The moment we’ve all been waiting for - Parker firms up on Bordeaux 2010

Parker’s out, and the 2010s have scored a stunning ten hundred point wines. Not bad at all. There may be a few eyebrows raised by the list of perfect wines. Pape Clement, La Violette and a St Emilion estate that we know quite well, Le Dome all feature alongside the regular 100 pointers like Latour, Haut Brion and Petrus. Please find the full list below:

2010	Latour	100
2010	Beausejour (Duffau Lagarosse)	100
2010	Cheval Blanc	100
2010	Le Pin	100
2010	Haut Brion	100
2010	Petrus	100
2010	La Violette	100
2010	Pontet-Canet	100
2010	Pape Clement	100
2010	Le Dome	100

There are also some 23 wines that score 98 or 99 out of 100. This confirms (if there were any doubt) what a magnificent vintage 2010 is.

2010	Montrose	99
2010	La Mondotte	99
2010	Gracia	99
2010	Le Gay	99
2010	Chateau Margaux	99
2010	Troplong-Mondot	99
2010	Vieux Chateau Certan	99
2010	Trotanoy	98
2010	Mouton-Rothschild	98+
2010	Haut Brion Blanc	98
2010	Lafite-Rothschild	98
2010	L'Evangile	98+
2010	Palmer	98+
2010	Haut Bailly	98
2010	Leoville-Poyferre	98+
2010	Angelus	98
2010	Larcis-Ducasse	98+
2010	Smith-Haut-Lafitte	98+
2010	Clos Fourtet	98
2010	La Mission Haut Brion	98+
2010	Ducru Beaucaillou	98+
2010	Ausone	98+
2010	Pavie	98+

Please click here to view available wines.

Voyager Estate - Harvest Update pt.7

Harvest Update – 1st March 2013 

It has certainly been a very busy couple of weeks with our white grape harvest completed on Wednesday evening.

The Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon harvest was completed in 8 days – a new record. The warm days and cool evenings have provided perfect ripening conditions which has resulted in several blocks ripening at the same time, necessitating a quicker harvest to ensure the fruit is picked in the optimal flavour window.

The Sauvignon Blanc has fresh and vibrant tropical fruit flavours of passionfruit, with some kiwifruit and lychee. The Semillon is in the citrus spectrum, with flavours of lemon and grapefruit. The early indicators are for an excellent example of this blend from the 2013 vintage, with plenty of fruit weight and intensity.

Chardonnay is fermenting away nicely in barrel and, again the potential looks great, with excellent fruit weight, concentration and flavour profiles.

Yields have been moderate, and from all reports, Sauvignon Blanc crops are down by 30% across the region.

I expect this trend will continue with the reds as the berries are very small, which will result in very high skin to juice ratios. Great for quality and concentration but not so good for our volumes!.

The early signs for the reds are extremely encouraging with our early tasting and sampling showing great flavour and tannin development at low sugar levels. I anticipate we will commence the red grape harvest next week with the first of our Shiraz fruit coming into the winery. It will be an exciting week as we commence the use of our new fruit sorting technology which, will ensure only pure berries and no leaf or petiole will find its way into the fermenters.

Fingers are crossed for a continuation of this beautiful weather, as the season is reminding me of 2001 which, delivered some of the best reds the region has seen.

Cheers,

Steve James

Mas Martinet - constant innovators

A couple of photos just received from Mas Martinet where experimentation rules and they are never happy to  rest on their laurels. In constantly striving to make ever more elegant wines, one of the greatest difficulties in Priorat is the often searing heat. One method of countering this is to use hay between the rows. Having stuck my own hand into the soil below the hay I can confirm this basic method does indeed work - the soil is noticeably cooler below the hay than exposed. It may be old school low-tech but it is certainly effective! Note also the peculiar vine training circles which help to provide greater shade for the grapes. And their very friendly winery dogs....

The Clos Martinet Vineyard