2015 Bordeaux: Every Bottle Tells a Story...

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | FEBRUARY 26, 2018

Two thousand fifteen has turned out to be a fabulous vintage for Bordeaux. A dry, hot summer followed by late-season rains introduced a degree of variability in some of Bordeaux’s main appellations, but where sites were well positioned to cope with those challenges, the wines are absolutely thrilling.

I was very pleased with my tastings of the 2015s from bottle. So many wines were more convincing than they were from barrel, showing once again that trying to understand the quality and potential of wines that are six months old when they are presented during the en primeur campaign is at best an inexact science. Specifically, I was impressed by how much freshness and structure the 2015s show today. Although 2015 is not an across the board success (for reasons I will discuss below), the best wines are truly phenomenal.

In particular, 2015 is a superb vintage for Margaux and Saint-Julien. Pauillac and Pessac-Léognan aren’t too far behind. Things get quite a bit more variable in Saint-Estèphe and the Northern Médoc, where late-season rains just before harvest created problems. On the Right Bank, older vineyards and moisture-retentive terrains did best. Sites with a good deal of Cabernet Franc, which copes better with heat than Merlot, had a natural advantage. The dry whites are often excellent, while the sweet wines are a notch or two above that.

It is tempting to compare 2015 with 2009 and 2010, the last two very high quality vintages in Bordeaux. In my opinion, the 2015s aren’t as flamboyant as the 2009s nor do they have the combination of elevated ripeness and structure of the 2010s, even if many 2015s do have alcohols that tip the scales in the 14.5% range. The finest 2015s are wonderfully sensual, exotic wines that should drink well relatively early and also reward aging.

New fermentation vats at Pontet-Canet, Pauillac

The Growing Season

Two thousand fifteen got started with more rain and lower temperatures than historical averages. March through May inverted that tendency and warmer temperatures led to nearly perfect conditions for flowering through early June. By July however, temperatures were higher, and, perhaps more critically, rainfall was much lower than normal. As I toured the vineyards in late July, hydric stress was evident in sites that don’t retain moisture well, on lower slopes and among young vines. An inflection point arrived in August, as rainfall was once again higher than normal, while temperatures dropped to below average, where they would stay through the end of harvest.