Bordeaux 2010: Tasting in 2014
My final vintage report from the annual Grand Cru Classé tasting in London in 2014 concerns 2010 Bordeaux. The impact of tasting this vintage against its three peers was akin to the impact felt when tasting 2013 Bordeaux. Whereas it was deficiency that was revealed in 2013, however, in 2010 the tasting served only to highlight 2010’s superiority.
As with 2012, however, this report is only a brief snapshot of the vintage, and I will be examining it in more detail later this year based on forthcoming tastings.
The 2010 Vintage
The 2010 growing season started a week behind schedule, with a rather delayed budburst in April. Changeable weather followed, and as a consequence the vines flowered in two major waves. There was both coulure and millerandage, as usual the Merlots were worse hit than the Cabernets. There was heavy rain in June, and then the weather really began to heat up, and while the fruit marched towards ripeness through the dry summer months, cool nights during July and August helping to preserve the acidities. The véraison came in early August, and green harvesting allowed the weeding out of dodgy grapes. Despite the warm weather and the summer drought, this was not an early harvest in the manner of 2003 Bordeaux or 1990 Bordeaux. This was a vintage marked by drought more than by heat, and for much of the growing season the vines lagged behind in comparison to 2009 Bordeaux. Come harvest time, happily the fruit was both abundant and healthy.
