|
Bordeaux 2007 Vintage Report
The best red Bordeaux 2007s are ripe, attractive wines with smooth, silky tannins and impressive purity of fruit which will be approachable at a young age. The dry whites, meanwhile, are the best for some years, and Sauternes had its finest vintage since 2001. However, the story of 2007 is a complicated one, finishing with an unexpected twist.
Many in Bordeaux see 2007 as the “comeback vintage” – a year in which all seemed lost until an unusually fine September allowed them to snatch victory from the jaws of abject defeat. There is certainly no doubting the scale of the potential disaster that faced the châteaux towards the end of August, but the degree of eventual success that the late burst of sunshine made possible ultimately depended on location, vineyard work during the growing season and degree of extraction during vinification.
Making wine in Bordeaux is essentially a race to achieve a satisfactory level of ripeness before the autumn rains arrive, but in 2007 winemakers appeared to have lost that battle by late August. This was despite a brilliant start, with the hottest April for a century. May was very wet, but flowering was still very early. From the end of June the weather was cool and wet with lower sunshine hours than usual, slowing the development of the grapes and causing potential problems with rot. As this continued through July, it was necessary to send out teams of vineyard workers to improve exposure to the sun by removing leaves, and to “green harvest” in order to reduce the number of grapes that each vine would have to ripen. Some even performed a “pink harvest”. These are all expensive, labour-intensive tasks, requiring an investment that only the top châteaux can afford. August was dry for the first two weeks, before the rains returned. Then on August 29th, just when all seemed lost, Bordeaux experienced a magnificent late summer, with vineyards bathed in sunshine until the harvest, which finally drew to a close around October 10th. Those that had the resources to carry out the necessary vineyard work, the patience to wait for the grapes to ripen and the self-control to resist the temptation to over-extract tannins made the best wines. The most successful wines in the Médoc are towards the north, centred on Saint-Julien and Pauillac, which benefitted most from the September sun because of the high proportion of laterripening Cabernet Sauvignon in their blends. The best examples have attractive ripe fruit and soft tannins, and will drink early. They show great charm along with some complexity. However, the lack of sun in August robbed them of the concentration that marks out great years, and they seem closest in style to 2002. Further south in Margaux, the wines are more variable, with a noticeable lack of ripe fruit. Meanwhile, on the right bank, Pomerol was particularly consistent, with Merlot achieving good ripeness.
The real highlights of the vintage are amongst the whites, however. Starting with the sweet wines, Sauternes derives its concentration from “noble rot” that forms in September and October, so the fine autumn weather was perfect, and this is indeed a great vintage for these wines – in fact the best since 2001. On the other hand, the dry white wines owe their success to the cool summer, giving them a crisp, refreshing delicacy combined with thrilling intensity.
For our 2007 offer, due to the variability of the vintage, we are recommending a much smaller range than usual. As a result, you can have absolute confidence in the quality of these wines, which represent the very pinnacle of what could be achieved in 2007.
David Round M.W. - Buying Director
Please contact the team should you wish to hear more about the vintage:
Contact The Fine Wine Team
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7232 5440
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7232 5451
Email: The Fine Wine Team |