Bordeaux 2019: Summer
The warmer weather arrived exactly when the change of the seasons said it should; from June 21st air blowing northwards from the African continent brought a prolonged period of warm and dry weather to the region. The change was sudden; one day it was cool and damp, the next warm and dry, and within a few days the region was basking in a heatwave, with temperatures of 35ºC recorded on June 26th and 27th. From this point onwards the Bordelais and their vines didn’t look back.
For the rest of the growing season the average temperatures remained well above the expected, and the rainfall was similarly lower than the usual. The hot weather seen in the last week of June persisted through July, with another five days where the mercury climbed above 35ºC, and it even hit 41.1ºC at Mérignac. While such high temperatures might sound scary to those of us looking for classically styled Bordeaux (rather than another 2003), it is worth noting that this heatwave came too early to have any effect on the character of the vintage; very high temperatures before the véraison will help burn off methoxypyrazines, reducing a sense of ‘green’ in the wine, but will not have any detrimental effect on acidity levels, which only results from very hot weather after the véraison. Or so I am told, anyway.
The hours of sunshine during July reached near record-breaking levels, and although it was dry there was not a complete drought. The July rainfall came in two main bursts, with storms on the 16th and the 26th. Some regions faired better than others in this regard, for example Pauillac had just 41 mm and Libourne had only 52 mm during the month, but Sauternes was equally warm but much wetter, with 116 mm recorded, one of the highest figures in the region. As a consequence of the warm weather and ongoing provision of water the vegetative growth was strong; despite the dry winter, there was none of the water stress which would usually encourage the vines towards the véraison.
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