The short answer
The most recent recorded sale of Petrus 2002 in our data was £2,146 a bottle in August 2024.
Petrus 2002 is a classic, cooler-vintage Pomerol produced during a challenging Bordeaux growing season. In this site's dataset the vintage holds a critic average of 93.0 across 6 published reviews. Made by Christian Moueix, with Jean-Claude Berrouet as oenologist, on the estate's famous eleven-hectare blue clay plateau, the wine is composed almost entirely of Merlot. The drinking window recorded for the vintage spans 2009 to 2032, and at more than two decades of age physical bottles sit in their mature drinking phase. The wine brings immediate accessibility and genuine estate typicity without requiring additional decades of cellar maturation before opening. Merchant asks and completed trades for the 2002, where recorded, sit on this site's vintage chart beside the 2000, 2001 and 2003, each dated to the same extract, so buyers can compare the years directly and see what bottles actually sold for.
The 2002 growing season on the Pomerol plateau
Petrus 2002 was shaped by one of the most demanding climatic cycles of the early 2000s in Pomerol. Decanter's Pomerol vintage guide records a difficult flowering with coulure and millerandage, then a cool, wet summer with the constant threat of rot, before four weeks of warm, sunny September weather; apart from a rain storm on 20 September and isolated showers on 9 and 10 October, the weather stayed fine during the harvest. According to Decanter, a beautiful September proved the saviour of a vintage whose summer refused to get going, allowing a late harvest that lasted into mid-October. Decanter also records that the estate's sorting table was bought in 2002, because the very difficult flowering gave very irregular ripeness.
Christian Moueix made the wine from the eleven hectares, with Jean-Claude Berrouet, attached to Petrus from 1964 for more than four decades, as oenologist. Decanter's guide to the 2000s notes that, overall, Cabernet Sauvignon did better than Merlot in 2002.
How critics evaluate Petrus 2002 against nearby vintages
Critical consensus views the 2002 release as a respectable achievement in a modest year. The vintage holds a critic average of 93.0 across 6 published reviews in our dataset. Drinkers evaluating the wine give it an average of 94.4 across 11 drinker ratings.
Adjacent releases place the wine in context. The 2001 holds a critic average of 95.1 and the 2003 holds 94.0. Benchmark millennial releases include the 2000 at 98.8 and the 1998 at 99.5. Among earlier difficult vintages, the 1992 holds 90.0 and the 1997 holds 91.5.
Drinking window and maturity profile
The drinking window recorded for the vintage spans 2009 to 2032. At more than two decades of age, the wine is an appealing option for immediate consumption. The tight, compact tannins that characterised its youth have resolved into a supple texture, framed by vibrant acidity and earthy tertiary aromatics. Bottles opened today display dried plum, sous-bois, truffles, and delicate spice.
Cellaring potential remains stable across the rest of the window. Unlike the dense 2000 or 1998 releases, which require extended decades to soften, the 2002 is fully open. Maintaining bottles at ten to twelve degrees Celsius with sixty to seventy percent humidity will preserve the remaining fruit core. Buyers should plan to enjoy physical stock before the window closes, after which the delicate fruit concentration may begin to fade behind the structural acidity.
Current market pricing and collector value
The 2002 has traded in 1 month of our recorded history, and last traded at £2,146 a bottle in August 2024. An asking price is what a merchant publishes and a trade is what a bottle actually sold for, so the two are shown separately rather than blended.
The price positioning reflects the market's differentiation between investment-grade vintages and restaurant-ready bottles. While speculative capital focuses on the highest-scoring releases, the 2002 appeals to collectors wanting to drink mature Pomerol. For private cellars, the release delivers authentic single-estate character.
Sourcing and bottle authentication
Because annual production at Petrus totals roughly 30,000 bottles, every release faces tight physical allocation. The estate does not use the word chateau on its label and holds no official classification rank, deriving its market standing entirely from historic reputation. Due to persistent counterfeiting risks in the fine wine market, buyers acquiring older bottles from 2002 must verify physical provenance, capsule condition, and fill levels before purchase.
Inspection should confirm high neck fill levels and pristine label paper consistent with professional storage. Sourcing through reputable merchants with direct cellar provenance ensures that the delicate tertiary balance of this cooler vintage remains intact upon opening.
Common questions
What is the critic score for Petrus 2002?
Petrus 2002 holds a critic average of 93.0 across 6 published reviews in our dataset. Drinkers give it 94.4 across 11 drinker ratings.
What is the market price of Petrus 2002?
Current asks and trades for the 2002 are on its vintage page, dated to our latest extract. It last traded at £2,146 a bottle in August 2024.
What is the drinking window for Petrus 2002?
The recorded drinking window spans 2009 to 2032. The wine is fully mature and drinking comfortably today.
How does the 2002 vintage compare to Petrus 2001 and 2003?
Petrus 2002 holds a critic average of 93.0. The 2001 holds 95.1 and the 2003 holds 94.0. All three years are on the vintage chart with dated asks and trades.
Sources
- Decanter Bordeaux 2000s complete guide, checked 2026-09-29
- Decanter Saint-Emilion and Pomerol vintage guide, checked 2026-09-29
- Decanter: Petrus wine, behind the legend, checked 2026-09-29
By WineExperts. First published , last updated . Figures from our tracked merchant prices and recorded sales; text prepared with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed above.