Top Bordeaux 2017 wines in the bottle: Right Bank report

We continue with the Bordeaux 2017 Right Bank wines.

See separate 2017 overviews, with top wines, for St-Emilion 2017 and Pomerol 2017.

See the Left Bank report plus: St-Estèphe, Pauillac, St-Julien, Margaux & Pessac-Léognan

See all Right Bank 2017 in-bottle reviews by score

Bordeaux 2017 vintage conditions on the Right Bank

Early budding was followed by a devastating frost in late April, then a mixed June, an extremely dry July and August, a mixed September and the return of good weather for the final harvest.

That just about sums up the 2017 vintage growing season on the Right Bank, and tells you in one line why you can’t be entirely confident about buying blind.

Merlot in particular suffered from the rains in early September; something that will always impact the Right Bank more than the Left.

But there are some excellent wines out there, and as the Right Bank also tends to complete its final blends later than the Left Bank, you can find clear improvements versus en primeur season. The most usual difference is that press wine is added later over here, which fills out the mid-palate after the en primeur tastings in some cases.

Remember also that, across France, estates have the right to add up to 15% of a neighbouring vintage into their wines.

I’ve been told by numerous winemakers that touches of 2018 have made it in to many of the blends of 2017s during the ageing process. Most wines are tasting better for it.

Comparisons

You’ll find plenty of wines that share character with 2001 and 2011, but Right Bank 2017 also has much in common with the 2007 vintage – which is a better year than was thought at the time, and is providing lots of enjoyable early-to-medium-term drinkers, even if lacking the structure to really go for the long haul.

The dry summer was hugely important to the success of the wines in 2017, because those vines not affected by frost reached good ripeness before the rains of early September.

But the danger in dry years is that the tannins can get too angular, and you can see this in some of the Right Bank wines – particularly because limestone soils are often austere in the early years anyway.

I found there was often more emphasis on frame than filling, and acidities had not always dropped far enough to allow the fruit to shine.

Having said that, alcohols tended to be restrained, usually no more than 14% or occasionally 14.5%, with the few at 15% an exception.

There were plenty of gorgeously balanced wines on display.

When to open

There are many wines in 2017 that are going to give great drinking pleasure. On the whole, you should be thinking of drinking them within the next five to 10 years, because as a whole this is not a vintage that needs long ageing.

Barrel ageing has softened the austerity of many wines from the en primeur tastings, but the austerity has not yet gone away. I expect this savoury, cool fruit character will remain one of the dominant aspects of 2017, as it has done for 2001; but don’t let that necessarily put you off.

If you want to catch these wines when the fruit is at its biggest and brightest, I suggest opening before you turn to the 2015, 2016 and 2018s.

Should I buy?

How you feel about 2017 Bordeaux depends to a certain extent on how optimistic you are feeling about the fine wine market in general.

I gave this vintage a 3.5 star rating at the time of en primeur – a pretty low rating compared to some critics – and I stand by that after the retasting in bottle.

There are some great 2017s but this is not the year to save Bordeaux from the sales slump that is happening worldwide.

I certainly found many wines that have added flesh over the ageing process, and many show balance, soft power and complexity, but there is not enough consistency to call 2017 a great vintage.

The prices asked for the wines almost always make it difficult to recommend buying 2017 over 2015, 2016 or 2018.

Overall

Considering the in-bottle tastings as a whole, I would suggest that if you are looking for value in 2017, head to St Estèphe, and if you are looking for consistency, Pauillac is probably your best bet.

See Jane Anson’s top Right Bank Bordeaux 2017 wines in bottle

The list comprises wines which scored 95 or above.

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