Which bordeaux vintages

Not huge, but the best are really that rare breed, the classic claret. Best on the left bank, where the mushy tannins suggest they might be ready to be enjoyed by A handful of long-term jaw-dropping wines, but most are probably best drunk as the prime of youth can distract from that dryness. Wines Bordeaux vintage A tiny harvest, hampered by an irregular flowering and a gray and humid summer, which meant an irregular ripening in grapes that were anything but uniform.

Growers have been focusing on the saving effect of good weather since 9 September. The wines are correct and, in a 21st century context, they are not expensive, but they may not last that long. Wines Bordeaux vintage Extremely varied, great harvest that depended on thinning and extremely careful selection to produce exceptional wines. The hot August was followed by a dangerously humid September, which at times resulted in diluted Merlots and tart Cabernets.

Some good value to find here, and over time the years have gotten better and better, especially on the right bank where it can be over Wines Bordeaux vintage The benevolence of nature coincided with the commercial imperative to have a good vintage in this numerically exceptional vintage. Great consistency and balance. The best wines should last until the second or even third decade. Wines Bordeaux vintage The good potential created almost exclusively by three weeks of sunshine from the end of August was diluted by the rain at harvest time.

A cool, wet start to the growing season initially led to overgrowing. Rather early ripening wines with better potential on the left bank.

Few show room for improvement. Wines Bordeaux vintage The hot and dry summer led to an early harvest of healthy Merlot grapes. The relatively tannic Cabernet Sauvignon was harvested after a week of rain in mid-September. Abundant crop levels, best in Pomerol and Pauillac. Well mature, but the September rains were again a problem for less conscientious producers. Wines Bordeaux vintage Another wet harvest. Previously chosen, the right bank is a better bet than the left one. Bordeaux wines vintage The beginning of the Bordeaux series of misfortunes.

Wines Bordeaux vintage Second consecutive hot year. Very mature and seductive wines at all levels, many exceptional. The vintage character of the velvety texture and the succulent fruit, almost overripe, is one of the easiest to identify and tends to impose itself on any geographical feature.

Some great right bank wines indeed. It is an exceptional year for Haut-Brion. Wines Bordeaux vintage Shadowed since and Big and chewy. Wines Bordeaux vintage Simple, fruity and pleasant but not very exciting. Early ripening. Wines Bordeaux vintage Dense, threatening and fiercely tannic at the beginning.

Some may impress in the end, but they took enormous patience. Wines Bordeaux vintage Wines uniformly beautiful and fragrant, above all but not exclusively from the right bank. Wines Bordeaux vintage Good but less concentrated and opulent than Their lower amount of filling meant that most of them peaked, although it was an exceptional year for Margaux for once. Bordeaux wines: our en primeur verdict Jane Anson's exclusive report on the vintage Bordeaux en primeur wines: What to expect A sneak preview of the wine style and best-performing appellations ahead of Jane Anson's full verdict Anson: Lafleur and the battle against climate change New Bordeaux tasting notes and an interview with Lafleur's estate manager Anson: How the Bordeaux first growths taste now Jane Anson reports on a celebrated vintage three decades on Anson: Tasting the celebrated Sauternes vintage Jane Anson tastes a vaunted sweet wine vintage in Bordeaux at 20 years old Anson: How the Bordeaux first growths taste now Jane Anson reports on a rare tasting of the first growths side-by-side Anson: The brilliance of Pauillac wines How the wines taste now, and why it was a special vintage Top scoring Bordeaux dry whites: Re-tasted in the bottle.

Extremely limited appearance of noble rot. New vintage information, and any revisions of previous vintage drinking suggestions, are made each autumn. Use the chart as a guide only; in every vintage there will be outperforming and underperforming wines. Back to French Vintage Chart The vintage chart and harvest reports provided by the Wine Scholar Guild gives you the ranking for every French wine region and vintage from to today.

Last updated: Jan. Budburst was early, and there was some frost damage in areas set well back from the Gironde on April 13th and May 5th and 6th. Flowering, after the cooler late spring, came as normal from May 20th onwards, though rain during the flowering period caused some irregular fruit set.

After an unsettled early June, late June was fiercely hot; July continued hot and dry, with some welcome heavy rain at the end of the month. August was copybook, with a pulse of heat towards the end, by which time the vines were showing signs of heat stress, though early September warmth was more temperate.

