Decanter World Wine AwardsBordeaux 2010: confidence in vintage at start of en primeur
- Tuesday 5 April 2011
At this early stage of a week that will see 5000 of the international wine trade, including 250 journalists, from 68 different countries, descend on Bordeaux for a week of barrel tastings, all the signs are that 2010 will take its place alongside 09 as a memorable vintage.
The summer of 2010 was extremely dry but temperatures remained low – conditions which one winemaker, Thomas Do Chi Nam at Chateau Pichon Lalande, took care to describe not as ‘drought’ but ‘water constraint’.
These conditions conspired to produce grapes – across the board – that were rich, high in alcohol, acids and tannins.
‘It is a totally unusual vintage,’ Philippe Dhalluin of Chateau Mouton Rothschild told Decanter.com.
The first wine of Mouton, which has not yet been tasted by the majority of the press, contains 94% Cabernet Sauvigon, a good deal higher than the normal Mouton blend, which contains up to 18% Merlot.
‘The Cabernet was of such high quality it was difficult for the Merlot to compete,’ Dhalluin said.
His satisfaction with the Cabernet is echoed by winemakers across Bordeaux, and they are also delighted with the Cabernet Franc – Anthony Barton at Leoville Barton was particularly taken with its ‘class and elegance and lovely red fruit flavours’.
The Merlot however has not been so easy. It is ‘the only shortcoming of the 2010 vintage,’ according to Bordeaux University’s annual vintage report, the vines affected by a variety of early fruiting problems and producing a very small crop.
Decanter's consultant editor Steven Spurrier, who so far has tasted Sauternes and Barsac as well as a variety of Bordeaux Superior and Cru Bourgeois in the Medoc and Haut Medoc, said at this early stage he would describe the vintage as ‘classic’.
‘While the 2009s were exuberant and rich, the 2010 is expressive and firm. There is no problem with alcohol and the ripeness takes away any leanness in the wines. I didn’t sense the tannins at all.’
Have your say!
Christopher Lopez
April 09 07:02
My first time commenting here at Decanter and I must say in response to Geoff Roberts that the 2010's are fabulous! I recently attended a tasting in LA and was blown away by the quality as a whole at all price levels. I am usually wary about the hype machine but here it is warranted. The average retail price of wines at the tasting was around $25 USD. I will see if I can find my notes and post some of the wines I was most impressed with.
Geoff Roberts
April 06 19:56
The VAST majority even of Decanter readers will never be able to afford these overhyped wines and of course the better the vintage the less likely I can afford any of the top wines. What a surprise that yet again we have a superb vintage!
I would much rather read pages about stuff us mere mortals can afford than this marketing hype that only serves the Premier Grand Cru vignerons and Russian/Chinese oligarchs.
D. Rowan
April 06 08:37
M Yew: The problem is it's too early to say for sure how the vintage will develop, but the Bordelais need no excuse to ride a wave of hype. Only Bordeaux relies on a mass tasting and critics' reviews at such an early stage in its wines' development. Other regions take a more measured approach.
M Yew
April 06 04:38
I think having 2 Classic vintages next to each other is great and worthy of writing history. A lot of people don't seem so happy about this and i really don't understand why!?