Bordeaux 2012 Primeurs: Yquem
It is old news now that Pierre Lurton and the team at Château d’Yquem have decided not to produce a 2012 vintage, adding to the list of other vintages that also saw no Yquem produced, which includes 1910, 1915, 1930, 1951, 1952, 1964, 1972, 1974 and 1992. At the time of the announcement there was certainly some scepticism about the motive behind the decision; some I know were quick to point out that the Pierre Lurton had yet to release the 2011, the delay being the consequence of concern about the wine’s ability to realise its true price potential at the time of the 2011 vintage primeur campaign. Could it be – as has been mooted in some quarters – that the decision to hold back on the 2012 vintage was a tactical move, designed to increase demand for the 2011 vintage? We will, I suspect, never know for sure; nevertheless, I think it very unlikely that the ditching of an entire vintage was done purely to bolster sales of another. And having visited the region, and tasted the wines, there is no doubt in my mind that this has been a very difficult vintage for the Sauternais. And those estates worst affected were the gravelly, well-drained but later-ripening vineyards of Sauternes; this was where the most rotten, geosmin-rich wines were to be found (although to be fair there are one or two offenders in Barsac as well).
Following the announcement that Yquem would not release a 2012 vintage, a number of other estates also declared they would not produce a grand vin this year. Château Rieussec was the first to follow suit, director Charles Chevallier having been convinced that the harvest was just not of sufficient quality. These two were joined by Château Suduiraut, where it looks likely that the grand vin will be declassified into a second wine, Lions de Suduiraut, although at the time of writing this report I haven’t tasted any Sauternes at all from this AXA-owned estate, and so cannot comment on the wine, first, second or otherwise. Château de Fargues was next; again, no wine was shown here during the primeurs, and so it seems unlikely that a grand vin will suddenly appear at a later date. Lastly, for the big-name châteaux at least, the wine of Château Raymond-Lafon will be released as a second label, Les Jeunes Pousses de Raymond-Lafon.
