First Thoughts on the 2011 Bordeaux Vintage

One of the oldest properties in the Médoc: Château d’Issan in Margaux

General Comment on the Region and Its Wines

The wines being produced in Bordeaux today would shake the collector or, indeed, merchant of thirty years ago to his or her core. The sheer quantity of good wine being produced is, of course, unprecedented; quality is being found in those dusty corners of the region where hitherto self-respecting aficionados would barely deign to glance. And the style of wine emanating from Bordeaux has changed radically. It’s this last point that I would like tio dwell on momentarily.

The conversation I had with my host at Château La Mission Haut Brion during my tasting of the 2011 wines was telling. Monsieur’s point was that, even compared to great classic vintages of the recent past (and here he mentioned 1989 and 1990 as examples), the wines produced in Bordeaux of late are leviathans.

The reasons for this are several. A reduction in yields has led to wines of greater concentration. I was advised that La Mission produced over eighty hectolitres per hectare in the 1980s., compared to forty-five today. Then there’s canopy management. Leaves are trimmed from the vines at such a time as to maximise the ripening effect of the sun: another activity that has the potential to concentrate the end wine.

And, of course, there’s the change in climate we’ve been experiencing. Recent vintages have been marked by drought and a lack of water tends to lead to smaller grapes with thicker skins. (I was amazed to discover that many of the wines produced in Bordeaux in 2011 have the highest ever IPT levels, that measure of total phenolic content, including tannin. And this is after 2009 and 2010, the two previous record holders! Drought, once again, is the cuplrit.)

If we can cast our minds back to the 1980s and a time when the influence of Robert Parker was, as yet, barely felt, one of the main failings of red Bordeaux wine was a lack of concentration. And one of the main things that Parker’s influence caused was a drive towards wines of greater density. This was entirely apt for a time when perhaps two vintages in a decade produced fruit of ideal ripeness. Now, I am not so sure. To go on striving for greater and greater concentration in a world in which it is easy enough to achieve such concentration is asking for trouble, risking the production of wines that are super-sized parodies of themselves.

Looking more like the sign for a Sri Lankan tea plantation, the indication is an easy one to miss

Applying the Above to 2011

As already mentioned, in one sense the wines of 2011 are, like their immediate forebears, parodic. Caused by a long period of drought, tannin levels were potentially extremely high. Yet everything else about these wines – at least the better wines of the vintage – is controlled and unexagerated.

I was struck by the sheer loveliness of the wines of La Mission and Haut Brion, that they appeared über-elegant when compared to some other wines I’d been tasting. And with questioning, I found out why. Cuvaison was a full four or five days shorter than normal. That is, the total time spent during fermentation and maceration was reduced. The best expression of the 2011 vintage is gained through gentle treatment of the fruit, not via maximum extraction.

And right then, I wondered whether this isn’t what we’re coming to in Bordeaux and elsewhere. That obsession with concentration that is a legacy of the past should now, perhaps, be put aside and the vintages be allowed to talk to us with more natural voice. Do I want wine to impress me? Or do I want to enjoy the experience of drinking it? I understand that the two questions are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but my keywords for the wines I want at my table remain: elegant; subtle; appetising; refreshing; complex; beautiful. Reading them, it seems as though those words have more relevance to the wines of yesteryear than those of today.

Château Lagrange, St Julien

And How Are the 2011 Bordeaux Wines?

Well, I have to say that I was as surprised as the next man. There are a great many superb wines this vintage.

In style, the red wines are fresh, very pure, crisp and, in many cases, endearingly floral. They have great length and I often found the most refreshing tannin.

They are smaller wines, generally speaking, than those produced in 2010 and they are less ripe than the 2009s. They are considerably lower in alcohol than those vintages. Yet they are delicious and, yes, beautiful.

The dry whites are, by-and-large, extremely good. The best are complex, highly mineral and well concentrated; concentrated in all the best ways.

The sweet white wines have great potential. The best are loaded with botrytis, have great density and excellent minerality. A few are loose, like lime-y kapok, but the best are really very exciting indeed.