What's wrong with 2012?

[William P]

I realize that I've been away from the Bordeaux market for far too long. So I have no experience in "rating" the past vintage. I reentered the market with a few purchases this year and most were in the 2012 vintage. I've reviewed the pundits and the pricing and 2012 is an OK year with general pricing on the low side. Yet when I taste these, I find them to be lovely. True they aren't tannic beasts perfectly balanced to age for 30 years. But they have a lovely roundness while still possessing good structure. These aren't bad wines and this isn't a horrible vintage. And the price won't keep you awake. I guess I'm a little confused, but pleasantly so.

Bill

[JimHow]

Amen, brother. 2012 is a quality, very reasonably priced vintage. The wines have a finesse and elegance to them but they also have a sufficient backbone to give them a seriousness. Very good quality for the money, especially on the right bank.

[AKR]

I don't think there's anything wrong with them either.

But in the context of recent vintages the 2012's showed up with

2005 vintage of the century
2008 solid, well priced wines
2009 vintage of the century part deux
2010 vintage of the century part trois

all sort of in the various availability zones, probably less so for 2005, and likely quite plentiful for 2010 so 2012 didn't have cellar space among collectors to park themselves.

if one gives NM any credance, his new vintage charts, published recently, are quite positive on 2012, 2014 which I didn't expect. 2015 is well regarded too, but the others are hardly behind that.

It seems sort of similar to 2008.

K&L has some good 2012's at fair enough prices btw.

It is forgotten now, but the 1990s were cheaper than the 1989's initially due to the supply imbalance of the era, and the SNL crisis/recession. Sometimes these things can take a long time to normalize.