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Bordeaux 2010: St Estèphe

In previous Bordeaux primeur assessments I have grouped my Médoc reviews together, but with 2010 I have divided them into commune-by-commune assessments. There are several reasons why. Firstly, I seem to have a lot more to say beyond my simple tasting notes. I think this reflects the fact that, with six vintages of primeur tastings under my belt, I think I begin to understand the complexity of it all. When I started out tasting wines at this stage I imagined as the years progressed it would get easier. In fact, I think it has become more complex, although I think it might be me rather than the wines that have changed. And secondly, having spent the first three days of this week judging on the Loire panel in the Decanter World Wine Awards, I find the task of writing up the whole of the Médoc in one instalment somewhat overbearing. I need bite-sized chunks. And I've started by biting off St Estèphe.

Cos d'Estournel

My first exposure to the wines of St Estèphe in the 2010 vintage was with Cos d'Estournel, where Jean-Guillaume Prats regaled all around him with tales of the harvest. It was here that the interesting data-point concerning the breaking of the traditional 100-day interval between flowering and harvest to which I alluded in my 2010 vintage review came from. Of course, Mother Nature has not read the text books, and there is naturally variability in this 100-day figure, but for the team at Cos to bring in the fruit more than 120 days from flowering - a massive increase by any standard - says much about not only the character of the vintage, the fruit plodding slowly towards physiological ripeness under the cooler conditions of later summer, but also the determination at Cos to bring in the very best quality fruit possible.

And I have no doubt in my mind that Jean-Guillaume Prats has both an eye for quality and the determination to seek it out within his raw materials. The results of his endeavours do not necessarily suit my own palate, but I shall not deny that they have been hard-won. Because for me, in contrast to many of my peers who found much pleasure within 2010 Cos d'Estournel, including many who last year found the 2009 an anathema, I found much within this wine that troubled me.

The flowering at Cos d'Estournel began on June 7th, five days later than in 2009, so work in the vineyard was already close to a week behind schedule at this point. The Merlots began coming in on September 27th, 112 days later, not quite two weeks behind what would be expected. Picking finished on October 3rd, thus preventing the rain that arrived the following day from soaking the fruit. Once this temporary meteorological glitch had passed it was the turn of Cabernet Sauvignon, the start date a full 120 days (almost three weeks behind expected) after flowering, the picking running from October 5th to October 10th. Meanwhile, the Cabernet Franc was brought in on a single day, October 6th. Overall the yield was 38 hl/ha, to my mind rather modest for Bordeaux although Prats denied it was anything unusual; in fact he was of the opinion that although yields were lower in the right bank communes, on the left bank this was not the case, and in some cases yields were higher. This statement was made despite the consistent tales of fruit dehydration and reduced berry size and weight that I heard from within all the major appellations up and down the Médoc.

Of what was harvested, 55% has gone into the grand vin (just 1% less than 2009) and 45% into Les Pagodes. The story of the vintage is revisited in looking at the assemblage, however, as although Prats did not disclose any issue with his Merlots, and denied that there was any sur-maturité in the vineyard (unlike 2009, when this present, he says), the grand vin is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon (up from 65% in 2009) and only 19% Merlot (down from 33% in 2009), the remaining dollop being 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. The alcohols are also on the higher side, with 14.5% for the grand vin (it was very similar in 2009 at 14.6%) and 14.1% for Les Pagodes. More reassuring points to be taken from the analyses, however, are that the acidities are high with pH 3.5 in both the wines (it was 3.7 last year - don't forget that pH is a logarithmic scale so seemingly small differences in pH can represent massive differences in acidity), and the extraction of tannins would appear to have been reduced, with polyphenol (IPT) concentrations of 91 and 73 respectively in the first and second wines (in 2009 they were both higher, at 99 and 77). (15/4/11)