Bordeaux 2009 – a rival to 2005?
The damp and dreary spring of 2009 may have been an uninspiring start to the growing season but there was no April frost leaving the delicate buds unscathed on the vines. Flowering and fruit-set took place in good conditions, providing the right pre-conditions for a good crop of even ripeness.
Hailstorms
Then, in the middle of May, Bordeaux suffered the most extensive hail damage since 1935. Two separate storms hit Margaux, the southern Médoc, Saint-Émilion, Graves, Sauternes, Entre-Deux-Mers, Bourg and Blaye. Overall, around 18-19,000 hectares were damaged. Most of the major appellations were affected, although a few, such as Lalande de Pomerol and Saint-Estèphe, largely escaped. The impact of the hail on reducing the final yield varied between 15-90%. For example, Château Trottevieille reportedly only achieved 50 hectolitres over 13 hectares of vines – or 3.8 hl/ha (vs. around 50 hl/ha in a normal vintage); and Château d’Issan in Margaux lost 50% of their crop.
Warm, dry summer & fine autumn
The summer was warm and sunny, with temperatures from May to October above the average for the last 10 years speeding up the ripening process. However, unlike 2003, there was no real heat wave. While the summer was generally dry, rain came at very convenient intervals to refresh the roots of the vines allowing for continual ripening in most areas.
August and September were exceptionally sunny and dry, with about 80% less rain than average (in the last 30 years). This aridity had the positive impact of concentrating the berries, but some vines on the well-drained gravels of the Left Bank became slightly stressed by a lack of water in August and ripening therefore slowed. Freshening rains in September kept the grape ripening on track, but did not provide too much water, which would have swollen the berries and diluted the concentrated grapes. A good run of relatively cool nights in September preserved acid levels in the final weeks before the harvest.
The white grapes were brought in during ideal conditions, before a few days of very mild showers, which tracked across the region from 15-20th September. The last 10 days of September and the first 10 days of October were dry and temperatures were well above average for the time of year, which concentrated the black grapes further, and this was the period when most of the Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc were harvested. Even ripening and healthy grapes gave growers the potential to bring in an excellent crop of black grapes - if they had managed the vines well during the growing season and picked at the right time.
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Vintage Comparisons
Conditions were similar to the recent benchmark vintage, 2005, but with a wetter start to the growing season and drier conditions during the final ripening. The main red grape harvest was around 5-7 days later than in 2005. Overall, 2009 was not as hot as 2003, nor as dry as 2005.
Jean-Michel Lapalu at Château Liversan, who has been making wine in Bordeaux since the 1970s, said he’d never seen a vintage quite like 2009. There is much friendly debate on the subject, but the general consensus among the oldest, retired winemakers suggests that the closest comparison may actually be 1945 or 1947 - two legendary vintages producing powerful, concentrated wines.
Ken Mackay MW, Bordeaux Buyer
Click here to view our 2009 Bordeaux En Primeur selection.
What the winemakers are saying:
“I have been making wine in Bordeaux since the 1970s and have never seen a year like 2009 and it’s the same for a lot of people of my generation. It was the perfect year for Cabernet Sauvignon.”
Jean-Michel Lapalu, Winemaker Château Liversan
“In 2005 everyone could make a good wine, in 2009 - not so.”
Samuel Mestre, Winemaker Château Roquefort
“With concentration, fruit and volume in the tannins, I think it’s going to be a great year.”
Benjamin Sichel, Winemaker Château d'Angludet
“We had a fine summer and a great harvest, so expectations have gone up and up. There will be some variation though and some people are likely to have had problems with fermenting the wines because of the high alcohol.”
Vincent Cachau, Winemaker Château Bois Pertuis
“I am very happy with the quality. Our 2009 red is even better than our 2005, I think.”
Eric Perrin, Winemaker Château Carbonnieux
Click here to view our 2009 Bordeaux En Primeur selection.
The Wines
Red Wines
Some truly excellent wines have been made in 2009 and overall the reds are more concentrated and deeply coloured, with higher alcohol and tannins than 2005. However, this is also a variable vintage with significant quality differences among producers. Although the growing season offered the potential for harvesting absolutely top-quality grapes, there were a number of pitfalls for growers. Merlot grapes left on the vine too long rapidly climbed towards 15-16% potential alcohol, resulting in a few overly alcoholic, jammy wines, particularly on the Right Bank.
