Bordeaux 2009 Vintage Report

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VINTAGE REPORT, Bordeaux 2009
by Nicola Arcedeckne-Butler MW

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In a decade which has seen an unprecedented number of good to excellent vintages, it is surely appropriate that it should come to a close with a superlative one. 2009 will be one of those vintages whose wines will be gracious in youth and graceful in age, with a luscious edge to the wines providing a weft about which the fruit is woven. As a generalisation, the wines have incredibly high levels of ripe tannins and a superb richness of fruit which will allow them to be drunk both young and old, with both sides of the river being equally successful.

So what has been the making of this paradigm vintage? 2009 saw some very unusual weather patterns across much of the world, with Bordeaux benefitting from an extended Azores high which sat lower and broader than usual, bringing rain and wind to the UK on the fringes of the high and sun to the French Atlantic coast. As a result of the high pressure system sitting lower than normal the prevailing winds came from the west, cooled by the Atlantic, rather than from the hotter South and East as they would have done normally. A fine, dry summer extending pretty well into the middle of October ensured a long growing season with perfect harvest conditions.

Winter was colder than usual, although not unduly severe, and the rainfall was unusually high and regular right through the winter, laying the foundations for the summer. Come Spring, the buds were slow to burst after the winter cold with most not coming out until mid-April, considerably later than usual, but with no frost the vines grew well and rapidly and by and large caught up so that flowering was early and relatively consistent, particularly for the Merlots. Cabernet flowers later and was slightly delayed by rain, but even so they had a consistent flower set and were still ahead of the average, promising a decent sized harvest. June, July and August were hotter than average, with a huge number of sun hours but without the desiccating dog day heat of 2003 and with just 13 days over 30°C – compared with 20 in August 2003. Sporadic light rainfall in July and August ensured that few vines shut down completely, although in drier soils this did happen.

Having had such a splendid summer, the big worry was that the autumn rains would come in early and spoil the fun, and, indeed, they were threatened almost daily as the high pressure system began to weaken. Thankfully they never materialized and ripening carried on uninterrupted as the weather warmed up yet again to the end of September with Bordeaux’s now familiar Indian Summer. This caused sugar levels to rise even higher and, more importantly, allowed the substantial tannins to ripen fully. Some Merlots were brought in during September, with the majority harvested in early October and the Cabernets in mid-October.

An important, if detailed, vintage summary to set the scene for the 2009 vintage, which nevertheless omits some of the more extreme conditions from last summer. Hail, more usually a Burgundian problem, played a major part with repeated swathes coming through the Gironde. Normally very localised, in 2009 massive hail stones tore whole vineyards apart, breaking the wood of the vine and destroying not only the 2009 growth but also severely reducing the 2010 potential. The first major hail storm in May severely damaged the southern part of the Medoc, particularly communes in Margaux, as well as wiping out massive areas of Cognac, Bourg and Blaye. Just the next day, a similar storm moved through the region in the opposite direction, damaging huge areas of the Entre-deux-Mers and parts of St Emilion and its satellites, and there were many producers who were left in the unfortunate position of having no vines left to tend in this extraordinary vintage.

In terms of style, the 2009s have already been compared with 1947, 1970 and 1982, all being hot but not extreme vintages with high sugar levels and fully ripe, broad tannins. The effect of high sugar levels, of course, is high alcohol levels, and much of the fruit was brought in at 13.5% to 15%+ potential alcohol – compare this to the standard level of 12.5% in the 70s for Bordeaux Cru Classé. They are very seductive wines even at this early stage and with their supple tannins and high alcohol will make fine old bones. It is hugely important to note that high alcohol is not in itself a problem unless it makes a wine unbalanced, and with some wines we were astonished when told what the true alcohol levels were because the wines appeared so fresh and balanced.

Acidity levels are by and large good, giving the wines a superb freshness, unlike in 1982 when they were considered too low for the wines to last any length of time. It is worth noting, of course, that the 1982s have aged fabulously even with supposedly low acidity. Despite the naturally high tannin levels in the 2009s there were a surprisingly large amount of properties which sought to extract yet more from their fruit, ending up with wines which we found unbalanced, even bitter – and we will not be buying them. Equally, a small number of châteaux, particularly those with Merlot, picked a little early in September when the rain was forecast, resulting in leaner, less ripe tannins, and these too will not go onto our list. These are, however, in a minority.

With the 2005 vintage still fresh in everyone’s memories, it is inevitable that it is being used as a benchmark for the 2009. We believe that the 2005 was more consistent than the 2009, however there are some flashes of pure brilliance in ‘09 which will outshine the ‘05s for a long time to come. The Left Bank is more consistent, with our favourite communes being St Julien and Pauillac, with Margaux having some notable successes. On the Right Bank there are two styles of Merlot – fresh, pure, red fruited Merlot picked in September and the super-ripe, jammy, black fruited wines picked later in October. It appeared that many of the latter were also over-extracted, so our Pomerol and St Emilion selection are dominated by the fresher style.

2009 was equally successful for both dry and sweet white wines, with the long, hot summer giving a predominance of tropical fruit notes which marry well with the oak – these are wines which will age well if they are given a chance but, rather like the reds, they are desperately approachable already. In the Sauternais, the fruit was beautifully ripe but initially worryingly free from botrytis. Some properties picked a small amount of botrytised grapes in mid September, but the main first pick was around 28th September after heavy rain the previous week sped up the botrytis infection. The bulk of the Sauternes harvest was picked by 9th October as châteaux moved straight into the second and final pickings instead of the more usual pauses between “tries”. The wines are fabulously rich, very sweet but with excellent acidity levels giving them a greater freshness than the Sauternes of 2005 or 2003. Definitely wines for the future.

Any discussion of the 2009 primeur campaign must, inevitably, turn to the state of the market. There is very strong interest from all quarters in the 2009 campaign, from individuals looking for wines to drink to investors with an eye on the long term. Add to this the ‘new’ markets of the East – Russia, China, Korea, etc. – and the potential for some prices to go stratospheric is clear. For now we can only guess at the pricing, however it is likely that they will be closer to the 2005s than the 2008s in price, with first growths aiming for record opening prices yet again. For those of us not in the Eurozone, things are further complicated by the relative strength of the euro against sterling and the dollar which looks unlikely to change significantly in the short term despite the assurances of the pundits to the contrary. Allocations on the top wines are likely to be squeezed as top châteaux play the ‘tranche’ game – releasing a small amount initially to test the water, with subsequent releases at ever increasing prices until the market stops buying.

As ever, the best value wines will come from those châteaux which attract little press comment but produce lovely wines at regular prices, on both Left and Right banks, as well as in some of the outer appellations such as Fronsac and Lalande de Pomerol.

As the wines are released onto the market, we will feature them on our website so please do keep checking back and if you would like to receive our Bordeaux 2009 e-mails announcing new releases, please click here to be added to our e-mail list. To find out what we thought about any of your favourite wines, or hear more about our recent visit to Bordeaux, please do not hesitate to call us on 01353 721 999.

Click here for our Bordeaux 2009 campaign overview