A Century of Bordeaux: The Threes 

BY NEAL MARTIN | AUGUST 08, 2023

“Three is the magic number.”

So rapped De La Soul in their inimitable style back in summer 1989 as they doused hip-hop in D.A.I.S.Y.-age psychedelia, their catchphrase now tinged with melancholy since three rappers became two. Three is a number loaded with significance and symbolism. The Holy Trinity in Christianity, The three Jewels of Buddhism and the Celtic triad in Celtic. Time is divided into the past, present and future. There are three dimensions…a few more after too much vino. Many things come in threes: Musketeers, Brontë sisters, Bacon triptychs, Amigos, MacBeth witches, pyramids at Giza, Roman graces and Greek harpies. De La Soul aside, three is a perfect formation for a band: Nirvana, Bee Gees, Motörhead, Beastie Boys, The Three Degrees, and to make Antonio happy, yes, Rush. Now there’s an eclectic playlist for you.

When it comes to Bordeaux vintages ending in the magic number, well, it gets a bit dicey. While some deserve their halo: 1953 and, to a marginally less extent 1983, are not just ordinary but deserve spanking with a wet plimsoll for foisting awful wines upon oenophiles. It’s a rum lot: 1933 (terrible), 1963 (the pits), 1973 (meh) and their modern-day equivalent, 2013 (no thanks). Even those lauded upon reception, such as 2003, are divisive, and, as I shall explain later, its reputation has been questioned in recent years. Looking at vintages ending in three overall, I notice a proclivity for either excessively hot vintages, some infamous like the aforementioned 2003, but also in lesser-known ones like 1923 and 1933 that would have forced vines to shut down. Or they are very wet seasons like 1963 and 2013. One hopes that the inchoate 2023 will find some kind of middle ground. So far, so good.

As tradition dictates, instead of revisiting a Bordeaux vintage ten years on, a useful juncture to see how its alumni are progressing, I embrace all wines with significant birthdays back an entire century. No doubt, Vinous readers are hankering for an update on the 1923s. If you want to read the minutiae of each growing season, you can read my recently published “The Complete Bordeaux Vintage Guide 1870-2020”. That said, my book is already rendered incomplete thanks to the bevy of wines in this article all tasted after the deadline, so you ostensibly have a heads up for the expanded edition.

I will leave readers to peruse individual tasting notes and summarize vintages one-by-one from youngest to oldest.

2013 – This is the most recent vintage where even the Bordelais, primed to rhapsodize ad nauseum, could not crank out euphemisms during the primeur campaign. The best they mustered was claiming that the wines were not vegetal thanks to a sunny July, a brief respite during an otherwise sodden summer. In fact, were it not for a return of inclement conditions slap-bang in the middle of picking, it could have potentially been a half-decent vintage.

But it did.

After ten years, it is true that tasting through over 50 wines at Bordeaux Index’s annual 10-Year On tasting, vegetal and underripe wines are few and far between. Yet unequivocally, most lack structure and complexity, feeble and uninteresting, like meeting a boring person at a party and being unable to extricate yourself from a dull conversation about interest rates. Nevertheless, some of 2013’s better wines serve as easy-drinking clarets. The problem is that by this time, the Bordelais were ratcheting up prices year-on-year by rote, so whereas the 2013s could and should have been heavily discounted, they were not the bargains that would have shifted units. Even the best will not mature into anything interesting, and nearly all should be drunk in the near future…if there is no alternative. It’s not a catastrophic growing season in the mold of 1977 or 1992 because technology allowed them to salvage unspoiled fruit. It’s just a vintage that can be described in a three-letter word…meh.

But hold the press! There is one exception: Sauternes. I know, I know. What’s the point? You love ‘em but rarely buy ‘em. I specifically requested châteaux to send samples of their 2013 for a quick horizontal during primeur and found many pleasant surprises. No powerful or mind-bogglingly complex Sauternes, yet they are imbued with purity and elegance. Given market prices, these are in a fine spot at the moment and are worth seeking out.