Bordeaux Flashcards
2021
A warm spring encouraged early budbreak followed by sometimes devastating frost in early April. Very small crop and a cool, damp growing season beset by problems, with Merlot a particular casualty of downy mildew but some communes and estates dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon produced lightish but very satisfying wines. St-Estèphe seems to have been notably successful but this was a very, very different vintage from the warm, ripe years that preceded it. Alcohol levels were back down to about 13% and some chaptalisation and concentration was employed for the first time in many years. The optical sorters came into their own.
2013
A universally poor vintage, beset by uneven ripening and dilution. Rot forced relatively early picking. Even at their best, the wines are pretty light – though perhaps a benefit of this is lower alcohol levels, as compared with some of the 15% bruisers of recent years. The best of a bad lot can be found in Pomerol, St-Julien and St-Estèphe. At 10 years old the wines were almost universally disappointing and should certainly not be kept.
WS 84
2012
Tricky across many European wine regions, and none more so than Bordeaux. Generally speaking, it was a wet, late year with a hot mid-summer. Bad weather in October compromised quality at the crucial moment, meaning that the earlier-ripening Merlot-based reds were less adversely affected. Making good Cabernet-based wine was achievable, but only by those who had the resources for micro-management in the vineyard. Top properties made small quantities of outstanding wines that were drinking well at 10 years old but most have a lack of depth and persistence.
WS 88
2008
Another ungenerous summer saved by some better weather at the end of the season. Yet again, those properties at the top of the tree managed to field enough good fruit to salvage some pretty impressive grand vin but life was increasingly tough lower down the food chain.
WS 87
2007
An extremely difficult year for growers, with rampant mildew, not enough sun, too much rain until September. Thanks to an arsenal of modern techniques, not least rigorous selection, those who could afford it managed to make attractive wines for relatively early drinking but high prices left the primeur market as flat as a pancake. WS 85
2002
Smallish crop dogged by an uneven flowering and a grey, humid summer which meant uneven ripeness in far-from-uniformly healthy grapes. Growers concentrated on the rescue effect of pretty fine weather from 9 September. The wines are correct and, in a 21st-century context, are not expensive, but they may not last all that long.
WS 86
