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Bordeaux 2007 at Two Years: Introduction

The 2007 vintage is perhaps one I should hold dear, as it was the first Bordeaux vintage in which I partook in the primeur tastings. Obviously I had been tasting and drinking the wines of Bordeaux for many years prior to that, both mature wines with more than a decade - or sometimes more than two - under their belts, as well as young wines assessed at two years of age in the annual Union des Grands Crus (UGC) tasting. And of course I had tasted newly released wines before, when shown in London, such as at the Bibendum 2006 and 2005 tastings. But this was the first time I travelled to Bordeaux to join in the three or four (or more!) day circus of tastings, dinners and parties that precede the eventual and sometimes much-anticipated release of the latest vintage.

There is, however, a problem with this dreamy, rose-tinted view of the primeur tastings for 2007. The truth is, it simply wasn't that good a year, the weather was challenging to say the least, and the wines - the red wines, at least - reflect this. This is a vintage that needs a cool and objective assessment if we are to uncover any wines that might be worth purchasing. This was the purpose of my attending the recent UGC tasting of the vintage, and I will be publishing my assessment of the wines in five instalments, starting with this overview today.

There are several facets to my assessment; first, we should remind ourselves of the 2007 growing season, and why it was such a trying year for the Bordelais. This will facilitate a better understanding of the second facet, an analysis of the wines themselves, tasted at two years of age. Thirdly, we need to look at the prices of the wines; are these bottles going to offer us value for money? To gauge this we need to look at Bordeaux in a much broader context, against the massive array of excellent wines that can today be sourced from all over the world, not just the classic regions of France but also from certain regions of Spain and Italy, California, Argentina and even New Zealand.

The 2007 Growing Season

I will keep this brief, a paragraph or two of soundbites, after all this is review of a Bordeaux vintage, not a weather report. Problem number one for 2007 was an irregular budbreak and flowering, and because fruit ripening begins a set period of time (classically 100 days, although this is variable - it was closer to 130 in this vintage) after the flowering this meant irregular ripening. So this was always from the outset going to be a challenging harvest. Problem number two was the grey and dreary weather of June, July and August, and it was this that really threatened disaster; such dismal drizzle brings with it mould and without regular chemical spraying all would have been lost to rot and oidium. Some vineyard managers sprayed seven or eight times through the course of the vintage, when perhaps once or twice would be more typical.

By August, as the rain continued unabated, it seemed the vintage would be completely lost, and it was only the arrival of warmer and drier weather in September and October that saved the Bordelais from complete disaster. I have no lack of admiration for the Bordelais in what they achieved here; with a little help from the weather gods, a vintage was snatched from disaster, the fruit saved from the distillery or compost heap. It was only thanks to this change in weather, combined with the appropriate use of modern technology, dedicated vineyard management and rigorous selection that any wine was made in 2007 at all. Without doubt a few decades ago this story would have ended in a very different fashion; at least in 2007 we have some wines to judge.

So times have changed for Bordeaux; washout vintages that would have once been confined to the dustbin can today be salvaged, and vintages that might previously have been rated merely as 'good' are these days 'great' instead. Today it seems that every second or third vintage is a 'vintage of the century'. There was 2000, then 2003 (which certainly produced some exalted wines, although it doesn't really have the uniformity of a great vintage), then 2005. And as I write this the hyperbole about 2009, a vintage blessed with rich, ripe, thick-skinned fruit, is already building. The 2007 vintage will certainly not be joining this hall of fame, even before we tasted the wines we could be reasonably certain of that. But the rather insular Bordelais need to be aware that it is not just Bordeaux that has changed; the whole world of wine has moved on in the last two decades, and there are now many other countries and regions turning out fabulous wine. We need to view Bordeaux 2007 within this context; before we do that, though, let's take a general overview of the wines themselves.

Bordeaux 2007: The Wines

I approached the wines with a clear mind, free of all but one or two very broad prejudices from my primeur tastings (namely that I recalled that the whites were better than the reds, and that Sauternes was best of all, for example). Whenever I return to a vintage in this fashion I never revisit my old notes first, as to do so would only introduce bias. These tastings are not blind; if I were to remind myself that a certain wine had shown brilliantly when tasted during the primeurs, it would undoubtedly influence my interpretation of it when tasted here. It is only afterwards, once I have my notes on paper, that I may look and see what has changed since the barrel tastings. In this case, many wines showed in a remarkably similar fashion to my primeur impressions, which is testament I suppose to the 'accuracy' of those early samples, which must be more representative of the final wines than some critics from time to time allege. Some showed remarkably differently, however, in the case of this tasting I scored a trio of St Emilion particularly lower than in my primeur assessments. Is this variation within the wine, or just a bottle problem, or variation within me, the taster? I'm not sure I have the answer, but I will cover this in more detail in my right bank write-up.

