There is no doubt that the 2009 Bordeaux vintage was successful from a viticultural standpoint, but the question now turns to its success from a financial perspective. Château owners and negoçiants are pleased to be bringing this vintage to the market in 2010 rather than in the middle of last year's uncertainty, but the pricing and the response of major critics will be key.
I had the chance to review just a handful of the the right bank wines last week at the French Ambassador's residence in London and the standards were generally high. Wines were shown from the members of the Cercle Rive Droite and covered Pomerol, St Emilion and their satelites.
These merlot predominant wines were generally high in alcohol (14%++) and some winemakers talked of several cuves at 16%. The challenge in this vintage for all right bank wines will be explore the finesse and concentration of the Merlot fruit without allowing the obvious presence of alcohol (from the super-ripe grapes) to dominate these wines. As always winemakers will strive for balance whilst refelcting the exuberance of the wines of this crop.
The petits châteaux on show on this occasion were able to achieve this delicate balance and this bodes well for the more illustrious châteaux of the right bank.
On the left bank - we'll see how the vineyard managers have managed to fully ripen the tannic Cabernet Sauvignon and bring out the deep brooding fruit whilst mangaging to find balance with the alcohol....à suivre.
No comments:
Post a Comment