Bordeaux 2022: Broad Impressions
If you’ve managed to read this far, well done! If you’ve skipped here straight from Monsieur Propriétaire’s adventures on the first page, then you’ve missed my words on the season and harvest, but fear not. Here is my take on the dry whites and reds in the 2022 vintage (my thoughts on Sauternes will follow later, as always).
The White Wines
The obvious style-driver this year is the record-breaking warm and dry weather, and the final method in which this could potentially be modulated is through the timing of picking.
With such fine conditions it was up to the Bordelais to determine when to pick; the main stimulus to do so were the acidity levels, which were falling at a worrying pace, leaving the Bordelais with a dilemma. Do you wait for full phenolic maturity, but run the risk that you have grapes with low acidities, leading to soft, blowsy, low-acid whites? Or do you pick earlier for more acidity, the trade-off being a loss of phenolic maturity, potentially resulting in a less aromatically mature or complex wine?
The majority of the white wines I have tasted lean towards the mature and consequently softly structured style. It is not a style that really appeals to my palate; the good maturity in the fruit has given the wines a ripe and expressive (usually Sauvignon-based) flavour profile, so they will provide attractive early drinking, especially if they are served cool to enhance what little freshness they have, especially if the drinker in question does not value acidity, freshness and zip. I for one miss the acidity that would provide the energy and drive I am really looking for on the palate, which would have given the wines a more delicious and refreshing balance, and which would increase their potential for the cellar.
