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| March 30th 2004 The very latest news on the Bordeaux 2003 wines Several wines from the Medoc are quite brilliant! Chateau Latour is fantastic and will almost certainly be wine of the vintage! Chateau Margaux is very close behind, alongside Chateau Montrose. Then in a group there is : Chateau Lafite Rothschild Chateau Haut Brion Chateau Mouton Rothschild Chateau Ducru Chateau Pichon Lalande Chateau Leoville Las Cases The one thing that does stand out at this stage of the wines evolution is that Medoc has done very well indeed. Pomerol and St Emilion not as well with the caveat that the merlot based Pomerol's are notoriously difficult to taste at this stage. Never the less it can be said that Petrus and Trotanoy do stand out from the crowd at this stage
2003 Bordeaux, the story so far………………. January 2004 update. BORDEAUX
LEFT BANK (Médoc - Graves) The
Cabernet Sauvignon grape which predominates on the left bank, displayed brilliant
ripeness with great aromatic finesse, high alcohol content and good extraction
of colour). The harvest was officially declared on September 8 and completed by
the beginning of October, which was when the date picking began last year. Cabernet
is the late ripening grape and the excellent September weather suited it perfectly.
Inevitably some growers got it wrong and there were examples of ruined crops where
defoliating unnecessarily caused raisining. January 2004 update It has become apparent that the young vines with less developed root systems produced only small amounts of quality fruit. This will mean that where replanting has occurred recently then those properties will have suffered most. If the vines were located on very well drained (gravely or sandy for example) soils the problems would be far worse than where the soil had the ability to retain some moisture. Many châteaux use young vine wine in their second wine and where made third wines, I think that we will see that the difference in quality between the Grand Vin and the lesser wines far more pronounced in 2003 than is normally seen. So it was the old vines that did best and in particular in Northern Medoc, so expect serious success in St Estèphe, Pauilliac, St Julien and the neighbouring areas. The Merlot is wonderfully rich and opulent and because the weather was so good late on, consequentially so is the Petit Verdot which when fully ripe adds so much to the wines. The alcohol levels are amazing, apparently at Latour the Cabernet Sauvignon was around 13º and exceeded where 11.5º was a previous high! May-Eliane de Lencquesaing said, "Pichon-Lalande's harvest would be half its normal size. The vines had been able to pump up winter water from the ground and the leaves had in turn nourished the grapes. Sugar levels were high but the full ripeness of the skins needed more patience." There will be some surprises, some properties in well-regarded areas did not as well as might have been expected and some did well above what one might expect. It will only be when the wines are tasted in March/April then we will be certain of the victors of the vintage. Weather The temperatures during the summer were well above average and that caused the earliest picking date since records began in the 17th century. Rainfall was very low and combined with the hot weather caused problems for vineyards that were had excellent drainage. The less well-drained sites retained the moisture better; the vines were not as stressed and produced excellent fruit. Production With yields
of around the 25 hectolitres/hectare, production is way below average. The quality
is quite magnificent and the winemakers are holding their breath in anticipation
of what they have made. In 1961 it was frosts that determined a tiny but incredible
quality vintage; in 2003 it was a combination of heat and drought that may well
have done the same. That coupled with the brilliant quality of winemaking that
exists in Bordeaux today, we may well have a vintage of unprecedented excellence
on our hands. BORDEAUX
RIGHT BANK (St Emilion - Pomerol) The harvest began August 19 and was finished by mid September, which historically is incredibly early. The Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes have produced wines that exhibit a high natural alcohol, over 13 percent, particularly in terroirs that are not so well drained. The wines are low in acidity and appear to be both amazingly complex and very powerful with no astringent tannins. Hubert de Boüard, owner of first growth Château Angelus and president of the St Emilion Wine Syndicate declared: 'whatever the situation, whether on early or late-ripening terroirs, the harvest shows a quality potential only observed in the very greatest vintages. A vintage in conformity with the climatology: huge, exceptional, unparalleled.' (Quote taken from Decanter) January 2004 update The Merlot and Cabernet Franc are sensational. The clay/limestone soils retained the moisture to a better degree that was seen on the Left Bank and the late occurring rainfall was more prominent on the Right Bank. Wine makers because of the high alcohol in some cases found that their fermentation stop and had to restart it with cultured yeasts. Also it was the year that acidity was so low that the authorities gave permission to acidify the wines; the norm in Australia but virtually unheard of in Bordeaux - in fact it was the year you wanted your Australian cousins to be visiting because they have far more experience of the conditions that the Bordelais. All that said, there are some amazing wines and some great surprises both on the up and downside. The best piece of advice is make sure that your relationship with your merchant and broker is as good as it can be because at the highest level there will be enormous demand on the relatively few properties who would have made far less wine than usual (yields are down by as much as 30%) for some truly great wine. Prices, well what do you think!! Weather After some sporadic storms in the earlier part of the year, which damaged vines in the Entre-deux-Mers, and some marginal Saint-Emilion properties, the unseasonably very warm spring led to a very hot summer. This caused a very early ripening of the crop and coupled with a little rain in early September provided perfect harvest conditions. Production Production is well down especially in Pomerol, but the quality is fabulous. One very well connected person who has a very substantial interest in Pomerol was heard to say of the quality of 2003 in the appellation simply "1947" and with regard to the price "very expensive". Time will tell, but if the quality is as good as 1947 and Robert Parker when writing of the 1947 vintage in his 3rd edition on Bordeaux wrote "some of the most enormously concentrated, portlike, intense wines I have ever tasted" and "The top wines are something to behold, if only because of their excessively rich, sweet style which come closest in modern-day terms to 1982. Yet I know of no 1982 that has the level of extract and intensity of the greatest 1947's" January 2004 update on Sauternes and Barsac There are some wonderful wines that are quite akin the quite superb 1990 vintage. Great levels of Botrytis, wonderfully sweet with the requisite balancing acidity will make this vintage a MUST BUY, no question! January 2004 update from The Wine Advocate Issue 150 by Robert Parker Jnr In
this, his 25th Anniversary Issue Mr Parker reviews Californian wines from 2000-2002.
Whilst commenting on the how Californian wine ages he says: Prices for Bordeaux 2003 will be released over the next 4 to 6 weeks. We already know who have done incredibly well and it is more than a little surprising. Please call us for details now to reserve the wines that you want as they WILL BE IN VERY SHORT SUPPLY! To
register for the 2003 Bordeaux vintage please fill in our
online enquiry box with your email address and the text comment "register
for the 2003 Bordeaux vintage"
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