When should I drink classed-growth Bordeaux?

Why it needs time

The classed growths of the Médoc, Graves and Saint-Émilion, and their peers in Pomerol, pick ripe, thick-skinned fruit from low-yielding vineyards and age it for around eighteen months in a high proportion of new French oak. The result is dense tannin, firm acidity and a wood frame that all need time to integrate, which is why the window runs from eight to thirty years after the vintage. Left Bank wines dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon usually sit later in that range than Merlot-led Right Bank wines, and a first growth from a strong vintage can outlast even the closing figure.

Opened too early

Young top Bordeaux is mostly cassis, cedar and vanilla from the barrel, with tannin that coats the teeth and a finish that tightens rather than lingers. Many go through a closed phase somewhere between their fifth and tenth year, when the fruit retreats and the wine seems mute and severe. Opening one then is the commonest way to be disappointed by an expensive bottle.

In the window

As the oak melts into the wine, the fruit moves from fresh blackcurrant towards dried plum, and the bouquet fills with cigar box, graphite, pencil shavings, tobacco and forest floor. The tannin is still present but polished, and the wine gains length rather than weight. Mature claret is a savoury, digestible red that shows best at the table, with lamb or game.

Which vintages are ready

On the calculator’s figures, the classed-growth Bordeaux vintages in their window in 2026 run from 1996 to 2018, and those from 2004 to 2010 sit around the likely peak. Anything from 2019 onwards is still ageing. Enter your own vintage above to check it.