The F-Word: Bordeaux Right Bank 2017

BY NEAL MARTIN | MAY 1, 2018

Pomerol

1)   Frost differentiated the “haves” and “have nots” in Pomerol, that is to say, those on the gravel plateau and those in the lower reaches that tended to be more impacted by frost.

2)   On the plateau there is a cluster of excellent Pomerols, not as concentrated or as complex as in 2016 but in one or two cases not far off. Away from the plateau there are instances of under-ripeness and attenuated finishes.

3)   Many samples developed during March and April, suggesting continued improvement throughout barrel maturation.

Pomerol can suffer severe damage if bitten by a late spring frost. In 1956, its vineyards were decimated en masse, even the likes of Petrus and Lafleur. It prompted then proprietor Mme. Loubat to confess that “life had slipped away” as she morosely surveyed her blackened vines, then pulled herself together and cut the surviving vines down to a nub in the hope that they would regenerate instead of pulling them up, as many did elsewhere. It worked. The frost in 2017 did not inflict as much damage as 1956 or in 1991. Why? Well, partly because of the efforts made to increase temperatures on the gravel plateau. Read the passage by Edouard Moueix to see how a combined effort managed to limit damage though, not everyone was spared. Eric Monnoret mailed me almost a year ago with a simple message: “2017 will be dramatically shorter: 100% frost!” He probably fell victim to the fact that the heavier cold mass of air naturally slipped down to Pomerol’s lower reaches on the southern and western flank, populated by lesser-known growths and less propitious terroir. It helps explain the duality of Pomerol,  success governed by whether your vines are located on the plateau or not. Those in lesser terroirs clearly suffered whilst the famous names enjoyed an excellent harvest, if not what I would regard as an exceptional one. 

“Our vineyards in Saint-Émilion did not get hit by frost and we did not put any protection in place,” Edouard Moueix told me at their offices in Libourne. “Even in 1956 the vines survived. In Pomerol we had three ways of fighting frost: the candles that we placed on around half the vines on the plateau, wind machines in the northern part of the plateau and then we had a big turbine with a rotating head that was installed at Trotanoy that protect one hectare. Along with Petrus and L’Eglise-Clinet we protected the entire plateau. There is one vineyard where we lost two parcels and that was Lafleur-Gazin. The biggest challenge was the drought during the summer. July and August were very dry so we had to limit the crop in order to control the cycle. The drought helped us in September [when it rained] as the acidities were still quite high and since the berries were not very big, the clusters were loose. So when the rains arrived we did not have so much problem with botrytis. The skins were still quite tight, we did not have a problem of split skins and botrytis was not a problem. We started picking on 8 September with the younger vines on the gravel soils and finished on 30 September as we were waiting for the parcels to reach the right level of phenolic maturity. We used optical sorting for all our wines [this was introduced back in 2009]. We kept the temperature at 26° Celsius during fermentation which is quite cool and drained the tanks after 21 days. The idea was to extract the beautiful tannin in the skins but not the seeds, some of which were not fully mature, as in 2016. Alcohol was not a problem coming in at 13° to 13.5°. As for the general style...I think it will be a vin de garde. The tannic structure and acidity is quite present. There is a lot of freshness. I don’t think we will be in front of 2012 in terms of approachability and the 2017s will have to be kept longer. Perhaps it could be a modern take of the 1988s as the wines have less flesh?” I pushed Moueix to single out some 2017s that have really piqued his interest. “There are three wines that interest me,” he answers. “Bélair-Monange, because now we understand the heart of the wine. The identity of the wine can be seen. Then there is Hosanna. It is a little less opulent. There is a parcel that we pulled out and a new parcel that is more rigorous, whereas before it was younger vines. For me the real success is La Fleur-Pétrus where there are a number of layers.”

