When to drink a Premières Côtes de Bordeaux?

Bordeaux · indicative values: the producer, the vintage and storage conditions come first.

Map: where Premières Côtes de Bordeaux is. Bordeaux region, France.

Red: the drinking window

Recommended ageing: 3 to 10 years after the vintage.

For example, a 2020 Premières Côtes de Bordeaux drinks best between 2023 and 2031, with a peak plateau around 2026-2029.

What about your bottles?

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Vintage by vintage

A great year outlives an average one: the window moves with the vintage. The most recent rated years in Bordeaux, applied to the ageing for Premières Côtes de Bordeaux given above.

Vintage	Rating	Drink
2023	Great	2026–2034
2022	Outstanding	2025–2034
2021	Good	2024–2031
2020	Great	2023–2031
2019	Outstanding	2022–2031
2018	Outstanding	2021–2030
2017	Good	2020–2027
2016	Outstanding	2019–2028
2015	Outstanding	2018–2027
2014	Great	2017–2025
2013	Drink up	2016–2020
2012	Good	2015–2022

The full history, back to the older vintages: Red Bordeaux.

How to read this window

Before the window opens, the wine is in its youth: fruit dominates, tannins or acidity can feel stern. During the peak plateau, everything falls into balance: this is the moment ageing prepares. Beyond it, the wine slowly declines: nothing unsafe, but the emotion fades. These are general benchmarks for the appellation, not a verdict on your bottle.

Curious where these numbers come from? The method is published in full: five levels from the estate down to the grape, corrected by the vintage and the bottle format.

From the same region

Other appellations in Bordeaux, each with its own window:

What about your bottles?

Caviste computes this window for every bottle in your cellar: photograph the label, the sheet fills itself in (estate, vintage, appellation) and the app tells you when a bottle reaches its peak. Discover Caviste.