Our first red Bordeaux 2025 en primeur of the season comes from one of our favourite estates in Margaux, Château Angludet, released at £121 per six bottles in bond, identical in price to the 2024.  For comparison, the '22 vintage was released at £162 per six, the 2016 at £150 per six,and the 2010 at £130 per six!  

We will have to see if this will set a trend for other releases.  Angludet is a relatively small estate, but it's owners, the Sichel family, are influential in Bordeaux and are possibly trying to make a wider statement with this release.  This is what merchants and negociants were clamouring for from the châteaux owners in Bordeaux last week, to stimulate the market i.e., for the potentially 'excellent' 2025 vintage to be released at parity with the 'good' 2024s. 

Whatever happens with future releases (Pontet Canet is due out tomorrow!), 2025 Château Angludet is a superb wine and offers excellent value.  Tasting it last week, we found lots of beautiful blackberry fruit on the nose, with more blackcurrant and dark cherry on the palate, and classic Left Bank notes of pencil lead and violets.  We found it medium-bodied, with an abv of 13%,  framed by powerful but ripe tannins and beautifully balanced. 

Angludet has been certified as biodynamic since 2023 (though the conversion process will have been underway for many years) and we definitely noticed a hard-to-define sense of energy tasting the '25, which we often find in biodynamic wines.  The château is the family home of winemaker Ben Sichel and we have watched with interest as he has pursued quality here, particularly over the last decade, through biodynamic viticulture and by limiting yields drastically, a similar approach to that used at Palmer (co-owned by the Sichels). 

At time of writing we cannot see any scores for the 2025, but the 2024 was scored as high as 94 points, by Jane Anson, and we feel sure the '25 will surpass this comfortably.

Offered en primeur, landing spring 2028.