. Neipperg (Canon-La Gaffelière, Clos de l'Oratoire) on this small vineyard of 4.5 ha adjoining Troplong-Mondot. A very large Saint-Émilion, fleshy, intense and penetrating, but with a confidential production.