Bordeaux 2015: Winter & Spring
The key element of winter is cold, low temperatures putting the vines into a deep sleep, forcing the sap back deep into the roots, so that the work of pruning can get underway. There was no problem of note during the winter of 2014/2015. Also important, however, is rainfall, as it is during the winter months that Mother Nature has a chance to top up the water table. This is something that can come into play in very warm and dry vintages, such as 2003, when the vines have to dig deep to find the hydration they need.
The winter was, in truth, a little short in terms of rainfall. November 2014 was fairly wet, with 134.8 mm of precipitation, above the average which currently stands at 110 mm. January and February 2015 were also blessed with rainfall, with 93.5 mm and 73.5 mm respectively, both slightly above average. The only month that strayed from the norm was December 2014, which was very dry, the recorded rainfall of only 54.3 mm almost half the ten-year average. It was enough to push the total rainfall across the winter period below the average, although having said that I have yet to find anyone who cites this lower rainfall as playing a major role in the 2015 vintage.
Spring
Whereas I was dumbfounded by seeing a very early budbreak during the last week of March in 2014, when I was in Bordeaux for the primeurs, there was no such treat in store for me at the beginning of the 2015 growing season. March was a relatively dry month, the total rainfall being 40.2 mm, a figure which is approximately two-thirds of the ten-year average for the month. Much of this – 16.8 mm to be precise – fell in one day, on March 1st, and there was only very sparse rainfall thereafter.
