2014 Bordeaux: It Ain't Over Till It’s Over

After a series of lackluster vintages, Bordeaux comes through with shining colors. The best 2014s offer exquisite aromatics, finely sculpted fruit and polished, silky tannins, all signatures of a late-ripening year. There is little doubt 2014 is the finest Bordeaux vintage since 2010. Over the next week or so we will present our coverage of new releases, followed by a selection of Vintage Highlights and Les Découvertes - Under the Radar Gems and Sleepers.

Plowing by horse, Lafleur, Pomerol

The 2014 Growing Season

After a brutal 2011, 2012 and 2013, château owners were hoping to a return of the glory days of 2009 and 2010. The growing season started with an unseasonably warm yet rainy winter that restored hydric deficits in vineyards but also caused some delay in getting into the fields. Budbreak was first seen in late March, a week to ten days early relative to long-term historical averages. Cool weather at the beginning of May delayed the timing of flowering from initial projections. Heavy rain and hail in some spots, notably in St. Estèphe and Pauillac, were also an issue at the end of the month. A warm start of June was a big positive for flowering, which at most properties was quite even, especially for Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and later-maturing Merlots. At this point, the vines had largely made up for their early start and timing was closer to normal parameters.

Budbreak, Pavie Macquin, St. Emilion

The end of June and July saw above average rainfall, which among other things encouraged vegetative growth at a time when it is generally accepted that a plant's resources are ideally spent ripening fruit (through lack of water) than growing the canopy. Veraison, the period where grapes change from green to black, started towards the end of July, but then came to a halt because the plants were not stressed enough. That in turn led to a condition in which bunches, sometimes on the exact same plant, presented very different stages of maturation. Diligent producers were forced to intervene and drop all of the green bunches in order to eliminate under-ripe fruit that would have been practically impossible to identify once the grapes changed color. Temperatures dropped to well below average in August, the most critical period for ripening, while mildew pressure grew in the vineyards, requiring considerable attention. The vines finally completed veraison towards the end of August, but things weren't looking particularly promising. 

Then, something unexpected happened. A blast of unseasonably warm weather hit Bordeaux. It was one of the hottest Septembers on record, drawing comparisons with years such as 1961 and 1921. The Indian summer stretched into October, with dry sunny conditions interrupted by only brief spells of rain. The dry heat concentrated the grapes and took the plants all the way through to full ripeness while maintaining good levels of acidity. Because days are shorter and light more gentle in September than in August, ripening was slow and gradual, leading up to harvest that at most properties took place between mid-September and mid-October.

Smith Haut Lafitte, Pessac-Léognan