Finally: Bordeaux 2015 In Bottle

BY NEAL MARTIN | JULY 09, 2019 

Finally, finally, I present my notes on 2015 Bordeaux in bottle. Early last year, readers were requesting my two cents on these wines, but I had only just completed my round of tastings prior to boarding HMS Vinous, so rather than repeat the exercise, I opted to wait until the following January for the annual Southwold tasting. Then I could gauge the 2015s with a useful additional year in bottle, as well as examine them blind within their respective peer groups. It turned out to be a fascinating journey through the top wines of the vintage, confirming prior opinions and throwing up more questions – as every blind tasting should.

The Growing Season 

Though 2015 is now regarded as the best since 2010, the growing season was actually quite complicated and certainly no shoo-in. January and February were rainy and replenished the depleted water table; then March was the warmest since 1880. Bud-burst was retarded by low night temperatures, and the vines’ pent-up energy meant that the landscape exploded into green at the beginning of April, some shoots growing up to five inches in a day. However, dry conditions put the brakes on growth; rainfall was 70% and 60% below average in April and May, respectively. Warm temperatures, up to 24°C, brought quick, even flowering. This was followed by a period of strong heat, some 3.2°C above normal, along with record sunlight hours. Eleven consecutive days in excess of 30°C began stressing the vines before the season took a different direction with two violent storms on July 22 and 24. Temperatures remained high in August, but there was much-needed rainfall, clustered in three or four deluges, adding up to 140mm on the Right Bank and 100mm in Pessac-Léognan. Growers found that this evened out véraison, which was completed by August 10, and vines redirected their energy toward bunches instead of foliage.

At harvest time, dry conditions meant there was little risk of rot. The dry whites were picked between August 28 and September 11, the cool nights benefiting the Sauvignon Blanc in particular. But on September 12, the remnants of tropical storm Henry delivered a 48-hour deluge followed by several more days of rain. Normally, depressions barge across the region from west to east; in this case, a warm southerly breeze that descends from the leeward side of the Alps, known as a föhn, steered the storm away from Bordeaux, limiting rain in many appellations to 40mm. Alas, the föhn’s protective influence did not quite extend to Saint-Estèphe, which received 100mm of rain and consequently had a shorter picking window than other appellations. Many properties delayed picking instead of expediting it as they had done in 1999, allowing time for berries to recover from the wet spell and avoiding swelling and potential dilution. The lion’s share of Merlot was picked between September 20 and October 1 during sunny days and cold nights, mostly during the final four days of the month. The Cabernet Franc on the Right Bank and the Cabernet Sauvignon were picked almost simultaneously from October 8 under blue skies and a cooling northerly breeze, and harvest was more or less complete by October 22.

The Wines

At release time, the Bordeaux hype machine went into full swing. I had long thought that three was the magic number, at least according to De La Soul. Clearly they had the wrong information and the magic number had changed to five following the pattern of feted vintages such as 1945, 1995 and 2005. (Let’s not mention the woeful 1965s or the ossified 1975s.) The 2015 vintage was the first since 2010 that châteaux and merchants could get behind, even though (2013s aside) the interim growing seasons have their individual merits. The primeur campaign was successful; everyone was happy. Then 2016 came swaggering along and relegated 2015 to the status of warm-up act. Predictably, the rhetoric was, “You thought 2015s were good? They’re nothing compared to what we’re about to sell.” Consequently, the quality of 2015 was slightly downplayed in order to buff up the newest vintage (not that the latest “vintage of the millennium” needed it). Whatever the pedigree of the 2016 vintage, it has no bearing on the quality of the previous year’s wines, and while comparisons are important, I wanted to assess the 2015s on their own merits.

The Left Bank

Let us begin on the Left Bank. Refreshingly, the Margaux appellation stood out during en primeur and just after bottling. For many years I have bemoaned the lack of consistency and the paucity of star players beyond the Margaux/Palmer/Rauzan-Ségla triumvirate, but in 2015 the entire appellation pulled up its sleeves and got busy producing wines equal to those of Pauillac or Saint-Julien. The two flights of Margaux confirmed the impressive quality of Margaux wines, not only at the top of the pyramid but at all levels. No wine evinces that quality more than the 2015 Château Pouget. Yes, that’s right: Pouget. You know, the Grand Cru Classé fourth growth that you rarely read about. In 2015 Pouget delivered a wine that justifies its inclusion within the 1855 classification. It trumped many of its peers, not just performing well, but audaciously and improbably winning its flight in terms of average scores. Sure, it needed time to fully coalesce, but it eventually manifested gorgeous pure red fruit on the nose and a silky-textured palate that offers everything you seek in a Margaux. Given market prices of around £30 to £40 per bottle, it yet again disproves the theory of unaffordable Bordeaux. The flights highlighted several other keenly priced Margaux crus that are worth hunting down: Boyd-Cantenac, Cantenac-Brown, Dauzac and a rejuvenated Labégorce. All epitomize what Margaux can achieve when it wants to: beautiful and sensual wines that enhance the reputation of the vintage. If you hunger for more traditional claret, then Brane-Cantenac is absolutely divine, though suitable for those who relish just a soupçon of leafiness in their wine. Both Palmer and Château Margaux, the latter in a commemorative bottle in honor of the late Paul Pontallier, are magnificent and among the finest in recent years, though of course you have to pay for the privilege. Maybe the 2015 Pavillon Rouge is a viable alternative; it is clearly one of the finest offerings in recent years and conveys a newfound sense of mineralité. 

Another highlight was, predictably, Saint-Julien, that most dependable of appellations. Saint-Julien is like Sir Ian McKellen, in that it never puts in a bad performance. The 2015 Léoville Las-Cases is as sophisticated as they come, barely able to contain nascent energy that, combined with its sheer mass, should ensure serious longevity. In fact, any 2015 with Léoville as its forename is recommended. Both the voluptuous Poyferré and the more classically trained Barton will provide stiff competition for their 2016 counterparts, and the latter is one of the must-buys of the vintage. A couple of wines seemed to be closing down and showed less well in this blind tasting than you might expect – namely, Gruaud Larose and Lagrange, which are incidentally two of the more inland vineyards, further back from the Gironde. I am certain both will open with a few years in bottle.