Above: Top Bordeaux wines of 2024

We are five weeks into Bordeaux’s 2024 en primeur campaign and all of our partner critics have now published their scores and notes for the vintage. Informed by ratings from Antonio Galloni and Neal Martin (Vinous), Bettane+Desseauve, JancisRobinson.com, and Ella Lister (Le Figaro Vin), we have compiled a list of the top-41 wines of the vintage by average score (as shown in the graph above). All wines in this ranking have average scores of 93.8 and above.

For the second year in a row, the majority of the highest-scoring wines (36 out of 41) have seen a decrease in their average rating since the previous year’s offering. The last vintage to see a majority increase was 2022. Five of the top 41 wines have seen increases in average critics' score: Beau-Séjour Bécot, Domaine de Chevalier Blanc, Guiraud, Haut-Brion Blanc, and La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc - all white except the former. Nine wines score over 95.0 in 2024, compared to 33 in 2023, and 64 in 2022.

The wine that sees the greatest increase in average critics' score in the top-41 list is La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc, which gained 2.6 points. The average change in scores across the league was a decrease of -0.7. Outside this group, the largest score increase was achieved by Margaux’s Pavillon Blanc, which gained 1.6 points in 2024.

Though not released en primeur (buyers will have to wait until the estate has deemed the vintage ready to drink), Pauillac First Growth, Latour, earns the top spot on the list for the second year in a row with an average critics' score of 95.8. Saint-Estèphe Second Growth, Montrose, earns the second-highest score (96.7), while Haut-Brion Blanc follows with 95.5. Lafite Rothschild appears in fourth place (95.5), followed by Ducru-Beaucaillou (95.3), La Conseillante (95.3), Mouton Rothschild (95.2), La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc (95.1), and Margaux (95.1).

The Left Bank holds 60% of the top positions on the leaderboard in 2024 (compared to 56% in 2023). By appellation, Saint-Émilion occupies the majority (20%) of places on the list, while Pauillac and Pomerol are right behind, assuming 15% of the list each, respectively.

Coutet (93.9), Guiraud (94.9), and Suduiraut (94.7) are the three sweet wines that have made their way onto the list this year - there were only two sweet wines on the top-33 list last year: L’Extravagant de Doisy-Daëne and Suduiraut. Conversely, there are four dry whites in the top-41 this year: Domaine de Chevalier Blanc, (94.4), Haut-Brion Blanc (95.5), followed by La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc (94.4 points), and Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc (94.6 points). This suggests an increased quality among this category in 2024, with the only top-scoring dry white last year being Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc 2023 with 94.2 points.