Bordeaux 2011: The top-rated wines tasted 10 years on

Bordeaux 2011 score

3/5

Last year, I wrote during the incredible 2010 retrospective that it’s easy to forget that Bordeaux doesn’t always taste like this – and here, in the 2011s, we have a return to a more classical style.

Overall, I rate 2011 as a 3/5 vintage.

Scroll down to see the top-scoring Bordeaux 2011 wines

There are some excellent wines, without question – I scored 14 of these Left Bank classifieds at 95pts or higher, which means Outstanding in Decanter terms – but none at the Exceptional level of 98pts or more, and none warranting 100pts, unlike last year’s five, or the four I gave for the 2009s.

My 97pts all went to first growths: Châteaux Haut-Brion, Latour and Mouton Rothschild. I also gave nine estates 94pts, which is always one of my sweet-spot scores as it suggests wines that should be perfect to drink now, and often represent great value.

Reactions during the en primeur tastings for the 2011s, in spring of the following year, seem to have been proved accurate. Neil Sommerfelt MW, then of UK wine merchant Jeroboams (now proprietor of NS Wine Consultancy), described the vintage as ‘mixed, to say the least’, but added, ‘when they are good, they are very good’.

One thing that is always true when checking in on wine at its 10 years old stage is that you want to find out not just whether a wine is good, but whether it is ready to drink and how much longer it will age. Long-ageing vintages are still powerfully structured at the 10-year window, while vintages that should be drunk younger showcase finesse at this point. You’ll find plenty of it here – along with austere tannins and savoury rather than overripe fruit.

Vintage conditions recap

Weather-wise, 2011 kept throwing out new challenges that kept estates seriously on their toes.

It was a year when winter turned straight into summer, with hot and dry temperatures from March to June leading to early budding in March and flowering by mid May, 15 days earlier than average. Latour recorded a 55% water deficit by the end of May.

July was overcast with very little sun, while August was stormy with rainfall of 80mm compared to 17mm in 2010, although by the end of August the culmulative rainfall through the season was 326mm against the 10 year average of 519mm.

Finally, good weather returned in September, with just 25mm of rain on average, allowing most grapes to ripen well and in theory favouring Cabernet Sauvignon.

Isolated stormed further complicated things, with hail that took out large parts of Margaux in late Spring (no coincidence that Issan bought a hail cannon in this vintage) and again Saint Estèphe in September.

All of this meant that, of the five conditions that the Bordeaux school of oenology tracks to judge the success of a vintage, 2011 saw:

• The first and second condition – governing the stages of budding, flowering and fruit set – fully achieved and successful.
• The third condition – where sufficient water stress ensures vine canopy stops growing before colour change of the grapes – was also achieved, although in some cases this went too far, with vine growth entirely shutting down or losing leaf cover due to excessive water stress.
• Condition four and five were more complicated – with ripening and harvest of the reds impacted by location.

Character & drinkability

Savoury fruit and spice are key markers of the character in 2011.

These were not the easiest wines to understand en primeur. On paper, they should have shown signs of a hot, dry year – this was one of the earliest harvests on record, hot and dry conditions from March to June having led to early budding and flowering. A majority of estates saw low yields, great concentration, small berries and a high tannic index.

Despite this, a fresh and cloudy summer, particularly in July, meant that the character of the fruit in many ways resembled cooler vintages such as 2001, 2007 or 2004.

Having re-tasted the wines, I think Thomas Duroux of Château Palmer in Margaux best sums up the reason for this: ‘A cool summer altered the DNA of the wines.’

The two personalities of the 2011 growing season are reunited in one characteristic – alcohol levels tended to stay low, at about 13%-13.5%, due to blockages in vine development because of the early drought, together with cooler summer temperatures. This adds to the sense of the wines’ drinkability today.

See all 78 Bordeaux 2011 tasting notes and scores

Best appellations

The standout appellations in this tasting were St-Julien and Pauillac – helped by the fact that there was no hail in either one – and you will find balanced, fresh and concentrated wines in St-Julien, in particular.

St-Estèphe and Margaux are more difficult due to hail, which, particularly in St-Estèphe, meant many estates had to pick earlier than ideal.

Pricing

After the excesses of 2009 and 2010 pricing, the châteaux had nowhere to go but down, but few went as far as the market wanted.

Malescot-Saint-Exupery for example came down 40% compared to 2010, releasing at €33.60 compared to €60 in 2010 (today you can find it at €42.20 on the Place de Bordeaux).

Rauzan-Ségla came out at €57.60 ex-Bordeaux, down from €84 in 2010, so a drop of just over 30%. Today you can buy a bottle on the Place for €70.

First Growths also came down from the heights of the previous two years – Lafite out at €350 ex-château so not quite half the initial pricing of 2010 (today you can find it from Bordeaux merchants at €540 per bottle).

Overall the reaction was that the chateaux had not gone far enough, and that an opportunity had been missed to reward those who supported the high prices of the previous two years.

As a result, the campaign fizzled. Chris Adams, CEO of Sherry Lehmann’s in New York, for example, reported that he only took 15% of the allocations that he had bought for the 2010 campaign.

Prices today show very little movement from release.

Of the wines that tasted particularly well here, you can find (ex-Bordeaux prices per bottle) Grand-Puy-Lacoste at €42, Gruaud Larose at €64, Gloria at €26, Duhart Milon at €61, Lascombes €55, Mission Haut Brion €220 and Leoville Poyferre €58.

10 standout Bordeaux 2011 wines

• Pichon Baron – an excellent vintage for this wine.
• Calon-Ségur – Denise Gasqueton died during harvest, and one of the memories of that September is of the huge procession to the church from the château under pouring skies.
• Cos d’Estournel – rich, dark and spicy.
• Pontet-Canet – full of character and sappy, mouthwatering fruit.
• Palmer – unusual blend with no Petit Verdot, but a great result.
• Rauzan-Segla – silky and well-balanced.
• Saint-Pierre – concentrated and consistent.
• Leoville-Barton – still young, give more time.
• Gruaud-Larose – will age well from now, excellent quality.
• Issan – a standout wine, one of the best Margaux of the lineup.

10 value Bordeaux 2011 wines

• Beau-Site – Cru Bourgeois in St-Estèphe from the Batailley team.
• Capbern Gasqueton – a real recommendation for value and drinking now.
• La Chapelle de la Mission – strongly recommend, one of the wines of the tasting in terms of opening now.
• Lynch-Moussas – great moment to open this classified Pauillac that is open in style and ready to drink.
• Croix de Beaucaillou – second wine of Ducru Bauaillou and the first year with the Jade Jagger label.
• Phélan Ségur – Excellent St-Estèphe, lighter in style than many vintages here.
• Lascombes – A shot of glamour, and full of pleasure.
• Langoa Barton – Levoille needs a little longer in bottle but Langoa is perfectly ready to go.
• Branaire-Ducru – elegant, classic St-Julien.
• Marquis de Terme – a standout in Margaux.
  

See the top-scoring Bordeaux 2011 wines

Related content

Bordeaux 1990s: the complete guideBordeaux 2020: Release prices and scoresAnson: Bordeaux’s single-variety wines under the spotlight