Bordeaux 2011: Upside-Down and Back-to-Front
I have long believed that understanding the growing season – the temperatures, the rainfall, which vineyards were hit by hail and which escaped, and so on – is key to understanding the vintage. And that remains true with 2011, although with such a complex story it requires a rather more detailed investigation than other recent vintages, such as the consistently glorious weather of 2009, or the consistently wet and miserable weather of 2007. Although such statements are very superficial, warm and dry vintages (such as 2009) do tend to bring good quality wines, as long as they are not too warm, or too dry. Cool, cloudy and rain-soaked vintages (á la 2007) do the opposite, retarding ripening, engendering mildew and rot, dashing any hopes of achieving the highest level of quality.
The problem is 2011 can’t be pigeon-holed in one of these easy-to-define vintage ‘models’ (and even if it were the latter, the association between difficult vintage and poor wines in Bordeaux is much weaker than it used to be – the wines from 2007 are much better than they would have been with a similar vintage twenty years ago). The growing season during 2011 was unlike any other, unparalleled in Bordeaux’s history, and although the wines might end up resembling this vintage, or that vintage, the growing season itself resists such simple comparisons. As such, its usefulness as a ‘soundbite generator’ is undoubtedly less than it would usually be. This is not to say we should not explore the story of the vintage though; indeed, it is probably more important than ever, even if we must pick away at it in considerable detail in order to truly understand it and the wines. Plus, having done that, perhaps we might understand it all a little better when, next year, the same thing happens all over again. Having experienced another very warm week of weather at the primeurs this year (even if it was capped off by a hail storm), that’s not as unlikely as it might sound!
Please log in to continue reading: