Bordeaux Futures 2004

2004 Vintage: "If August makes the must, September makes the calibre of the vintage" Published on October, 2004Days of the highest importance for the gustative value of the harvest in process are currently on the way in Bordeaux. The grapes are slowly ripening thanks to the mild temperatures and the absence of rain. This serene atmosphere sharply contrasts with the tension some property owners suffered from only a few days ago. Since the last week of September, the best chateaux have kept on postponing the start of the harvest date to let the grapes mature even further, for a crop which presumably will exceed 7 million hectolitres. "First time since 1922", notes Jean-Christophe Mau! Once more I note how simplistic the saying "August makes the must" is. Indeed, September makes all the difference, even more so when the harvest is late in the month.At the end of August, the professionals were in very low spirits. The climatology of that particularly dull month had caused delay in the veraison. The heterogeneity noted on each bunch was thought to hamper the good process towards maturity and thus quality. The size of the berries and the amount of grapes which still had to ripen, reminded some of 1997. Others, bearing in mind the traditional rains in September, were more inclined to think of 1992. A nice, luminous and rather warm weather settled over the Gironde from the 1st until the 10th of September. Little by little, the first samples and analyses returned their verdict: comfortable alcohol content, normal acidity and pH. Two thunderstorms put an end to the beautiful weather of the first ten days of September, late in the night of September the 9th. These few days of fine weather did a world of good to both the grapes and the estate owners. "This is August in September", some of them summed up. The complex equation "yield-ripeness-climatology" eventually began to turn positive. In the week from the 13th to the 19th, it rained on Tuesday. The latent humidity could have led to the starting of rot. But then the weather changed and turned cold. In some households, people even considered turning the heating on. These cool night temperatures kept the grapes in good sanitary condition. The spectre of grey rot moved away. Mild and sunny days brought their beneficial effects. Drizzle came back at the end of the week. The temperatures went up and a gentle wind rose, which dried up humidity particularly in the vines where the leaves had been thinned out. Between the 20th and the 26th, humidity alternated with sun and soft wind. The temperatures differences have undoubtedly helped the aromatic ripeness of white grape varieties, such as sauvignon. I do not know yet how they will influence the taste of red wines.On the right bank, many chateaux started harvesting merlot on Thursday, September 23rd. In the Médoc and on later soils, people were still waiting. Everywhere the flowering dates showed that the grapes would be ready around September 25th. The date of the harvest became dependent on the sanitary condition of the grapes, which varies with the type of soil, the deleafing and green harvest and the treatments applied. Due to the mild climate, more and more properties were tempted not to hurry and to postpone the harvest date. According to Paul Pontallier (manager of Château Margaux), this serenity always goes hand in hand with quality. Between Monday 09/27 and Monday 10/04, nice weather went on. Everywhere people noticed a decrease in the berries' weight, high potential alcohol percentage in the merlot grapes and surprisingly also in the cabernet sauvignon'. When tasted the merlot grapes were very sweet; as for the Cabernet, I noted a good acid freshness and a surprisingly high level of sugar. The very warm weather on Sunday, October 3rd and Monday, the 4th, gave an extra boost to the ripening process. In Sauternes, some selective pickings achieved good concentrations. On Tuesday 10/04, on the Margaux appellation, cabernet sauvignon plots graded 13° alcohol content and 3.1 total acidity. Other neighbouring plots, having been very much thinned out, only peaked at 12° and 5 total acidity. How come? Well, this is part of the magic. Of course, some think of the nature of the rootstock. Others consider that it is impossible for vines which have been thinned out too much to bring such a load of bunches to ripeness. As the first results from the vats of merlot grapes harvested the previous week showed, the alcohol contents were actually quite high. Many of the people I talked to were impressed by the colour extraction. They had seldom seen so firm skins free their colour so easily. Unconvinced wine makers were confronted to these results, which were a pleasant surprise after such dull weather in August and the sizeable volume of crop. Those results may have something to do with the low water reserves in the vines; even if August lacked warmth, June was dry and the water deficiency lasted until July 15th. Luckily, the rain that followed enabled to unblock the process of vegetative cycle.When I tasted the grapes, the merlot of the right bank were fruitier and brighter than those of the left bank, especially on limestone