2015 – At the start of summer, temperatures rose all the way up to 41 degrees celsius and the region experienced an extremely hot, dry and sun filled summer. In most areas, the months of May, June and July were some of the hottest on record. By the end of July, most vines had gotten less than 50% of the usual rain, stressing the vine and pushing back veraison. However August ended up becoming one of the wettest August’s ever recorded as it gave almost twice the amount of rain that Bordeaux would usually receive. This may have ruined the vintage for some areas, but for others that had the right kind of terrior, this was exactly what they wanted to produce a stunning vintage. For both Margaux and Pessac-Leognan, condition’s were close to perfect and it is looking like it will be a historical vintage for Pauillac and Sauternes. It was very wet in St Estephe and in St Julien, it will depend on how the Chateaus handled the conditions, based on their terroir.
2014 – After having a few years with near drought conditions, the winter months of 2014 saw Bordeaux replenished, with the highest level of rainfall since 2001, making it one of the wettest winters on record in almost 50 years. A slightly warmer than usual March this lead to early bud burst, which is a good sign for any vintage. Following a sunny/dry April, a cooler and slightly rainy May and then a hot June, many vineyards had issues with rot, odium and mildew. Apart from these few issues, the vintage was looking great until a severe hail storm hit the northern part of the Medoc on June 8th. In July, portions of St Emilion were also hit with hail storms. After a long growing season and good conditions from late September till October, quality was better than expected and quanity was up 10% from the 2013 vintage. With some Chateau’s, the grapes may have not developed the amount of sugar they were hoping for so some wines may be higher in acid than normal.
2013 – A vintage that was saved by today’s technology. 2013 was a bad vintage all over Bordeaux with lots of unripe fruit, which if happened 30 years ago, would have been catastrophic. Yields are very low for the 2013 vintage, with many Chateau’s having at least 25% less wine. Starting off with a cold and wet growing season, late bud break in April, terrible weather conditions returning, Bordeaux needed warm and dry weather by June. This was not the case and was hit by a storm on the 8th of June. Another massiv storm hit on 28th July, which was one of the worst since 1999. A few days later a massive hail storm destroyed Entre Deux Mers and parts of Cotes de Castillon suffered severe damage. August and September were better with sunny and warm conditions returning, but spirits were dampened when another storm hit Bordeaux at the end of September. Merlot yields were tiny in the left bank, meaning most blends were predominantly made up of Cabernet Sauvignon. This usually wouldn’t be so bad, however most of the Cab Sav in 2013 did not achieve ample levels of ripeness.
2012 – A stressful vintage for everyone involved in the vineyards and at the winery’s, 2012 became known as the winemakers vintage. Rains in April, which lead to outbreaks of mildew, and then late and uneven flowering due to a warm May but a cool June, resulted in small, uneven bunches of berries that brought down the quantities and necessitated in serious work in the vineyards and intensive sorting at harvest. In August and September a heat spell and drought stressed the vines, shutting some of them down and pushing back the harvest even further. Thankfully at the end of September and start of October, things started looking up with the combination of cool nights and warm days mixed in with some much needed rain. Unfortunately on the 8th of October, a massive amount of rain fell on the entire Bordeaux region meaning that the grapes all had to be picked as soon as possible, regardless of their ripeness. White Bordeaux’s are showing well, but the sweet wines had a difficult vintage. For the red wines, some producers were quoted as saying the pulp is ripe, the seeds varied in ripeness, but the skins did not ripen. In the Left Bank, there are estates that feel their Merlot turned out better than their Cabernet. 2012 was showing to have lower alcohol in some early reports, but it has the potential to be classic in style.
In wine, there is truth 