We have returned from an exhausting month in France where we selflessly and tirelessly tasted recent vintages in Bordeaux, Bergerac, the Southern Rhône and the Languedoc on behalf of our wine club members. As that great philosopher Mel Brooks would say – “Work, work, work!”
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Your tireless taster with Sebastien Palon
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Before commenting on the recent vintages, I want to point out that there is no longer any such thing as a universally bad year. Clearly it is easier to make very good wine when growing conditions have been close to ideal, but modern vignerons have the knowledge, skill and equipment to mitigate much of the nastiness that nature throws at them. Volumes and blends, where permitted, will change but excellent wines will be made in even the most difficult years.
2011 was the third superb vintage in a row for the southern Rhône and the Languedoc regions due to excellent growing conditions and fully ripe grapes at harvest time. The Châteauneuf du Pape we sampled at Domaine Roger Sabon and Vignobles Mousset-Barrot were simply divine as were the Vacqueyras and Gigondas at Domaine Palon. However, 2011 proved to be a much greater challenge in Bordeaux, Champagne, Burgundy and Bergerac where a hot spring was followed by a cool, damp summer that seriously delayed ripening and promoted vineyard problems such as mildew and rot. The warm autumn saved the day for many vignerons, but harvest timing and vigorous grape selection were necessary to produce good wine.
2012 was a really tough growing year all over France with, once again, the exceptions being the southern Rhône and most of the Languedoc (the wines we tasted from these regions were delicious). Elsewhere, everything that could go wrong did! Rain, frost, hail, mildew, severe heat, you name it, they got it. The only things missing were pestilence, war and vermin. This required an enormous amount of work in the vineyards and, paradoxically, severe pruning to concentrate the juices in what grapes remained. Fortunately another warm late summer and fall saved the day for those who assiduously tended their vines. Very good reds were made in much of Burgundy and Champagne produced some very good wines, but in both cases yields were very low, off by as much as forty percent from normal years.
2013 – Don’t believe all the grotesque things you’ve heard about this vintage; it really isn’t all that bad. The rain France experienced during the winter and spring did much to replenish the soil with water which helped the vines withstand the hot spell during July. However, the damp, cool spring did delay flowering and promote excessive coulure (a process whereby the very young grapes fall off the vine), particularly in the Grenache. The former ultimately helped to delay the harvest and the latter to severely reduce the yield of Grenache, the mainstay grape in much of southern France. And then came the monstrous July hail attacks that decimated the vines in Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. This not only impacted the 2013 vintage (anticipated yields reduced by twenty to eighty percent) but will carry over to 2014 because many of the tiny shoots that would have been the grape clusters next year were ripped off the vines.
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A happy Patrick Chabrier
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Fortunately, once again the fall growing and maturing conditions in the south were almost ideal which allowed the vignerons to harvest in the cool of the late autumn nights. It is anticipated that the white wines from this area will be stellar (Patrick Chabrier was a very happy man during harvest) and the reds will be fine, although the percentage of Grenache in the final blends will undoubtedly be reduced.
Coming next from Arthur’s Cellar – Domaine Roger Sabon
It’s that time again! We soon will be featuring the glorious 2012 Rhone By Roger Sabon and Lirac By Roger Sabon as well as the four 2011 Châteauneuf du Pape (all rated in the 90s by Robert M. Parker, Jr.) from Domaine Roger Sabon. Wines from the Southern Rhône don’t get much better than this.
Cheers!
Jim and Hélène
jaswalker@arthursellers.com
www.arthursellers.com
www.ofrance.ca
