Bordeaux 2014 Primeurs: Sauternes & Barsac Tasting Notes
The style of the red wines in the 2014 vintage is unique, looking like a warm vintage in terms of flavours and tannins (for the Cabernets anyway, less so the Merlots) but like a cool vintage in terms of texture and acidity (true of all varieties). While it would perhaps be wrong to say the combination of confident botrytis substance and strident acidity found in the sweet wines is unique, it is certainly striking, and it strongly reflects the character of the vintage. The die was half cast in the summer, when the long period of cool and damp weather locked in the acidity in the grapes, and then the casting was completed by the last period of picking in particular, when a prolonged period of rain followed by one of the warmest Octobers on record produced a heavy flourish of botrytis.
As I discussed in my 2014 Pomerol report, featuring the words of Alexandre Thienpont, it is difficult (if not impossible) to liken the overarching style of the red wines in this vintage to another. This is not true of the sweet wines though. Speaking purely in terms of the vintages I have tasted en primeur (you occasionally see critics likening barrel samples tasted en primeur to other mature vintages never reviewed at the same stage – I think this practice is highly questionable), this doesn’t feel like another 2009 or 2010. The 2014 just doesn’t have the same depth of confidence that those wines possessed. It does, however, feel remarkably like 2007 and 2011, in that these were both vintages where the wines featured a very fresh and vibrant acidity. The difference, however, is that both 2007 and 2011 were completely defined by their acidity, and it was only with time that I saw 2007 putting on weight, as the botrytis evolved. Retasting them at four years of age (which was already four years ago – time truly does fly) I was really impressed with their substance. I scored the 2011 vintage with this in mind, another acid-defined vintage, expecting that they will flesh out as the botrytis opens up.
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