Bordeaux 2012: In Context
I often include some general impressions from the tastings, but in 2012 it just isn’t appropriate. The 2009 vintage was ripe, luxuriant and rich. The 2010 was firm, with high tannins and high acidity. The 2011 vintage was, admittedly, more complex. The 2012 vintage defies such simple, one-phrase strap lines.
At the lower end, some wines that are based on or contain a decent percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc display a herbaceous character, indicating lack of ripeness in these varieties. Nevertheless many wines, I was surprised to find, do not. Wines from minor châteaux, or occasionally the second wines, yes, but for the most part the grands vins do not show overt green character. What such wines do show, in many cases, is a fresh fruit character that betrays the ripening characteristics of the vintage; the fruit is usually in the red part of the spectrum, red cherries and red plums, occasionally with tauter notes of cranberry. In many cases the fruit profile is lean rather than plump, and brings the freshness of fruit skins to the palate, or in some cases is more reminiscent of sucking plum stones and cherry pits. I more readily associate such experiences with the limestone-grown Cabernet Franc wines of Saumur than those of Bordeaux. The midpalate is on many occasions quite lean, what texture the wine presents at the very start fading away to leave a hollow feeling here. Some appellations, however, have done better than others. And some estates have done better than others; those with the grandest vineyards naturally attributed this to their wonderful terroir; all the same, strict selection and yield reduction, bottling a mere 30-40% of the harvest – from the best, oldest, most drought-resistant vines – as your grand vin, is of course likely to be just as important. It’s easier to make a good wine when you focus on what is, essentially, a super-cuvée.
