The Vintage
The pattern of weather in Bordeaux will be eerily familiar to anyone who remembers the unusual year we had in the UK.
The winter of 2006-07 was unusually mild, and with enough rainfall to boost groundwater levels, there was an early bud-break across Bordeaux. This rapid early development was aided by a glorious, hot, sunny April. However, things took a turn for the worse in May and June. The mild, rainy weather resulting in a particularly uneven flowering; at Ducru-Beaucaillou the first plots flowered on 12 May, but it was mid-June before all the vines had flowered.
As the disappointing weather continued into July, there was again an extended veraison (in which the berries set on the vine). The lack of sun, and also the lack of any water stress from the well-watered vines, encouraged vegetation growth on the vines, and ripening was generally a slow process. These damp, cool conditions also led to a serious mildew risk, although modern treatment techniques mean that this disease was significantly less of a problem than it would have been in a similar vintage historically.
By early August activity in the vineyards was intense, with the better properties removing lots of foliage to encourage the vine to concentrate its efforts on ripening rather than leaf growth, and also to encourage air movement around the bunches to help prevent disease. As well as the now established “green harvesting” (removing whole bunches so the vine has less grapes to concentrate sugars in), several estates engaged in what Bruno Borie of Ducru-Beaucaillou has termed “pink harvesting”. Once most of the berries had turned colour, vineyard workers removed the remaining green and pink parts of the bunches to encourage the development of those berries which were on a more advanced ripening cycle.
The rains stopped in August, although the sun did not properly shine until the very end of the month, when a high pressure system took hold and resulted in terrific weather during September. There can be no doubt that these conditions rescued what could have been an extremely poor vintage, and coupled with good weather holding into October (to the relief of those who picked late) the conditions for the harvest could not have been better.
Médoc
There can be no doubt that the “lateness” of the summer was to the advantage of Cabernet Sauvignon rather than Merlot. This naturally later-ripening variety was much better suited to an Indian summer vintage, and in very general terms the purer the element of Cabernet in the blend, the better it has turned out.
In particular, the better wines of St-Julien and Pauillac really stood out, especially the stretch of vineyard running through St-Julien from Ducru through the Léovilles. In Pauillac, our favourite wines include Mouton-Rothschild (our pick of the first growths) and Pontet-Canet, which are always some of the appellation’s most powerful Cabernet expressions.
The wines from further south in the Médoc, in Margaux, Listrac, Moulis and their environs, are less impressive, and our range will be more selective because of this, although several estates did stand out from the pack, notably those estates who best preserved the purity of their fruit rather than trying too hard to extract colour and tannin.
In general, the wines are lighter and more forward than in 2006. The better wines are classic and elegant rather than blockbuster (comparisons with 2005 are almost pointless) but nevertheless have aging potential for the medium term.
Graves and Pessac-Léognan
As ever, Haut-Brion and near-neighbour La Mission led the pack in the Graves. In yet more evidence that terroir and resources were vital in fashioning good wine in 2007, the other highlights include few surprises – Pape-Clément and Smith-Haut-Lafitte rarely disappoint.
Clearly, 2007 was not an easy vintage for red wines in the Graves, but the dry whites stood out as being absolutely superb. Haut-Brion Blanc is stunning, Laville-Haut-Brion not very far behind but most encouragingly, some really fine white wines have been made in the middle-ranking Graves properties.
St-Emilion and Pomerol
Although the late summer didn’t necessarily favour the earlier-ripening Merlot that dominates on the Right Bank, we found these communes to be slightly more consistent than those on the Médoc.
In a reversal of last year St-Emilion has the edge. There’s been a tendency in recent vintages for winemakers to overextract the wines and introduce harsh tannins, but this year the Merlots called for gentle treatment and in general there are fewer overworked wines than we have become used to. Even Pavie, the standard bearer of the full-on style, shows some prettiness and florality in 2007, and is delicious.
The lesser wines did show hints of greenness, but we’ve found quite a few supple, soft St-Emilions that will make pleasurable drinking within a relatively short amount of time and shouldn’t cost the earth, such as Figeac and Berliquet.
In Pomerol there are also some nice wines, although without the lushness that this appellation can deliver in warmer years the best wines were again on the lighter, more elegant end of the spectrum. The experience and attention to detail of the J.P. Moueix properties again stood out, and we were impressed by this year’s Nenin (now under the stewardship of Jean-Hubert Delon of Léoville-Las-Cases fame).
Sauternes and Barsac
2007 is a terrific vintage in Sauternes. Although humid conditions early in the growing season is as bad news in Sauternes as elsewhere, the grapes remained remarkably healthy going in to September. Those grapes picked early (in the last few weeks of September) have contributed the same fresh acidity and cleanness of fruit that has benefitted the dry whites, whilst late September rain and a warm, humid October provided great conditions for botrytis which has given the wines great sweetness and complexity. Yields were also, by Sauternes standards, generous, which we must hope will help keep prices stable.
At the top end, Yquem claim to have made their best wine since the thirties, but pleasingly the quality is remarkably consistent and as well as the usual suspects Suduiraut, Rieussec and La Tour Blanche, there are a number of potentially good value wines among the other classed growths.
The Market
This is always the difficult bit of a Bordeaux vintage report, because there is never a simple correlation between how “good” or otherwise a vintage is and pricing.
Putting the quality of the wines aside, consider the factors at play in the 2007 vintage. The global economic situation might suggest châteaux would look to lower prices but this is probably offset by the belief that the Asian and Russian markets offer a huge new market thus driving demand. Few people in Bordeaux acknowledge the counterpoint that these markets have up until now generally demanded ready-to-drink wines rather than en primeur.
More importantly, the strength of the Euro means that even a 15% price reduction over 2006 would be cancelled out by the exchange rate change since this time last year. Fortunately, this is also true of the Euro against other currencies including the dollar, so we would hope this would be at least a consideration in the minds of the château owners.
We have to acknowledge that post-2005 the market price of Bordeaux has risen, but our hope is that this will not be a vintage for speculation, which could work in the favour of “ordinary” consumers buying wines to drink rather than to sell. As ever, we will only buy and offer those wines we seriously consider to be worth their price.