1931 d’Yquem

BY NEAL MARTIN | MARCH 30, 2020

Perusing Michael Broadbent’s indispensable Vintage Wine tome, I marvel how he tasted multiple Bordeaux wines from practically every growing season since the early 19th century. Inspired by the late author, a couple of years ago I set myself the task of tasting a Bordeaux wine from every vintage in the 20th century. I’m not far off; just five short, and they are predictably poor prewar vintages that are hardly ever seen, namely 1901, 1903, 1910, 1915 and 1932. One that I thought I would never taste is 1931. There might have been a legendary Port at Quinta do Noval that year, but Bordeaux suffered a run of miserable growing seasons between 1930 and 1933. Quoting Yquem’s official and, I must say, extremely informative website apropos of 1931: “A year with fairly regular weather until late June, but that went off the rails from July to September, with heavy rains and glacially cold temperatures, vine diseases, and even hail on the 6th of August. The rain stopped on the 18th of September, but only a barrel’s worth of wine managed to reach 20° potential alcohol. Not a success, despite 39 days of intense work.” Not exactly positive, is it?