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Bordeaux 2025 en primeur: ‘strikingly brilliant’ wines from Pauillac

07 May 2026 By Colin Hay

The latest stage of db Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay’s en primeur tour of the Médoc brings him to Pauillac, an appellation whose wines seem to have flourished almost without exception in 2025.

Last year, of all the leading appellations of the Médoc, it was Pauillac for me that was least flattered by the vintage. That is definitively not the case in 2025. Indeed, while we have already seen that the wines of both Margaux and Saint-Julien are excellent at all levels and price points, it is really only in the northern Médoc – in Pauillac and possibly even more so in Saint-Estèphe – that we begin to rack up a number of ‘best ever’ showings.

The weather conditions were, it seems, just a little easier here on average. As Table 1 shows, the average appellation yields were a little higher (just topping 30 hl/ha) and the reduction in yields relative to the 10-year average a little lower (though still nearly 25% down on the decennial average).

	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	10-year average	% Change
Margaux	36.3	38.6	31.3	37.7	33.1	28.8	39.2	-26.5
Saint-Julien	34.3	35.2	34.3	50.3	32.5	26.4	36.3	-27.3
Pauillac	37.4	35.1	34.8	47.1	29.5	30.2	40.2	-24.9
Saint-Estèphe	41.2	40.7	31.5	51.6	33.6	36.8	44.4	-17.1
Pessac-Léognan	34.6	30.7	35.7	38.1	39.0	31.0	35.6	-12.9
Saint-Emilion (GC)	36.7	27.5	41.2	40.5	36.4	34.7	37.9	-8.4
Pomerol	39.8	28.9	32.3	45.2	28.4	25.9	36.6	-29.2

Table 1: Average vineyard yield by appellation (hl/ha)

Source: calculated from Duanes data compiled by the CIVB Service Economie et Etudes

Just as significantly, and in something of a contrast to Saint-Julien above all, the yields attained at the leading estates were not significantly different from the appellation average, as Table 2 shows. The bearing on the composition of the grands vins of the first and second growths was modest, with the recent trend for a striking dominance of Cabernet Sauvignon in the final blend merely confirmed.

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Lafite Rothschild	92	96	94	93	96	94	27
Latour	97	96	92.5	92.5	94.5	93.6	26
Mouton Rothschild	84	89	92	93	93	98.2	30
Pichon Baron	76	88	81	80	87	84	24
Pichon Comtesse de Lalande	77	88	78	80	83	81	24
Lynch-Bages	60	67	66	71	70	66	30
Average (%)	81	87	84	85	87	86	27

Table 2: Percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the grands vins of leading Pauillac estates and final yield (hl/ha)

The wines are strikingly brilliant, my notes identifying ‘best ever’ performances from a number of properties, notably Armailhac, Clerc Milon, Croizet-Bages, Grand-Puy Ducasse, Haut-Bages Libéral, Lacoste Borie, Pédesclaux and even Pichon Baron itself.

The first growths themselves are truly remarkable, with Lafite-Rothschild for me the Left Bank star of the entire vintage and a wine that breaks my en primeur ratings system with a perfect 100.

Mouton Rothschild runs it very close indeed and is also, for me, a candidate for numerical perfection. It just pips an exceptionally beguiling Latour.

The two great Pichon ‘super-seconds’ – Pichon Baron and Pichon Comtesse de Lalande are very different but equally captivating and Haut-Bages Libéral and Lynch-Bages have both made brilliant wines with long-term aging potential combined with immediate charm and elegance.