Bordeaux Vintage Flashcards
Bordeaux: 1959
Exceptional
Perfect weather - warm, sunny
Lush, easy drinking up front - much like 2009
Have aged very well, but are harder to find due to popularity and drinkability at release.
Bordeaux: 1960
Abysmal
Destroyed by rain
Bordeaux: 1961
Exceptional Very warm, dry summer Early harvest with low yields Small, thick-skinned, deeply concentrated berries Rich, tannic, ageworthy
Bordeaux: 1962
Fair for still wine
Exceptional sweet wine
Bordeaux: 1963
Abysmal
Cold, wet, rotted
Palmer declassified entire crop
Bordeaux: 1964
Disaster vintage Left Bank and Sauternes
Excellent on Right Bank - harvested before devastating rains
Bordeaux: 1965
Disaster vintage
Bordeaux: 1966
Second best of the 1960’s
Hard and tannic on release
Still drinking well now
Bordeaux: 1967-1969
1967: Light, easy-drinking, over the hill, very good in Sauternes
1968: Disaster, Wettest year since 1951
1969: Similar
Bordeaux: Great vintages of the 1960’s
1961
1962 (Sauternes only)
1966 (by comparison)
Bordeaux: Disaster vintages of the 1960’s
1960 1963 1964 1965 1968 1969
Bordeaux: 1970
Excellent
First good vintage since 1961
Big crop, heavy production
Bordeaux: 1972-1974
Series of disasters
Cold, wet, rainy
Bordeaux: 1975
Only fair - hard and tannic - but best of a string of bad vintages
Exceptional in sauternes
Bordeaux: 1977
Disaster vintage
The other worst vintage of the decade
Bordeaux: Great vintages of the 1970’s
1970
1975 (by comparison)
Bordeaux: Disaster vintages of the 1970’s
1972
1973
1974
1977
Bordeaux: 1982
Vintage of the century
Phenomenal, perfect weather
Bordeaux: 1983
Very good for dry wines
Spectacular for sweet wines - best since 1967
Bordeaux: 1985
Exceptional
Particularly good on the right bank
Elegance over power
Bordeaux: 1986
Also Exceptional
Hot, very dry
“Traditional”, high-tannin
Bordeaux: 1987
Worst of the 1980’s along with 1984
Harvest was totally rained out
Bordeaux: 1988
Very poor and dilute red wines
Exceptional sweet wines (1st of 3 great vintages)
Bordeaux: 1989
Exceptional
Very hot - hottest summer since 1949, earliest harvest since 1870’s
Big crop, lots of power, lots of fruit
Exceptional for sweet wines as well
Bordeaux: Great vintages of the 1980’s
1982 1983 (especially Sauternes) 1985 1986 1988 (Sauternes only) 1989
Bordeaux: Disaster vintages of the 1980’s
1984
1987
Bordeaux: 1990
Exceptional - vintage of the century v. 2
Record-breaking heat, sun, and rain
Similar to 1989; slightly more well-regarded
Bordeaux: 1991-1992
A series of poor years
1991, 1992: Total disaster, across the board
1993: slightly better, but not much
1994: Mediocre, but optimism led to price inflation
Bordeaux: 1995
Best of the last five years
BIG CROP
hard, tannic, somewhat charmless
similar to 1975
Bordeaux: 1996
Exceptional
Best since 1990, better on the Left Bank
Pure, deep, concentrated wines
Very good sweet wines as well
Bordeaux: 1997
Difficult year for dry wines
Very exceptional sweet wines
Bordeaux: 1998
Excellent on the right bank: similar quality to 2000 but much better QPR
Left bank washed out by rain
Bordeaux: 1999
Rainy and fraught by hail
Would have been a disaster but for modern winemaking philosophy and techniques
Bordeaux: Great vintages of the 1990’s
1990
1996
1997 (Sauternes only)
1998
Bordeaux: Disaster vintages of the 1990’s
1991
1992
1993
Bordeaux: 2000
Exceptional across the board
First great vintage for both banks since 1990
Bordeaux: 2001
Spectacular for sweet wine
Right Bank very good, especially now
Left bank wines are somewhat dilute
Bordeaux: 2002
“Classic” - somewhat green and underripe
But the pricing is reasonable
Bordeaux: 2003
Heat Wave Vintage
Best wines are from cooler and/or more clay heavy appellations
Bordeaux: 2004
Huge crop - very high yields
Ladybug vintage - some complaints of greenness
Drink now
Bordeaux: 2005
Vintage of the century - exceptional across the board
Generally hot and dry with just the right amount of rain
Record upticks in price
Bordeaux: 2006
Hard, tannic, and austere vintage
Good wine made through rigorous sorting
Very wet September
Bordeaux: 2007
Soft, pleasant, easy drinking
Gratuitously overpriced as futures
Exceptional for sweet wine
Bordeaux: 2008
Very long, cool, sunny, dry summer
Very late harvest - up to 160 days of hang time for some (v. 100 average)
First vintage to hit once the Asian market blew up
Bordeaux: 2009
Exceptional across the board
Rich, opulent, well-fruited
Bordeaux: 2010
Also exceptional, but more tannic, structured, less drinkable now. Very powerful. Will age.
Drought year = high extract
Bordeaux: 2011
Difficult year, very small yields
Fresh and aromatic, less concentrated, drink now
Big botrytis year - excellent in Sauternes
Bordeaux: 2012
Hot, dry summer delayed ripening (shutdown)
Very late harvests, affected by rain
Rigorous sorting necessary
Bordeaux: 2013
Extremely difficult weather -
rainstorms, rainstorms, rainstorms, hail, wind, etc.
Very low yields - most of the crop was destroyed or unusable.
Bordeaux: 2014
Better than the 3 previous years -
warm and sunny at harvest, yields are up, and the grapes are likely in better condition.
Bordeaux: 20th Century Exceptional Vintages
1899 1900 1921 1928 (high tannin, austere) 1929 1934 1937 (Sauternes only) 1945 1947 (especially Right Bank) 1949 1953
