All the medallists from the Bordeaux Masters 2025

The finest wines of Bordeaux still make the region a global benchmark, but the international competition is becoming fiercer writes Patricia Stefanowicz MW.

BORDEAUX IS a bit of a conundrum. Despite vagaries of fortunes, disease and war, Bordeaux bottles are today still traded on the secondary market with fair results. The decline in percentage terms is in part due to the simple fact that other wines – from the likes of Bourgogne, Tuscany and Champagne, together with fine wines from New World regions, including Australia, California, Chile, Argentina and New Zealand, have become increasingly available.

Selling wines from outside Bordeaux through the Bordeaux marketplace is nothing new. The Gascon merchants in the 13th–15th centuries were canny traders, and not all the wines they shipped via the Bordeaux ports were from Bordeaux itself.

And nowadays the range of wines sold through fine wine system La Place de Bordeaux is wide-ranging, covering a huge number of regions. The wines deemed worthy of being sold through La Place are marketed and sold in exactly the same way as fine Bordeaux, therefore competing with Bordeaux in the fine wine market. Therefore, in our Bordeaux Masters we judged not only wines from Bordeaux estates, but also wines featured in La Place’s ‘hors Bordeaux’ (beyond Bordeaux) campaign.

Unoaked whites impress

This year, the few unoaked white wines we judged all showed well. Priced at around £10–£15, these wines are expressive and easy-drinking, with those blending Sauvignon Blanc with Semillon and Muscadelle displaying a little more interest and texture.

From the oaked whites, Suduiraut’s Lions de Suduiraut garnered a Silver medal, and Mouton Cadet Cuvée Héritage Blanc earned a Gold. Both are around £15 and represent great value. Unoaked red wines were a bit of a disappointment. It seemed to the judges that the Cabernets, in particular, would benefit from judicious oak ageing to fill the mid-palate, although attempts with amphorae can be interesting.

However, Bordeaux remains at the apex of age-worthy fine oaked red wines. Much improved viticulture and winemaking with greater understanding and attention to detail mean that many of the wines are drinking well much sooner, compared to 40 or 50 years ago when only very ripe years were ready within a decade. But you do have to spend to acquire very good quality.

Quality at different price points

Haut-Médoc Cru Bourgeois wines, such as Château Clarke 2018, and right bank wines, including a Master medal-winning Château des Laurets Sélection Parcellaire 2018, demonstrate just how beautifully integrated, balanced and drinkable these modern clarets can be. Slightly less expensive is Yedi Bilgeler’s Bordeaux blend Pythagoras from Turkey – an absolute steal at around £25.

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From Bordeaux in the over-£100 price bracket, Château La Conseillante 2018, a fine-quality Pomerol, earned a Gold, its concentration, vibrancy of flavour and integration demonstrating just how fantastic the 2018 vintage was.

Our only Sauternes, Château Filhot 2015, was exquisite – apricot, orange blossom, marmalade, with vanilla overlay – and exhibited, even in a half-bottle, the ageing potential for this delectable style.

‘Hors Bordeaux’ stars

The wines from outside the Bordeaux region selling through La Place all earned Gold and Master medals, but the prices are expensive – ranging from around £75 to over £400.

However, the wines are delicious, with the Penfolds stable displaying rich blackcurrant and dark plum fruits, cedar wood or vanilla oak and intensity, texture and balance.

A couple of California wines are also exemplary. Daou’s mountain vineyard near Paso Robles produced a bold but wonderfully balanced wine. Morlet Family Estate’s Oakville Cabernet, well deserving of our Grand Master accolade, showed the varietal character, depth, concentration and elegance of only the finest Cabernet Sauvignons.

This year’s Bordeaux Masters is proof that the fine wine offering is expanding and there is stiff competition, but there is certainly a place in the global marketplace for all these exceptional wines.

Bordeaux Still White – Unoaked

Bordeaux Still White – Oaked

Bordeaux Still Rosé – Unoaked

Bordeaux Still Red – Unoaked

Bordeaux Still Red – Oaked

Bordeaux Sweet White

Bordeaux Blend Still Red – Unoaked

Bordeaux Blend Still Red – Oaked

La Place Still Red – Oaked

About the competition

With high-quality judges and a unique sampling process, The Bordeaux Masters provides a chance for your wines to shine. The 2025 competition was judged on 7 July at The Wine Tasting Shop in Balham, London, employing experienced judges. The top wines were awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze medals according to their result, and those expressions that stood out as being outstanding received the ultimate accolades – the titles of Bordeaux Master or Grand Master. This report features medal winners only. Please visit the Global Masters website for more information or, to enter future competitions, with a chance to appear in print and online, call: +44 (0) 20 7803 2420 or email Sophie Raichura at: sophie@thedrinksbusiness.com