Bordeaux 2004 at Two Years: The Médoc Communes
The 2004 vintage was without the heat of the preceding summer, and so thankfully we at least have a chance of finding some traditionally styled, structured wines fit for the cellar from the communes of the left bank. But we should also note that many of the problems of the vintage are very pertinent to these communes; the late harvest, consequent upon delayed budbreak earlier in the year, poised more problems for the Cabernets than the Merlots. The evidence on tasting, however, is that there have been a considerable number of successes across these communes.
On the whole the wines showed good depth of colour, classically styled flavours, and an appropriate balance of tannins with covering layer of texture and fruit. There was certainly no problem with acidities; one or two modern styles, across all Bordeaux, show slightly lower acidities, but this relates to practices at individual estates rather than the vintage. One or two wines also lack the texture to match their rather prominent tannins, but they are a minority. On the whole there are many good wines that will perform well in the cellar; few are blockbusters, rather these are largely drinker’s clarets. St Estèphe turned out a small cohort of consistent wines in a slightly deeper, grippy style, whereas those from further south are just a little more light on their feet. In Pauillac, many good wines, and whereas Pichon-Lalande is as seductive as ever, Pichon-Baron continues on its run of quality and consistency which now stretches back over a multitude of vintages, and Pontet-Canet also shows once again why it now challenges all but the first growths in this commune.
