Every spring Binny’s dispatches a small group of buyers and store employees to Bordeaux to taste the new vintage. It is the first opportunity for critics, connoisseurs, retailers and restauranteurs to taste the nascent wines from barrel. 

We always come away with strong impressions and opinions that inform what we will offer during the impending futures campaign and what will eventually end up on our shelves. 

What we found in barrel this year was a mixed bag, with many uninspired, middling wines on offer. However, some chateaux were able to pull a rabbit out of their hats. Therefore, we will be very, very selective about what we choose to offer during the 2024 futures campaign, so you can rest assured that if you choose to purchase futures from us, you will be selecting only from the cream of the crop.  

The wine world’s foremost critics have begun publishing their opinions. Here is what they are saying. 

WILLIAM KELLY - WINE ADVOCATE

“While some vintages favor a particular variety or appellation, 2024 can only be understood on a producer basis.”

There is no point in pretending. 2024 was a challenging vintage in Bordeaux. Kelly expounds on the difficulties, noting the trouble caused by unwelcome rain both at flowering and harvest. Spring rains caused uneven flowering that eventually led to uneven ripening at harvest, while setting up a growing season marked by intense disease pressure in the form of rot. 

Never-the-less Kelly points out- 

“...a handful of producers have, against the odds, delivered notable successes...” 

This was a vintage that required expertise, excellent, well drained terroir, aggressive vineyard management, severe fruit selection and the nerve to push ripeness by extending hangtime.  

He notes that even those who made ruthless fruit selections in the vineyard and winery still produced mediocre wine if they didn’t opt for extra time on the vine, saying- 

“If the 2024 vintage is complex, with significant variations in quality from one producer to the next, the reason is paradoxically simple: ripeness.” 

Then putting a finer point on it with this- 

“Terroir played a role: better-drained, earlier-ripening plots fared best. But the year also rewarded those who took risks in pursuit of fuller maturity...” 

Kelly sums up what he sees as a critical error- 

“Many, feeling there was little to gain from further patience and potentially much to lose, wrapped up their harvest by the end of the first week of October, while others dared to wait another week, gaining in mid-palate amplitude and degrading pyrazines in the process...” 

The bright spot? Prices will certainly be the lowest we have seen in many years, even from the chateaux that made all the right moves and turned-out compelling wines. He says many producers expressed the same hopeful sentiment- 

“...consumers are likely to be surprised by the extent of price reductions.” 

He sums up the standouts of the vintage like this- 

“In style, the most compelling 2024s are intensely flavored middleweights with good structure and energy, exhibiting integrated acidity and ripe tannin. A handful of wines, often thanks to a riskily late harvest and generally from early ripening sites, even possess a density and mid-palate amplitude that transcends the year, and which will render them hard to identify in blind tastings a decade from now. In the best 2024s, the estate signature is also intensely present, delivering wines with a strong identity.”