An outstanding year, a challenging year, a vintage which is not as it should be… and as such it must pique your interest. A huge dichotomy because it was hot and dry over the summer (the vignerons call it a ‘solar’ year, lots of heat), but it produced fresh, tempered clarets with lower alcohol, typically 12.5-13.5. Many growers told us it should have been like 2003, with similar drought and temperature, yet the ‘vintage comparison’, as an aide-memoire if you need one, is between 2016 and 2022: properties everywhere have managed to make very good to outstanding wines.