Haut Breton

The 2025 Bordeaux vintage is defined by a paradox of extreme heat yet produced many wines with surprising elegance. After a mild winter, an exceptionally early and uniform flowering in mid-May set the stage for an accelerated growing season. However, the defining characteristic was a series of intense heatwaves in June and August, with temperatures peaking near 42°C.

The result was a year of remarkably low yields but also intense, pure concentration. Small, thick-skinned berries – particularly in the Merlot – produced wines with deep colour and rich phenolic structure. While the heat initially threatened to block ongoing ripening, critical rains in late August combined with cooler night temperatures preserved a “crystalline” acidity that distinguishes 2025 from the more opulent and hedonistic 2022 vintage.

Key Vintage 2025 Highlights:

• Quality vs. Quantity: Exceptional aromatic intensity and ripe tannins, though volumes are down roughly -15% due to heat-induced berry shrivelling.

• Terroir Success: Clay and limestone soils (notably in Saint-Émilion and Pomerol) thrived by regulating water stress.

• Style: Early tastings suggest a “modern classic” – combining the power of solar vintages with a refined, fresh finish and moderate alcohol levels (averaging 13.5–14%).

For collectors, 2025 stands as a “vigneron’s year,” where precise harvest timing was essential to balance its natural fruit density with graceful acids.

Chateau Haut-Breton Larigaudiere 2025, Margaux

A rich, ripe, generous aromatics with an accessible plushness tempered by graphite and wood spice notes. The palate is textbook Margaux – silky soft, seductive, and texturally incredibly fine with a deceptive voluminous breath and depth of fruit. A very harmonious classical rendition that should put on a little more muscle in the barrel. One of the finest expressions I have tasted yet from Haut Breton.

(Wine Safari Score: 94-95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Chateau Tour Baladoz 2025, Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classe

This attractive Saint Emilion packs an impressive 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec alongside a more traditional 70% Merlot component. The nose is creamy, plush and delicately savoury with a wealth of blue and purple fruits, a fragrant brightness and stony liquorice salinity. Creamy tannins are braced by a bright underlying acidity, caressed by the most velvety, creamy limestone minerality. Lovely dry extract, a full plush mid-palate and a very fine-grained finish. Harmony and balance personified.

(Wine Safari Score: 94-95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Chateau La Croizille 2025, Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classe

This flagship 4.5-hectare Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classe is a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and in 2025 shows a luxuriously plush aromatics of black cherry, damson plum and saline black currant fruits with a kiss of liquorice and graphite. Broad and silky on the palate, the power and concentration is clear to see with bright, crisp supporting acids, a delicately picante wood spice and a creamy black currant laden finish with very impressive concentration and depth. A really impressive, well finessed Right Bank expression that shows the true pedigree of the 2025 vintage.

(Wine Safari Score: 94-96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wines are available direct from the De Schepper Family’s own negociant business ‘De Mour’. For more information and pricing, contact: anthony_crameri@orange.fr

The De Schepper family owns five wine estates in Bordeaux as well as the De Mour negociant firm that is tasked with distributing their wines, more often than not, direct to international merchants and retailers. In my experience of tasting and reviewing their wines for the past decade, this is a firm that prides itself on its values, based on human expertise passed down through generations, technical mastery of all stages in the winemaking process, as well as upmarket product ranges developed via exclusive partnerships.

Within their product range, the special pure Cabernet Sauvignon cuvée of Château Haut Breton Larigaudière was created and named “Le Createur”, a literal translation of the family name of the owners “De Schepper”, a name of Flemish origin, in honor of Emile De Schepper, who bought the estate in 1964 and started the extensive renovation of the château. “Le Créateur” is an endless and tireless search tor the perfection of the personality of a specific vintage. I recently cracked a bottle of their 2015 vintage to assess how this pure Cabernet Sauvignon is looking after 10 years from vintage.

Chateau Haut Breton Larigaudiere Le Createur 2015, Margaux, 13.5% Abv.

This pure 100% Cabernet Sauvignon shows a beautifully complex and intricate aromatics of fresh violets, black cherry, dried bay leaf spice, red currants and black plum with hints of tilled earth, black tea and fresh tannery leather. The palate displays a beautiful crunchy freshness and definition with powerful linear tannins and a stony minerality supported by layers of creme de cassis and black berry fruits, a delicate wood spice, freshly brewed tea and delicate herbal notes on the long creamy finish. Drink this classy wine now and over the next 10+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)