soils. Everywhere the taste is very sweet. Nevertheless, except for some areas, I did not find the grapes of the 2004 vintage very rich in flavours. Some berries had more or less loose skin, which could be explained by humidity in the air. During the first week-end of October, La Conseillante completed its harvest. Latour finished harvesting the merlot grapes. Lagrange begun on Monday 10/04. Château Margaux and others were just beginning.So far, merlot grapes are believed to be a success. On the whole, cabernet sauvignon grapes are not ripe yet. Their sanitary condition is good and so they can still wait a little while longer. The next eight days will be decisive as regards their gustatory progress. Château Latour sent the grape-pickers away and is planning to harvest its great cabernets only from October 11th onwards. All the properties will not take this luxuous risk: once the team is at work, it shouldn't be stopped, otherwise there is a risk of not finding grape-pickers back. I was just talking to Frédéric Ardouin about a 1995 Latour, which I found a little acidic on the finish. He confirmed that, in times not so ancient, the picking of cabernet sauvignon grapes which today would be assessed a little too acidic, would then not have been delayed."An abundant crop is always underestimated. A small one is always overestimated." Michel Delon (September 1990)I've seen more grapes on the right bank than on the left. Observers confirm the merlot is very abundant in 2004. This grape variety seems to compensate for the small harvests of 2001 and 2002, more than the cabernet sauvignon does. Moreover, it rained more on the right bank that on the left one in May and August.The impact of the abundance of the crop on the gustatory profile of the wines to be remains to be seen. The bunches and the berries of the merlot grapes are huge. This year, the lateral parts of the bunches are over-developed and sometimes are even as big as a normal bunch (see picture 2). Château Lascombes tells about having undertaken a delicate cutting work, running the risk of damaging the remaining part of the bunch. The cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc bunches are also quite big and bear large berries, but are still smaller than the merlot bunches. It is likely that the green harvest will have led the berries to get bigger in size in order to compensate. The Petit Verdot looks very promising; let's hope bad weather won't come and spoil it. However we note that in some vines the bunches are less abundant, and have smaller berries; the number of bunches per vine seems closer to 6 to 8 rather than 12 to 15. The results will therefore vary enormously. Even though they pruned out 50% of the crop in the summer, many properties will reach the legally authorized maximum yield. According to some, 2/3 of the crop should have been eliminated in order to reach a yield just below 50 hectolitres per hectare. Faced with this "wall of grapes", the growths which look for a qualitative approach on the long run definitely stand out. They invested in expensive work on the vines (green harvest, green thinning etcÉ), and thus managed to control the abundance of the crop. They are certainly likely to offer richer and more dense wines in a few months' time, unlike the chateaux which, having faced two small yields in 2001 and 2002, preferred to keep an abundant crop in order to restore their stocks but which failed to anticipate how generous nature would be this year. The future doesn't look promising for the Chateaux in the generic appellations which could not afford such an expensive work on their vines. This year's harvest will only increase their stock. How will the wine-producing economy of the Gironde react to such a situation? A wine producer told me he expected Bordeaux to produce a lot of rose wine this year. If that proves to be the case, the 2003 tendency to be extremely selective when buying, may well increase in 2004, thus dividing the Bordeaux wine universe into two or three separate worlds. Jean-Marc Quarin Published on October, 2004RIGHT BANKOverloaded vines wich have not been thinned out. No work has been done to help the grapes ripen.Large bunches of merlot that are characteristic of 2004. The lateral parts are as developed as a normal size bunch in a standart year.Careful and expensive work has been done on this vine compared with photo 1. The vine has been thinned out, the grapes are evenly spread out but the vine is still somewhat overloaded.. Fine cabernets francs that are ideally spread out and de-leafed to limit the risk of humidity and rot.A less productive old merlot vine showing how heterogenous the load per vine can be in 2004. The grapes often taste better than the ones shown previously at the same moment in time.LEFT BANKAs on the right bank merlot vines have been very productive on the left bank.A perfect example of cabernet evenly spread out on the vine. It is well spaced out and of a fine size.A vine strewn with grapes. The colour shows they have been cut out quite a while after the green harvest.

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Bordeaux Futures 2004

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