Vintage Report: Bordeaux 2013

A refreshing vintage…

Refreshingly honest some might say. There was no hyperbole, no attempt at finding a silver lining; everyone admitted that 2013 was a ‘challenging year’. It may sound euphemistic, but no-one pretended that it was anything but hard. The spring, well there wasn’t really a spring, it was more of an extended winter, was three degrees colder than the norm, which hampered flowering, causing widespread coulure and millerandage. Providence, Hosanna and Quinault L’Enclos were so badly affected that they haven’t produced a wine at all. On average most vines flowered three weeks behind schedule, breaking one of Denis Dubourdieu’ s golden rules for a spectacular vintage. After a cold and wet June most vigneron had long given up any hope of a spectacular vintage and would quite happily have just taken a crop of any sorts.

July brought some much needed heat and sunshine. It was the hottest July since 1991, even eclipsing the scorching 2003 vintage. The July heat allowed the vines to play some much needed catch up as well as breaking down the methoxypyrazines in the grapes. As a result the fruit has little to no bitter, peppery notes, which greatly adds to the wines' appeal. August was generally good with more warm weather and little rainfall. Just when it seemed that there was some reason for cautious optimism, a pattern of tropical weather conditions hit the Gironde. It would be an exaggeration to call September a monsoon, but it was humid, with high daytime and night time temperatures. This accelerated ripening, but also posed a constant threat of rot.

The harvest was always going to be late, but some Chateau had little choice but to harvest before full phenolic ripeness was achieved. The risk of heavy rain and botrytis proved too big a gamble. Heavy rain hit in October, but large parts of the northern Medoc escaped unscathed. Most grapes were harvested with low potential alcohols, something that Bordeaux hasn’t experienced for a long time and something many will find very alluring. There were stories of Hypermarkets in the Gironde being devoid of sugar – certainly, many winemakers decided to chaptalize, but even after chaptilization, alcohols rarely exceed 13%.

There are many lightweight wines in 2013. We’d be surprised if the vintage as a whole appeals to American critics. It is characterised by low alcohols, high acidities and pure, lightweight flavours. The best wines from the most favourable terroirs are utterly charming. They possess noble flavours and are very refreshing. If you don’t like the massive style of some recent vintages or if you don’t want to wait decades before you can drink your wine, then these will appeal.

It is always good to end on a positive note, and the dry whites are very good and the Sauternes and Barsacs are potentially excellent. It is always perilously difficult to assess sweet wines in their infancy, but these seem to have wonderful potential. The humid conditions that caused such headaches for red wine-makers, produced widespread botrytis in Sauternes’ Semillons and Sauvignon Blancs. The wines possess noble, complex, crystalline flavours and bright acidity. They should turn out to be wonderful wines that will rival the extravagant 2001s and 2007s.

Bordeaux day two - The rollercoaster continues

After the peaks of Monday there was a pretty scary descent into the right bank UGCs. Let’s focus on the positives. Gazin and Conseillante are very good and Clinet continues to improve its style. The St Emilion tasting was altogether forgettable, except for some notable absences. The Nicolas Thienpont wines were nowhere to be seen (yields are so low at these estates, they decided to pull out of the Union tasting), so it was back in the bus for an unscheduled tasting at Pavie Macquin. Larcis Ducasse was surprisingly subdued, but Pavie Macquin and Beausejour Duffau are both quite striking. We bade farewell to the right bank and programmed the sat nav for Pessac Leognan.

Prince Robert of Luxembourg and Jean-Philippe Delmas greeted us at La Mission Haut Brion. A draconian selection has meant that for the first time they have bigger yields for the whites than the reds. The reds are both rather grand and the whites are drop dead gorgeous. Delving deeper into the commune we found a delicious Domaine de Chavalier a glossy Smith Haut Lafitte and some lovely dry whites, most notably: Malartic Lagraviere and Picque Cailliou. However, the UGC tasting was not plain sailing - many of the reds were charmless or worse…

On to Margaux. The new cellars, designed by Norman Foster are under construction so we tasted with Paul Pontallier in what is apparently France’s largest privately owned orangery. It certainly is a mighty fine building and a suitable place to taste a very refined and graceful flight of wines. At neighbours, Chateau Palmer, by contrast, we found something more voluptuous, sexy and juicy. There was also time for a quick visit to Clos des Quatre Vents. Luc has sold the estate to a Chinese company, but stays on to lend his considerable knowledge. The CD4V is charming and elegant, but lacks the depth of recent vintages. We also tasted a quite unique Chinese icewein from near the North Korean border made by the new owners of Clos des Quartre Vents! In short, it has been a day of peaks and troughs…

Bordeaux day one - UGC Week, Bordeaux 2013

If we started our stay in Saint Emilion with a sense of pessimism, this was soon replaced by more sanguine thoughts after a day tasting at the very best estates on the right bank. This was indeed a challenging vintage, but no-one said otherwise. A spring with average temperatures three degrees below the norm meant that flowering was severely delayed. Merlot was affected by coulure and Edouard Moueix explained that Providence and Hosanna were both the victims of millerandage and consequently won’t be produced in 2013. The poor and late flowering has reduced yields to levels we normally associate with Burgundy and the Rhone. July was scorching and greatly helped the evolution of the vines, but this was always destined to be a late harvest. 

As one would expect from the likes of the Guinaudeaus, Denis Durantou, Alexandre Thienpont, Alain Vauthier and all the other superstars that we visited yesterday, they quickly understood the nature of the vintage and vinified gently, respecting the fruits' limitations. The results are a revelation. One word that keeps being mentioned is ‘soyeux’, and these are silky, pure, precise, elegant, fragrant wines. They are feminine and charming and will provide so much enjoyment over the medium term. No-one is pretending that they are blockbusters in the mould of the 2000s, 2005s, 2009s and 2010s, but I’d wager that these will give far more pleasure in the first 20 years of their evolution than many of their more illustrious counterparts. It’s hard to pick favourites amongst such company, but Pensees and Lafleur were both otherworldly and although this is a vintage where terroir is vital, there will be some inexpensive wines that shine: Les Cruzelles, La Chenade, Saintayme and Montlandrie from Denis Durantou were all spectacular. Next stop on the bus - Graves.

- Tom Jenkins, Bordeaux Buyer