There are also some over-ripe, dried fruit flavours (prune and raisin) in those wines where ripeness was pushed slightly too far and the grapes started to over-mature. Given the warm summer and autumn, the acidity levels are perhaps higher than expected and acid preservation was helped by relatively cool nights and a concentration of the berries by the unusually dry conditions in August and September. Exceptional fruit ripeness and fresh acidity can be a powerful combination but the producers had to judge their harvest dates well to achieve the best balance.
High concentration and high alcohol are hallmarks of the vintage. The tannins are also exceptionally high, but riper and less drying than in other vintages (including 2005). Where growers harvested late, acidity levels can be on the low side but they are generally good (and higher than in other warm years such as 2003 and 1990).
The very dry conditions in August and September had the potential to stress the vines severely, particularly on the well-drained gravels of the Left Bank. Where this happened, photosynthesis and ripening were interrupted, translating into a few of the wines having higher levels of green, herbaceous notes than you would expect from fully ripe grapes. This usually detracts from the ripe purity of the fruit character, rather than adding positive complexity.
Right Bank
•The Right Bank wines are delightfully plush, deep and rich in style, with ripe tannins, moderate to low acidity and relatively high alcohol.
•Saint-Émilion and Lalande-de-Pomerol are generally more consistent than Pomerol (many disappointments), but excellent, exciting wines have been made in all 3 appellations.
•Overall the Right Bank is more variable than the Left Bank - with wines exhibiting under-ripeness (green, leafy notes – plenty of wines with this character in Fronsac, for example); over-ripeness (jammy, prune, raisin notes); and acidity levels that are too low to balance the rich weight of fruit, leading to ‘soupy’, heavy, ponderous wines lacking freshness. The black grape skins were very thick this year and many wineries have over-extracted the tannins from these skins, leading to wines with too many bitter tannins on the palate.
Left Bank
•On the whole, these wines are more successful than the Right Bank. The best are concentrated and have deliciously ripe, soft tannins but the ripeness is more controlled and the wines are generally fresher and elegant in style.
•Saint-Estèphe – a fabulous year for these wines – the most consistent commune on the Left Bank by far and the real star of 2009.
•Pauillac and Saint-Julien – a slightly more mixed bag, but generally very high quality wines with great potential.
•Margaux – the most inconsistent commune on the Left Bank with more failures than successes, although Château Margaux itself is one of the greatest wines of the vintage.
•Haut-Médoc and Médoc - some real successes and there should be fantastic value to be had from these communes. Once again, they vary from hard, over-extracted wines with high levels of bitter tannins to over-ripe wines lacking freshness, dominated by dried fruit notes.
•Pessac-Léognan and Graves - generally a good year where the best wines are fully ripe with a lovely elegance and earthy, mineral complexity.
Dry White Wines
Hailstorms in the Entre Deux Mers and Graves meant that yields were substantially down. The best whites have fresh acidity and are deliciously ripe, powerful wines with their slightly higher than average alcohol levels balanced by a rich weight of fruit. Due to extensive hail damage and the concentration effect of the dry summer, the yields are small and availability is therefore limited.
Sweet White Wines
An excellent and very consistent vintage for Sauternes and Barsac producing rich, concentrated wines with high levels of residual sugar and good acidity. These are more vibrant and focused than the similarly sweet wines of 2003, 2005 and 1990.
The noble rot was excellent this year and developed quickly on very ripe grapes that were already high in sugar. In fact, there was even a concern that the grapes would become too sweet and concentrated and that fermentation would be difficult for the yeast.
The vintage had perfect ripeness followed by perfect concentration of the berries by noble rot – a very unusual combination. The year was also unusual in that most of the harvest was picked in one trie, lasting around 1 week, so the pickers had to work exceptionally long hours to get the grapes harvested in time. It was all over by 21st October when the rains came and the condition of any remaining grapes rapidly deteriorated. Yields were very good for Sauternes (although very modest by dry wine standards, as always).
Click here to view our 2009 Bordeaux En Primeur selection.