Bordeaux '08: Far Better Than Expected

Make no mistake about it: the ’08 wines from both the Left and Right Banks are better than anything made here in ’02, ’03, ’04 or ’07—and many of the best wines are as good as, or superior to, the ’06s as well. The wines have remarkably deep colors (indeed, these are some of the most deeply colored Bordeaux I can remember at a similar stage of development), high but harmonious acids, and, on the whole, smooth tannins and good overall balance. Though they are not powerful, blockbuster wines, they have lithe, refined structures and lovely purity of flavor. In fact, I would describe them as classic Bordeaux, and I don’t use that term to imply a lack of sweetness or flesh, as some critics do. And there’s more good news: en primeur prices for the ’08s have been cut by roughly 25% to 40% from the over-inflated, unrealistic levels of ’06 and ’07.

Growing season blues, harvest smiles. Anyone you asked about the growing season had a horror story to tell. Charles Chevalier, the talented technical director at Lafite-Rothschild, told me that tasting grapes in late August and early September was disheartening, as the fruit seemed to have no flavor whatsoever. Jean-Hubert Delon of Léoville-Las Cases felt that had it rained one more week in September, the vintage might well have gone down as one of the worst of all time. In fact, Jacques Guinaudeau of Lafleur joked that it had been an “English summer” (meaning wet and cool) but feels that his wine will ultimately turn out to be a classic, reminding him of his very successful 1988. Patrick Maroteaux of Branaire-Ducru said ’08 was “a viticultural year rather than an enological one,” with the ultimate success of the wines dependent on the work done in the vineyards”—words echoed by many of his colleagues. Christian Moueix summed it up: “Two thousand eight was a vintage of paradoxes. We were all so worried about the weather we didn’t recognize the quality that was there in our grapes. In fact, it was the wine writers who told us, hey, you know, these are actually pretty good wines you have here.”

It is generally admitted that in ’08, an exceptionally long and dry harvest rescued the show. In fact, harvest dates were crucial to making fine wine, but only part of the story. Cool but dry weather from mid-September through October permitted those estates that waited the longest to harvest to make potentially the best wines, as the long, slow, late-ripening season allowed extended hang time, better site-specific expression and real aromatic complexity. And for those who live by and love terroir, there have been few other years in which superior terroir really did make a such a difference in wine quality. There is no doubt in my mind that, with few exceptions, those estates blessed with the best terroir, all other things being equal, made the best wines.

After a relatively mild winter, March and April were cold and rainy, resulting in a later than average budbreak, and the flowering of the merlots was hampered by untimely rains (the later-flowering cabernets generally did very well). The result was a poor fruit set for merlot, which significantly cut yields from the outset. The cold and wet spring also led to mildew pressure and triggered other vine diseases. Springtime frost and hail in May compounded problems and reduced yields further. In fact, Jean-Guillaume Prats of Cos d’Estournel told me that yields for Cos were the lowest since 1991. Debudding, leaf thinning immediately after the flowering (to allow grapes better exposure to the sun), green harvesting, and even aeration of the soil during the previous autumn and winter to improve natural drainage and prevent compacting were all-important in guaranteeing healthier, more concentrated grapes at harvest time.