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Bordeaux 2004 at Four Years: Introduction

Described by some as the last affordable vintage, I have to admit that having recently had another opportunity to reassess the vintage, this time at four years of age, I cannot produce a more appropriate soundbite. Other vintages are certainly easier to pigeon hole (although such sweeping statements are always of questionable value), such as 2005 (almost universal success) and 2003 (baked and tannic, although with the occasional truly great wine), but not so 2004. Without referring directly to my previous notes, links to which are provided on the right, the broad characteristics of the vintage that I can throw up from memory are as follows. First, there was a return to a more classic, cool, tannic and reserved style, an obvious contrast to the preceding vintage. And secondly I recall that although no particular region stood out head-and-shoulders above the rest, those that seemed to have been favoured were Margaux and the right bank communes of St Emilion and Pomerol, although that is not to say that there were not plenty of very good wines in other regions, especially Pauillac. Having retasted a good number of the wines, as well as some not previously encountered, however, I am not so sure of all these assertions; I will explain more in my regional assessments, of which there are three for this tasting which concentrated solely on the red wines of the region (so no white Pessac-Léognan, no Sauternes or Barsac). Perhaps most surprising of all, however, were one or two wines which seemed remarkably different, in style or quality, to my previous notes. Perhaps this reflects nothing more than the fallibility of my palate, but I did wonder in the case of Lascombes whether this wasn't a symptom of the wine rather than my interpretation of it.

Vintage Recap

Before I move onto my notes, and my thoughts on other noteworthy wines, a quick recap of the vintage is in order. After the heat of 2003 the winter was drier then usual, and a cold spring delayed budding, which was plentiful, heralding a late but potentially voluminous harvest, necessitating intensive control of yields with debudding and green harvesting. A reasonably warm but humid summer was followed by more favourable, dry and warm weather through to the harvest. The white grapes were picked in good conditions, although the red grapes were picked in the rain; this has the potential to accelerate rot and dilute the must. The former was not a problem as the grapes were generally healthy (although there was a problem with variation in the ripeness of the fruit), but the latter was almost universal. As I have written in my review of the 2004 Bordeaux vintage, there was plenty of opportunity to maximise the quality of the wine with careful selection, handling and appropriate saignée.

My first in-depth encounter with this vintage which required such careful handling was at two years of age, as I have discussed above. Since then I have posted twice more on the wines. The first was a small collection tasted in April 2007, where a number of wines from many different appellations on the whole showed rather well, particularly Pichon-Baron and Léoville-Barton on the left bank. The second was in November 2007, taking in wines such as Monbousquet, Pavie, three cuvées from Faugères and several from the left bank communes. Again, there were some wines that showed very well here. So clearly there are very good wines available in this vintage, and I would say that tasting the wines at four years old this statement still holds true. As I have alluded above, however, alongside the successes there are also disappointments. I expand on this thought in a series of tasting notes looking first at the red wines of Graves, then the Médoc and finally the right bank. (9/12/08)