The short answer
The Petrus vintage chart below sets critic averages, merchant asks and drinking windows for each declared year side by side. Across our dataset, merchants ask a median of £4,255 a bottle (including duty and VAT where stated) for Petrus across 12 priced vintages. Asking prices for the 2000 and 2009 vintages are left to the dated vintage chart, which shows a median wherever three or more single-bottle listings support one. Among the great vintages, the 1989 holds a critic average of 100.0, the 1998 holds 99.5 and the 2018 holds 99.3. Petrus comes from an 11.4 hectare vineyard in Pomerol, makes no second wine and bottles only a few thousand cases a year. In 1956, 1965 and 1991 no Petrus was made at all. Sotheby's reports that its most expensive Bordeaux lot of 2023 was twelve bottles of the 1961, sold in New York for $118,750 including buyer's premium. Every figure from our dataset is read from the same dated extract.
Petrus vintage chart: score, price and drinking window
Each row gives the critic average out of 100, the merchant ask or, for older years that no merchant stocks, the latest recorded trade, and the drinking window. A figure is left out of a row when our dataset holds no evidence for it. The full year-by-year record is on the vintage index of this site.
Petrus 2022: critic average 98.4.
Petrus 2020: critic average 98.9. Window 2027 to 2070.
Petrus 2019: critic average 97.8. Merchants ask £2,991 a bottle (including duty and VAT where stated). Window 2028 to 2082.
Petrus 2018: critic average 99.3. Merchants ask £4,412 a bottle. Window 2024 to 2080.
Petrus 2016: critic average 99.0. Merchants ask £4,600 a bottle. Window 2022 to 2076.
Petrus 2015: critic average 98.5. Window 2022 to 2063.
Petrus 2010: critic average 98.4. Window 2020 to 2070.
Petrus 2009: critic average 99.2. Merchants ask £5,250 a bottle. Window 2018 to 2060.
Petrus 2005: critic average 98.6. Window 2025 to 2080.
Petrus 2000: critic average 98.8. Window 2010 to 2065.
Petrus 1998: critic average 99.5. Window 2020 to 2060.
Petrus 1990: critic average 98.4. Merchants ask £4,098 a bottle (including duty and VAT where stated). Window 2014 to 2054.
Petrus 1989: critic average 100.0. Last traded at £2,833 a bottle in June 2026. Window 2005 to 2045.
Petrus 1982: critic average 95.4. Last traded at £2,417 a bottle in July 2025. Window 1995 to 2028.
Petrus 1975: critic average 95.8. Last traded at £1,255 a bottle in November 2024. Window 2000 to 2050.
Petrus 1964: critic average 99.0. Last traded at £1,535 a bottle in November 2021. Window 2003 to 2040.
Petrus 1961: critic average 97.0. Last traded at £7,588 a bottle in June 2017. Window 1991 to 2030.
Petrus 1945: critic average 98.4. Window 2024 to 2035.
The years Petrus was never made
Petrus is not produced in every year. Sotheby's and Wikipedia both record that no Petrus was made in 1956, 1965 and 1991, because the harvest was not good enough. The 1956 winter frost killed about two-thirds of the Petrus vineyard, according to Wikipedia, and Decanter's Pomerol vintage guide describes a severe April frost that slashed the right bank crop in 1991. A bottle offered as Petrus from any of those three years needs to be checked with great care before any money changes hands.
Petrus also makes no second wine. Wikipedia, Millesima and Fine+Rare all state it, and Millesima adds that the fruit left out of the grand vin is sold in bulk. So there is no cheaper Petrus label to buy into: every bottle carrying the name is the grand vin of its year.
The Sotheby's sale of Petrus 1961
In September 2023, at Sotheby's 'A Monumental Cellar' sale in New York, twelve bottles of Petrus 1961 sold for $118,750. Decanter reported that the figure includes the buyer's premium, against a pre-sale estimate of $85,000 to $120,000, which works out at roughly $9,900 a bottle. Sotheby's says the 1961 was the most expensive Bordeaux wine sold through its auctions worldwide in 2023, and that Petrus took more of its Bordeaux sales by value that year than any other estate.
Auction prices for old Petrus are set by provenance as much as by vintage. In our dataset the 1961 last traded at £7,588 a bottle in June 2017, a single dated trade. A dollar auction result in New York and a sterling trade in our extract are different markets, so the two are shown side by side rather than converted.
Why the estate prices where it does
Petrus sits on an 11.4 hectare vineyard at the top of the Pomerol plateau, on iron-rich clay known locally as crasse de fer, according to Sotheby's. The plateau holds only about 20 hectares of this blue clay. Sotheby's puts production at 2,500 to 3,000 cases in an average year, roughly 30,000 to 36,000 bottles, and lower in difficult years such as 2003. The wine has been made entirely from Merlot since the last Cabernet Franc was pulled up after the 2010 harvest.
Wikipedia records that Madame Loubat became sole owner in 1945, the year Jean-Pierre Moueix took exclusive selling rights. Jean-Claude Berrouet made the wine from 1964 for more than four decades, and his son Olivier Berrouet has run the vineyard and cellar since 2008. The estate belongs to Jean-Francois Moueix and his children; in 2018 a 20 percent stake was sold to Alejandro Santo Domingo.
Common questions
How much is a bottle of Petrus?
It depends on the vintage. Across our dataset, merchants ask a median of £4,255 a bottle (including duty and VAT where stated) across 12 priced vintages. Older vintages rarely appear at merchants and are priced by trades and auctions instead.
What is the most expensive Petrus?
There is no single answer: prices at the top end are set at auction by vintage, format and provenance. One documented example: Sotheby's reports that twelve bottles of Petrus 1961 sold for $118,750 in New York in September 2023, including buyer's premium, and that the 1961 was the most expensive Bordeaux wine it sold that year. In our dataset the 1961 last traded at £7,588 a bottle in June 2017.
Why is Petrus so expensive?
Supply is tiny and demand is global. Sotheby's puts production at 2,500 to 3,000 cases a year from an 11.4 hectare vineyard on rare iron-rich clay, there is no second wine, and in the worst years, such as 1956, 1965 and 1991, no Petrus was made at all.
Which Petrus vintages are best?
Wikipedia lists the best vintages as 1929, 1945, 1947, 1961, 1964, 1982, 1989, 1990, 2000, 2005, 2009 and 2010. In our dataset the 1989 holds a critic average of 100.0, the 1998 holds 99.5 and the 2018 holds 99.3.
Is there a Petrus second wine?
No. Petrus makes a single wine. Millesima reports that fruit not used for Petrus is sold in bulk, and where it ends up is not disclosed.
When should I drink Petrus 1982?
The 1982 is a mature wine, so the condition of the individual bottle now matters as much as the vintage. Our dataset records a drinking window of 1995 to 2028 for it, with a critic average of 95.4. It last traded at £2,417 a bottle in July 2025.
Sources
- Sotheby's, Petrus: The Essential Guide, checked 2026-09-29
- Decanter, Petrus collection helps Sotheby's auction hit $9.3m sales in US, checked 2026-09-29
- Decanter Saint-Emilion and Pomerol vintage guide, checked 2026-09-29
- Wikipedia: Petrus (wine), checked 2026-09-29
- Wikipedia: Pomerol AOC, checked 2026-09-29
- Millesima, Petrus producer page, checked 2026-09-29
- Fine+Rare, Petrus producer page, checked 2026-09-29
- Best of Wines, 10 things to know about Petrus, checked 2026-09-29
- 88 Bamboo, 10 things you should know about Petrus, checked 2026-09-29
- Firstleaf wine directory: Petrus, 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.