Once again rain came to the rescue between 23rd and 26th September followed by fine weather at the end of the month and into October: a perfect script for Cabernet Sauvignon, and an untroubled harvest was completed in early October.

The style of the wines is dense yet vivacious, with striking structure, intensity, purity and poise: they will age very well. Mildew pressure, however, was intense and unremitting due to saturated soils and high levels of humidity. By mid-June, however, temperatures rose and the sun began to shine; a magnificent summer then ensued.

July, August and September temperatures were all well above the year-average, and September was notably dry and sunny throughout the month. The red wines are generous, vital and richly constituted, with ample tannins and fresh acidity, too; they will age very well. The best dry white wines are rich with tropical fruit characters, but less successful examples are flabby and lack vitality. Summer was very dry, apart from a period of heavy rain at the end of June; July was cloudy and mild, and August cool to begin with, followed by hot and sunny weather later in the month though properties in the Graves were hit by hail at the end of August.

There were more rains in the first part of September, and good harvest weather afterwards, though with rain and rot threatening, the Cabernets were often brought in hastily. April and May were chaotic, but the weather during flowering in early June turned propitious.

After flowering and some further rain, summer became hot and dry; were it not for the wet spring, the almost complete lack of rain in July and August would have caused drought damage. The whites were picked from the beginning of September. In mid-September, welcome heavy rains helped the parched vines to restart their drought-blocked maturation process, and the rest of the month was cool and fine before a little more rain on September 30 th.

Merlots began to be picked in early October, and the Cabernets in mid-October. Little sorting was required. Some dry whites are drought-affected and sinewy, but the Cabernet-based reds are structured, fine and fresh. March and early April saw a combination of warm days and cool nights, then the rest of April and May were very warm and dry, leading to a rapid and precocious flowering. June and July were exceptionally hot and rainless, eventually causing some drought stress. Fortunately, four separate storms in August brought the vines some relief, and an early white-wine harvest began on August 24 th.

Heavy rains came prior to the red wine harvest, in mid-September, followed by sunshine with cool nights. There was more heavy rain over the first weekend of October, but in general, both Merlots and Cabernets were picked in unhurried conditions. It was an excellent harvest for dry whites, which are pure, concentrated and fresh.

The red wines have had a good though not quite great year, the mitigating factors being the drought of high summer and the intermittent rains of the harvest period. The inevitable frost risk was generally averted by further warmth in April. A cool and damp May led to an extended flowering period, but early June heat confirmed the advanced cycle. Finally the weather changed once again at the end of August, and it remained fine thereafter until the end of October.

The overall summer pattern was perfect for dry white wines, which were picked early and which have great freshness and definition.

The record-breaking Indian summer meant that both Cabernets and Merlots could be picked at optimum ripeness. Budburst was late and flowering was late and uneven; heavy storms hit Bordeaux in early June, and there was continual disease pressure.

Fine, warm weather ensued, though the cycle was so late that all the fruit was still on the vines when new storms came at the end of September. A crop of mixed ripeness required extensive sorting. The red wine crop is at best light, charming and for early drinking, at worst thin. White wines show some richness and are the stars of the vintage. Some properties picked before full maturity; sorting essential to remove unripe berries.

Irregular reds, at best elegant, lighter weight with lower alcohol for mid-term cellaring. Deeply colored, fully mature, firmly structured reds requiring long cellaring: a modern classic. Concentrated whites with elevated acidity. Higher sun hours than , , slightly more precipitation. Cabernet excels. Many may merit excellent rating with further bottle aging.

Classic reds with color and structure. Require further time in bottle to reveal themselves. Aromatic, concentrated whites. Optimal maturation, all varieties were successful. Substantial reds with deep color, powerful tannins. Full, flavorful, balanced whites equal to reds: an uncommon result. Only those with sufficient substance will gain with cellaring. Need to eliminate the superscript here. Reds have largely reached their apogee.

Remains a controversial vintage, with strongly divided views as to its intrinsic quality. Harvesting of white grapes started mid-August. Rich, fat whites, some acidified, not for long keeping. Cabernet Sauvignon more successful than Merlot. Other reds were irregular in maturity.

Very well-balanced, aromatic whites benefitted from cooler weather. WSG thanks the following organizations for their support:. Log in. Remember Me. Red: White:. After a mild, dry start to the year, April was wet and a little cooler than normal, followed by a cool May.