Parker’s description of the 2012 vintage as ‘not great’ rings true in direct comparison to the recent back to back iconic vintages 2009 & 2010, but his ratings clearly acknowledge the fact that some very good wines were produced in 2012.
Pomerol was the clear winner with the only potential perfect wine of the vintage, Chateau L'Eglise Clinet (96-100pts) topping the scores closely followed by another two wines from the Right Bank commune Chateau Trotanoy (96-98pts) & Petrus (95-98+pts), Pessac-Leognan & St Emilion also produced some excellent wines, with the top St-Emilion’s scoring very well & according to Parker offering wines that are ‘not far off the mark of 2010 and 2009’- quite the accolade. Pavie (94-96+pts) & Angelus (94-96pts) released their wines ahead of the Parker scores last week, offering the inaugural vintages to have Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé (A) on their bottles at an increase on 2011 pricing, which was poorly received. Will the high scores ensure these wines find a market?
The Right bank dominated the top list of wines, leaving Mouton Rothschild (95-97pts) a forlorn figure as the only Left Bank wine in the top 20 rated by Parker. At under £3,000 per 12 the best scored First Growth 2012 looks a great buy, particularly encouraging as Parker proclaims this effort as ‘one of the few 2012s that comes close to equalling what was achieved in both 2009 and 2010’.
Lafite Rothschild (92-95pts) also scored well comparing the newest vintage to the 1998 which currently trades upwards of £6,000 per 12 , other strong Left Bank performers were : Haut Brion (93-95pts), Latour and Margaux (both 92-94) & Chateau Rauzan-Segla (93-95pts).
The futures market for Bordeaux is undoubtedly ‘at a crossroads’ (RPJ) especially after prices failed to come down for the below average 2011 campaign. Parker has once again called for prices to drop and paid recognition to Christian Moueix, who released his 2012 stable of wines at a 20% discount on 2011. Credit must also go to Mouton & Lafite who came down substantially on 2011 pricing and have subsequently found an active market.
Now that all the scores are out, we are expecting a busy week of releases so please make sure to register your interest in order to ensure you receive an allocation of the unreleased wines.
Below is the list of the top rated 2012s.
| 2012 | Haut Brion Blanc | (98-100) |
| 2012 | La Mission Haut Brion Blanc | (96-98+) |
| 2012 | L'Eglise Clinet | (96-100) |
| 2012 | Trotanoy | (96-98) |
| 2012 | Ausone | (95-97) |
| 2012 | Mouton-Rothschild | (95-97) |
| 2012 | Pape Clement Blanc | (95-98) |
| 2012 | Petrus | (95-98+) |
| 2012 | Angelus | (94-96) |
| 2012 | Bellevue Mondotte | (94-97) |
| 2012 | Cheval Blanc | (94-96) |
| 2012 | Hosanna | (94-96) |
| 2012 | La Fleur Petrus | (94-96) |
| 2012 | La Mondotte | (94-97) |
| 2012 | Pavie | (94-96+) |
| 2012 | Chateau Troplong Mondot | (94-96) |
| 2012 | Beausejour Duffau-Lagarosse | (93-95+) |
| 2012 | Belair-Monange | (93-95) |
| 2012 | Climens | (93-95) |
| 2012 | Clos Fourtet | (93-95) |
| 2012 | Croix de Labrie | (93-95) |
| 2012 | Domaine de Chevalier Blanc | (93-95) |
| 2012 | Feytit Clinet | (93-95) |
| 2012 | Chateau Gazin | (93-95) |
| 2012 | Gracia | (93-95+) |
| 2012 | Haut Brion | (93-95) |
| 2012 | Larcis-Ducasse | (93-95) |
| 2012 | Chateau Le Pin | (93-95) |
| 2012 | Leoville Las Cases | (93-95) |
| 2012 | Rauzan-Segla (Rausan-Segla) | (93-95) |
| 2012 | Smith-Haut-Lafitte Blanc | (93-95) |
| 2012 | Beau-Sejour-Becot | (92-95) |
| 2012 | Branon | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Canon la Gaffeliere | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Chateau Louis | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Chateau Margaux | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Chateau Clinet | (92-94+) |
| 2012 | Clos de Sarpe | (92-94+) |
| 2012 | Clos Dubreuil | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Clos St Julien | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Cos d'Estournel | (92-95) |
| 2012 | De Fieuzal Blanc | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Domaine de Chevalier | (92-95) |
| 2012 | Fleur Cardinale | (92-95) |
| 2012 | La Clarte de Haut Brion Blanc | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Chateau La Conseillante | (92-94) |
| 2012 | La Fleur de Bouard Le Plus | (92-94) |
| 2012 | La Fleur Morange | (92-94+) |
| 2012 | Lafite-Rothschild | (92-95) |
| 2012 | Lafleur | (92-94+) |
| 2012 | Latour | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Le Dome | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Magrez Fombrauge | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Montrose | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Palmer | (92-95) |
| 2012 | Pape Clement | (92-95) |
| 2012 | Pavie-Decesse | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Pavie-Macquin | (92-95) |
| 2012 | Smith-Haut-Lafitte | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Vieux Chateau Certan | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Vieux Chateau Mazerat | (92-94) |
| 2012 | Aile d'Argent Blanc | (91-93) |
| 2012 | Bellevue | (91-93+) |
| 2012 | Canon | (91-94) |
| 2012 | Chapelle d'Ausone | (91-93) |
| 2012 | Chateau Saint-Pierre | (91-93) |
| 2012 | Clos du Marquis | (91-93) |
| 2012 | Clos l'Eglise | (91-94) |
| 2012 | Cos d'Estournel Blanc | (91-93) |
| 2012 | Haut Bailly | (91-93) |
| 2012 | La Confession | (91-93) |
| 2012 | La Croix St Georges | (91-93) |
| 2012 | La Fleur de Bouard | (91-93) |
| 2012 | La Fleur de Gay | (91-94) |
| 2012 | La Gaffeliere | (91-93) |
| 2012 | La Mission Haut Brion | (91-94) |
| 2012 | La Violette | (91-93) |
| 2012 | Le Gay | (91-93+) |
| 2012 | Les Asteries | (91-93) |
| 2012 | Malartic-Lagraviere | (91-93) |
| 2012 | Malartic-Lagraviere Blanc | (91-94) |
| 2012 | Monbousquet Blanc | 91 |
| 2012 | Pavillon Blanc du Chateau Margaux Blanc | (91-93) |
| 2012 | Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande | (91-93) |
| 2012 | Pontet-Canet | (91-94) |
| 2012 | Le Petit Mouton | (90-92) |
| 2012 | Leoville Barton | (90-92) |
| 2012 | Les Cruzelles | (90-92) |
| 2012 | Chateau L'Evangile | (90-94) |
| 2012 | Pichon-Longueville Baron | (90-93) |
| 2012 | Chateau Beychevelle | (89-91) |
| 2012 | D'Armailhac | (89-91) |
| 2012 | Les Forts de Latour | (89-91) |
| 2012 | Alter Ego | (88-90) |
| 2012 | Chateau Duhart-Milon Rothschild | (87-89) |
| 2012 | Goulee | (87-90) |
| 2012 | Carruades de Lafite | (87-89) |
| 2012 | Lynch Bages | (87-89) |
