Wine Lister 2021 Bordeaux Study: Going the (social) distance

As the fine wine industry starts preparing for another Bordeaux en primeur season at a distance, Wine Lister has published Part I of its annual in-depth Bordeaux Study. With insights from key fine wine trade players from across the globe, Part I evaluates Bordeaux’s recent performance, considers the major takeaways from the 2019 vintage campaign, and contemplates the lessons they might provide moving forwards.

Please see our key findings below:

You can download the study digest in English here: Wine Lister 2021 Bordeaux Study – Digest or French here: Wine Lister 2021 Bordeaux Résumé d’étude. The full report can be purchased on our Analysis page, while Pro subscribers can access their free copy here.


The best of both Banks: Lafon-Rochet 2020

With Bordeaux 2020 en primeur fast approaching, Wine Lister reports on one of the latest updates to emerge from the Médoc, informing your investment decisions over the coming months. In collaboration with Château Lafon-Rochet, we speak to Basile Tesseron to find out more about the inaugural partnership of two of the most revered consultants in Bordeaux to work on the estate’s 2020 blend: Jean-Claude Berrouet and Eric Boissenot.

Renowned for his expertise in Merlot production at Pomerol’s Château Petrus, Lafon-Rochet’s existing consultant, Jean-Claude Berrouet has been working at the estate alongside his son, Jeff, since 2012. Basile tells us that his team “admire the quality of the tannins present in the wines that Jean-Claude consults on, as well as his expertise with grapes coming from clay soils”.

With almost half of the estate based on clay, and the other half on dry, deep, gravely soils, he explains that “it was logical to combine Jean-Claude’s work with that of Eric Boissenot”, whose father, Jacques, has also been working with Lafon-Rochet for several years. With a reputation as oenologist to some of the Médoc’s top châteaux, Eric Boissenot is known for his dedication to the accentuation of terroir.

This meeting of minds from the Right and Left Banks for the first time illustrates another step in the evolution of Lafon-Rochet under Basile’s guidance. Since taking over the running of the estate in 2007, he has overseen the construction of two new cellars, extensive replanting, and a dedicated biodiversity programme. Having spent several years conducting agroforestry trials, last year Lafon-Rochet embarked on an agroforestry scheme that aims to make the estate wild once again through assisted natural regeneration. As well as installing bat nesting boxes and beehives, the property aims to plant 13,000 trees on its land by 2022.

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