Bordeaux 2017 at Two Years: The Rest of The Left
Having taken a look at the four main communal appellations of the Médoc peninsula, along with some comments on the frost that has in many cases defined the style and quality of wine produced in the 2017 vintage, I conclude my reports on the left bank here with all my notes on the wines from the other peninsular appellations. This means taking in, alongside the communal appellations of Moulis and Listrac, the wines of the sprawling Haut-Médoc appellation, the Médoc vineyards at the northern tip of the peninsula, and any white wines made on the left bank, all of which have the generic Bordeaux appellation.
Many of the vineyards relevant to this report are located some distance from the protective waters of the Gironde. Not all though; to the north, in the Médoc appellation, some vineyards hug the water’s edge; Goulée, for example, sits not too far from the estuary. And further south, some of the vineyards of the Haut-Médoc such as Château La Lagune and Château Cantemerle are closer to the Garonne, which perhaps offers some protection against frost, than many of the Margaux vineyards which they neighbour. Although, as I also suggest in my 2017 Pessac-Léognan report, the Garonne surely does not offer the same level of protection as that afforded by the huge expanse of the Gironde further north.
That leaves the majority of estates in this report likely to have been disadvantaged by their position in this vintage, where success and failure has been shaped by frost. Many Haut-Médoc estates are situated well to the west of the communal appellations, the vineyards of Moulis and Listrac certainly were, and the same may be true of some Médoc estates. There is plenty of potential here for disappointment, but perhaps also surprising success? These are thus appellations and regions which require careful examination.
