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2012 Vintage — A Great Year of Precision, Balance and Very Fine Successes
Buying a 2012 wine means choosing a now well-established vintage, marked by several outstanding regional successes. The best wines combine freshness, balance, measured concentration and genuine ageing potential, with styles that are often more precise than demonstrative.
The strongest buying priorities are found in Champagne, Napa Valley and the Rhône Valley. Burgundy produced very fine bottles from the best estates, but with significant variation; Bordeaux offers elegant and already highly enjoyable wines, especially on the Right Bank; while Piedmont appeals more through accessibility than through monumental long-term structure.
For the most secure purchases, favour a great 2012 Champagne, a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from a benchmark estate or a great wine from the Rhône Valley. In Burgundy, focus exclusively on the finest producers; in Bordeaux, concentrate on the best successes from Pomerol, Saint-Émilion and a handful of especially accomplished great growths. 2012 Barolo and Barbaresco will mainly suit lovers of more supple and accessible Nebbiolo.
The strongest choices: great Champagnes, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie, the finest wines of the southern Rhône.
Best for long-term cellaring: Champagne, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie, carefully selected great Burgundies.
Best for lovers of finesse: Champagne 2012, selected Burgundy, classical and precise Bordeaux.
Best for more immediate pleasure: well-chosen Bordeaux 2012, accessible Barolo and Barbaresco, selected southern Rhône wines.
What is the style of 2012 wines?
2012 is a vintage of restraint, freshness and balance. The greatest successes do not always have the scale of the most sun-filled years, but they appeal through their accuracy, aromatic precision and elegance. It is a particularly interesting year for lovers of harmonious wines, capable of offering real drinkability today while retaining genuine potential for further evolution.
Champagne 2012: one of the great recent peaks
In Champagne, 2012 is now recognised as one of the great recent vintages. After a difficult season and low yields, late-summer conditions allowed remarkable ripening, producing wines of depth, structure, precision and very fine freshness.
The best 2012 Champagnes combine richness, tension, complexity and great ageing potential. They rank among the most compelling purchases of the vintage, both for the cellar and for important occasions.
To favour: leading houses, prestige cuvées, Blancs de Blancs, Blancs de Noirs, magnums.
Best for: collectors, great occasions and lovers of structured, long-lived Champagne.
Buying priority: very high for the finest cuvées.
Napa Valley 2012: a great vintage for Cabernet Sauvignon
In Napa Valley, 2012 is a great year. The regular and temperate season allowed the production of Cabernet Sauvignon with depth, harmony, structure and particularly pure expression. The best wines combine concentration, relative freshness and polished tannins, with very fine ageing potential.
To favour: Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, great Bordeaux-style blends.
Best for: lovers of balanced, profound and cellar-worthy Californian reds.
Buying priority: very high for benchmark estates.
Rhône Valley 2012: elegance, balance and a very fine success
In the Rhône Valley, 2012 is a very fine vintage, defined by elegance, balance and freshness. The tannins are present but often supple, and the wines offer an attractive combination of fruit, finesse and structure.
The northern Rhône produced very fine successes on the slopes, notably in Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie and Saint-Joseph, while the southern Rhône offers harmonious and digestible wines, less massive than in the most sun-filled years.
To favour: Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie, Saint-Joseph, Cornas, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas.
Best for: lovers of elegant, balanced Rhône wines that are already highly pleasurable.
Buying priority: high, especially from the finest producers.
Burgundy 2012: very fine bottles, but selection is essential
In Burgundy, 2012 was a difficult year, marked by hail, disease pressure and very low yields. Yet where sorting and viticulture were exemplary, the best estates produced very fine wines, at times truly remarkable.
The reds can offer density, depth and fine substance, while the most successful whites show concentration and tension. Quality, however, remains clearly variable: 2012 is a vintage to buy estate by estate, and often cuvée by cuvée.
To favour: leading Côte de Nuits estates, the finest terroirs of the Côte de Beaune, selected Chablis.
Best for: informed enthusiasts seeking rare and highly selected fine bottles.
Buying priority: high, but highly selective.
Bordeaux 2012: classicism, pleasure and targeted successes
In Bordeaux, 2012 is not a historic vintage, but it produced very fine bottles, often more accessible than the great years of 2009, 2010 or 2016. The best wines stand out for their freshness, charm, fine tannins and attractive drinkability today.
The vintage favoured Merlot more than Cabernet, with very fine successes in Pomerol and Saint-Émilion, as well as a number of highly successful great wines on the Left Bank.
To favour: Pomerol, Saint-Émilion, Pessac-Léognan, carefully selected great growths of the Médoc.
Best for: lovers of classical, accessible and already enjoyable Bordeaux.
Buying priority: high for drinking pleasure, more selective for very long-term cellaring.
Piedmont 2012: finesse, accessibility and selection
In Piedmont, 2012 was a complex year, with heterogeneous results. The best Barolo and Barbaresco are elegant, supple and often more accessible than the most structured vintages.
They appeal through freshness, perfume and harmony, but generally show less depth and less framework than the great classical years.
To favour: Barolo, Barbaresco, leading producers and the best-balanced cuvées.
Best for: lovers of finer, more supple and already appealing Nebbiolo.
Buying priority: selective rather than automatic.
Buying a 2012 wine
Buying a 2012 wine is an excellent idea when focusing on the regions that performed best. The most compelling choices concern great Champagnes, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, the finest wines of the Rhône Valley and the best cuvées of Burgundy.
Bordeaux can offer a great deal of pleasure today, especially on the Right Bank, while Piedmont will suit lovers of more supple and accessible wines. 2012 is therefore less a vintage for automatic buying than a year of very fine opportunities when well chosen.
2012: a vintage of balance, precision and very fine successes
The 2012 vintage shines especially in Champagne, Napa Valley and the Rhône Valley. It also offers very fine bottles in Burgundy and Bordeaux, provided the finest estates are selected with care.
To enrich a cellar with precise, balanced wines that are already highly interesting to follow, discover our selection of 2012 wines and choose the cuvées best suited to your taste, your cellar and your drinking horizon.