Usually I agree with Edouard Moueix although, I was a little more smitten by Trotanoy. He remarked that for him it was a bit “obvious”, to which I replied: “Well, that’s a good thing in my book.” Yes, the La Fleur-Pétrus is a serious wine and actually showed more intensity when I revisited the sample in London a few days later. But the two most exciting wines for me are Hosanna, which is so much more sophisticated and more intellectual than when they first incepted the cru, and yes, Bélair-Monange that appears to be improving year upon year. Not everything appealed. I am a big fan of Certan-de-May but I still cannot work out why it seems to have gone off the boil in recent vintages. There is some overdue building work at the winery that is finally being expanded and so hopefully this will set in place for wines that replicate their strong patch in the mid-noughties. 

At Château Clinet I was joined by Monique, Ronan Laborde’s “better half” whilst in the adjoining room, a vociferous Chinese gentleman raved not about Clinet, but their wine from Tokaji, Château Pajzos. Ignoring the noise, it was heads down to examine the latest release. “We were a little touched by the frost,” Monique Laborde told me, “but some of the affected vines don’t go into the Grand Vin anyway. In the end we are around 15% down compared to last year because the flowering was very good, especially the old vines around the church. So the final yield was not too bad.” One other subtle change here is the use of larger 500-litre barrels for around one-quarter of the crop. I find it perplexing that given the large volume of many Bordeaux estates, few have really experimented with alternative-sized barrels, whether cigar-shaped or demi-muids or Stockinger foudres. Not that I anticipate or wish a funeral pyre of traditional barriques, but I just would have expected to see a little more variety by 2017 as a means of controlling the influence of wood onto the wine. Whilst the introduction of new barrels here does not prescribe a superior wine, it just gives them another option in the winery. With respect to the 2017, incidentally raised in 72% new oak, we are looking at a more “athletic” Clinet, the alcohol dialed down a whole degree from the 2016, nicely detailed with a linear and structured finish that is less opulent than recent vintages, yet I feel it successfully translates the style of the vintage in Pomerol. Clinet often puts on more weight during its élevage and so I look forward to re-tasting this once in bottle.

At La Conseillante, I was standing on the upper gallery of the vat-room with Valmy Nicolas, looking down on what looked like 90% of en primeur attendees crammed inside. “Yours is the only place where you can get a free lunch on the Right Bank,” I informed. “So everyone plans their own itinerary, the only thing in common, La Conseillante at lunchtime.” I include myself in that number. A man has to eat and you might as well eat with large formats of La Conseillante flying around (though I don’t partake – I just drink water at lunchtimes. I just need victuals to keep me going). The hubbub below is indicative of a château whose profile has raised considerably in recent years, not least thanks to the ambitious Nicolas but also winemaker Marielle Cazaux, who joined in 2015. We chatted together a few days earlier when it was peace and quiet. I began by enquiring about the “f-word”. “We had a little frost on the border of the vines, around 15% of the vineyard,” she revealed. “On the plateau we were not affected as we fought with valerian the day before, and during the night we used candles and then a helicopter to mix the warmest air with the cooler air underneath. It increased the temperature by 2° Celsius. We used it for around 90 minutes around sunrise, the coldest time of the day. We had flowering at the end of May and véraison around 25 July. It was a dry season but not as warm as 2016 since July was slightly cooler. The biggest difference was September. On 9 September there was 30mm of rain but we started picking the Merlot from 5 September. The Merlot on clay was not completely ripe, so the harvest was postponed until 14 September to make it a little drier. We then picked until 22 September for the Merlot while the Cabernet Franc was picked on 29 September. We used a density machine [Tribaie] during sorting that was quite efficient. We picked four barrels of second-generation fruit and we wondered what we can do. We de-stemmed it and put it directly into barrel however it is too dilute so we will sell it in bulk. For the Grand Vin, the wine is concentrated and has sufficient fruit to mature the wine in 70% new oak. The malolactics were quick since we do not use SO2 and so this oak is already nicely integrated.”