Bordeaux 2021: Summer & Autumn
At last summer came, and the clouds parted, glorious sunshine beamed down across all Europe for four solid months, the vineyards dried up, the fruit was eventually picked at a perfect level of maturity under blazing sunshine, and great wines were made.
Well, sorry, not really.
There is no Hollywood ending to the 2021 vintage. The truth is that the rather miserable conditions that characterised the growing season through spring and into summer continued. August was at least drier than June and July, but the temperatures remained rather cooler than were hoped for, and the hours of sunshine were fewer than usual. These are just the sort of conditions that keep the greener elements of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot at an elevated level, which should raise questions about the style of the vintage.
When the véraison (the colour change in the berries) eventually came it was prolonged, stuttering into reality in late-July but continuing through into early-August. And although the conditions after August 8th were much drier the provision of water to the vines was still very good. Indeed, in the words of Pierre-Olivier Clouet (pictured) of Château Cheval Blanc, such was the presence of groundwater in 2021, “no vine anywhere, regardless of soil type, went short of water this year”. And this was a problem, because it is the hydric stress engendered by dry conditions in summer that switches vines from vegetative growth (throwing out new leaves everywhere) to the véraison (the first obvious sign of ripening in the fruit, and an important step towards creating the next generation of vines – well, that’s how the vine sees it).
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