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Château de Fieuzal Blanc 2002

Something very curious happened when I was in Bordeaux a few weeks ago for the 2022 Bordeaux primeur tastings. I met two other people who also enjoy drinking Bordeaux from the 2002 vintage.

I thought I was the only one.

We are thinking of forming a self-help group. If you can think of a name for our group (polite suggestions only please), do drop me a line. If it is a suitably lengthy and pompous name which also results in an amusing acronym, all the better.

Anyway, the wines of Bordeaux in the 2002 vintage, written off by some critics when they were still wearing short trousers (the wines, not the critics), have given me close to twenty years of drinking pleasure. They are undeniably light in body and style, a reflection of the season, but they present classically mature aromatic and flavour profiles. They were also dirt cheap when sold en primeur – I think the entirety of my purchases cost less than a single case of some of the top 2022 Bordeaux releases currently filling my inbox.

Château de Fieuzal Blanc 2002.

The 2002 growing season threw all sorts of hurdles in the path of the Bordelais, with a long, drawn-out flowering being one of the first, with coulure and millerandage seeing off a large percentage of the Merlot harvest. The summer was rather dull, which led to a protracted véraison enhancing the degree of heterogeneity in the ripening fruit. Persistent drizzly rain was beginning to cause problems when good weather suddenly arrived in mid-September, and the conditions remained strong through to the harvest, essentially rescuing the vintage. The wines tended to be lighter in substance, as already noted above, with higher acidities, a consequence of the cool summer weather. It was far from ideal for reds, but not such a problem for whites.

When I last checked in on them – within my Bordeaux Twos report last year – a number of the wines continued to show well (while a handful are obviously in decline). Those were exclusively red wines though, and this weekend I pulled the cork on the only remaining white from this vintage in my cellar (in Bordeaux anyway – I still have plenty of 2002 Vouvray to get through).

In the glass the 2002 Château de Fieuzal Blanc displays a polished golden hue appropriate for the wine’s age. It has a wonderfully expressive nose, opening out over an evening, and the following day, to reveal a multilayered construct of honeyed lime, dried apple, blanched almond, white currants and vanilla. What follows is a totally coherent and complete palate, textural and polished, with great substance, filled with orange and lime, layers of white truffle and blanched almond, all underpinned by a fine phenolic substance, which serves to give it a silky density and fresh grip, with the bright acidity of the vintage providing a sense of freshness. This all remains nicely intertwined through the long, lightly peppery and energetic finish. All in all this is a delight, and well above even my expectations; heaven knows what one of 2002’s many detractors would make of it. If you have some tucked away you can certainly drink now, but there is no rush, as this has plenty of gas in the tank yet, good evidence of acidity’s preservative qualities. The alcohol is 13% on the label. 94/100 (12/6/23)

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