Starting with the reds, I was impressed with how clean the wines showed. With such a difficult vintage, menaced by rain and rot, I was wondering if this would show through with dirty flavours of rot in the wine. This was not the case, and on reviewing my first write-up after the primeurs this was also something I commented on then. So that's the good news; the wines are at least not offensive. Otherwise, I am afraid I can find few positive thoughts to bring to the fore here. The red wines certainly do not belie the inclement weather of 2007 as they are generally lacking in substance, flesh and generosity. These are cool wines, lean and stony, which do not pleasure the palate. They lack substance and texture, and as a consequence most wines finish very short indeed, the flavours disappearing from the mouth in a very clipped fashion once the wine is swallowed. These are going to be difficult wines to savour. Yes, the Bordelais have done well to make these wines, but let us remain dispassionate; they have not created great wines. In many cases they have not even created a wine that is very good.

As for the whites, these are certainly more successful. The dry whites of Graves are a little variable, with one or two 'misses', but these are outweighed by the many 'hits'. One or two are very good indeed, nudging excellent ratings, and if the style appeals to you a number of these wines would be worth adding to the cellar. These successes pale into insignificance in the presence of the Sauternes, though. This is a great vintage for this region, with just about every wine I tasted an enthralling experience, and by the time I reached the end of the Sauternes table I was in a state of near rapture. Climens, Coutet, de Fargues and many more, all were stunning. Less exalted properties, such as Bastor-Lamontagne have also made good wines, surely the sign of a truly wonderful vintage. Curiously not many show a great deal of botrytis, but I will go into more detail on this within my Sauternes report.

For more discussion on how the communes of Graves, the Médoc the Right Bank and Sauternes faired in this vintage, together with all my tasting notes, please see my forthcoming reports which I will publish over the next few days. For the moment though, I will return to the red wines in general, and the question: should we buy? I think to answer that we need to look at Bordeaux in the context of wine today.

Bordeaux in Context

A traditional description for a vintage characterised by lighter wines which drink early - as these will do - is a "restaurant vintage", and this is a phrase I heard it mentioned more than once at this tasting. Is that a useful or appropriate description though? I think it is useful, yes, because it gives some idea of the style of the wines. But the most appropriate? No, I think not, and neither is it the most evocative or meaningful phrase that could be utilised. Instead, I prefer the term applied by one négociant I spoke to at the tasting when he described it instead as "une patate chaude", reflecting his reluctance to be lumbered with any of these wines. As soon as he or his peers have any they want to unload it immediately, pass it on, just like the proverbial hot potato. So why are these wines so undesirable? Surely at the right price point these clean but lighter wines, perfect for early drinking in hallowed dining establishments, should be selling well? This of course is the crunch; these wines would probably sell well if the prices matched the perceived and described quality of the vintage, but the truth is they do not. These are hugely over-priced wines.

A quick review of some figures is required to illustrate my point. The release prices for 2007 were lower than for 2006 (down 15.9%) and for 2005 (down 27.9%), but this was in the face of massive price rises between 2000 and 2005. Even with these decreases, the average cost per bottle of 2007 Bordeaux was still 83.5% higher than the average price for 2000, which was without doubt an immensely superior vintage. In a close re-run of the 1997 folly, when wines of poor or average quality were sold at prices that reflected the successes of 1995 and 1996, 2007 has been similarly over-priced. It seems to me that the only way these wines will be sold will be at a loss, and when I expounded this thought to the "patate chaude" négociant he agreed with me. If you bought full price 2007 en primeur, you got a rough deal it seems.

So this brings me back to my earlier point about the appropriateness of the term "restaurant vintage". This simply can't be true of this vintage, and neither can this be described as a "useful" vintage suitable for those who wish to have early maturing bottles in the cellar to drink whilst waiting for the greats of 2000 and 2005 (and 2009?) to come around. Who would want to drink these clean but lean and unimpressive wines, already remarkably over-priced, at restaurant mark-ups? And who would want to cellar these wines for early drinking at these exorbitant prices when the world of wine today offers so many other options which will without doubt give more pleasure and cost less? The top Médoc estates will even struggle to attract those looking to squirrel away a case or two for children or godchildren who also came into the world in 2007, because those kindly benefactors with any sense will be laying down Port, which had a great vintage in 2007, or if it has to be Bordeaux then they should at least make it a case of Sauternes.

To provide some balance I should point out that weaker vintages such as 2007 do carry some advantage, and that is with the softening of prices the wines of great terroirs may become more affordable. There is a saying, "grands millésimes, petits vins - petits millésimes, grands vins", meaning that in great vintages minor estates often provide some of the best value drinking, whereas in less successful vintages you can grab a taste of wines which are unaffordable in the better years. I have some sympathy with this approach, because no matter how good the wines of Argentina or New Zealand or anywhere else might be, they will never offer an experience that is indistinguishable from the likes of Pichon-Lalande. But it only really works if the wines become affordable in these lesser vintages, and as I have already expounded, in recent years the minor price decreases instituted by the Bordelais after the 2005 vintage have not been sufficent to give us good vaue in this vintage.

So on the whole I remain in a very negative frame of mind about this vintage. Yes, it is a technological success, and the red wines are clean, light and will drink well early. But they are over-priced, and this in combination with a potentially great vintage waiting in the wings in the shape of 2009 means I would not advocate buying any of them. Only at 2002 prices would many of these red wines begin to offer some thing close to appropriate value for money. As for the whites, these are more appealing. And the Sauternes? As I said in my initial write-up, an opinion which has been borne out by this tasting, this is the best vintage for these wines since 2001. (27/10/09)