Château Berliquet, 2025 - Magnum
Château Berliquet, 2025 - Magnum
- 150cl
- 14%
- Red Still
- Merlot, Cabernet Franc
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Est. delivery in 2028.
Château Berliquet sits prettily on Saint-Émilion's limestone plateau, where the Debourdieu family has been quietly crafting some of the appellation's most refined wines since taking over in 2008. This is Merlot-driven Bordeaux at its most graceful — think silky rather than blockbuster, with the kind of mineral backbone that only limestone terroir can provide.
What the critics say:
"A blend of 61% Merlot and 39% Cabernet Franc, the 2025 Berliquet is the best wine to emerge from this ascendent property yet. Bursting with aromas of sweet dark berries, licorice and violets, it's medium- to full-bodied, rich and suave, with beautifully refined tannins, lively acids and a seamless, complete profile. The estate's new winery, inaugurated with the 2023 vintage, permits harvesting block by block with greater precision. Readers who haven't been following Berliquet's progress should make a special effort to seek out the superb 2025. "
"I love the purity of the cassis and blueberry aromatics, and that trace of violet with a little peony that I recognise as the signature of this glorious terroir – plateau and côteau together. There are freshly crushed peppercorns – both rose and green – with the natural freshness and aromatic interest that implies. A staggeringly beautiful wine, ample and intensely succulent, with perhaps less layering and density than Canon but the same quality of tannin management, and the same precision, finesse and sheer sensitivity to terroir. I love the little note of clove that reinforces the delicate florality in a way. As ever, something of a coup de coeur for me. Definitely the best ever from here, with both density and energy, and a delightful signature of powdery limestone tannin."
"The 2025 Berliquet was picked September 3 to 17 and is aged in 38% new barrels and 23% amphora, which are being increased slightly each year. This has a very refined bouquet, lifted and quite floral, black cherry and blueberry, a little creaminess, in fact, quite Canon-like in style. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp acidity on the entry. The limestone really comes through and underlies this Berliquet, almost like a white wine, as if someone crumbled it into the wine. That's terroir for you. It lends plenty of freshness and another layer of complexity on the finish. This is one of the best vintages of Berliquet that I have tasted from barrel. "
Berliquet's vineyards occupy prime real estate on Saint-Émilion's limestone plateau, sharing the same geological foundation as neighbours like Canon and Magdelaine. The thin topsoil over deep limestone bedrock forces the vines to dig deep, creating wines with natural elegance and mineral precision. The plateau's elevation provides excellent drainage whilst the limestone retains just enough moisture to sustain the vines through dry spells, resulting in grapes that ripen slowly and retain their natural acidity.
Saint-Émilion Grand Cru represents the upper tier of this Right Bank appellation, where wines must pass both vineyard classification and annual tasting approval. Unlike the Médoc's rigid hierarchy, Saint-Émilion reclassifies its châteaux every decade, keeping producers on their toes. The appellation favours Merlot over Cabernet Sauvignon, producing wines that are generally more approachable in youth than their Left Bank cousins whilst still offering serious ageing potential. The limestone and clay soils create a distinctive mineral signature that sets Saint-Émilion apart from the gravel-driven wines of Pauillac or Saint-Julien.
The 2025 Bordeaux vintage emerged from one of the most demanding growing seasons in recent memory — the earliest budbreak since 1989, June temperatures second only to 2003 since records began, and an unusually early harvest beginning in August for the whites. Conditions that should have produced heavy, overripe wines. They didn't. Decanter's Georgie Hindle, who tasted close to 200 wines ahead of the formal campaign, describes "exceptional concentration, aromatic purity and a freshness that contradicts the record-breaking heat.
The early critical consensus places 2025 stylistically between the precision of 2020 and the structure of 2016, with the brightness of 2023 — a combination that suggests a very serious vintage indeed. Yields are dramatically low, the smallest crop since 1991, with production across the Gironde running around 15% below the five-year average. The quality is here. There simply isn't very much of it.
