1997 Branaire-Ducru
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"We've never seen such high degrees as in '99, when we started picking merlot on September 15 with 14.9% potential alcohol," said director Philippe Dhalluin, who added that the early merlot lacked a bit of flavor and that he preferred the later-picked merlot, even where the berries swelled somewhat as a result of the rains. Still, even the cabernet sugars were a very high 12% to 12.7%. The estate carried out "a good long cuvaison at fairly low temperature," said Dhalluin. The '99, like the '98 and '97, represents roughly a 50% selection. "We used to use about two-thirds," noted Dhalluin, "but today St. Julien is far too competitive not to be more selective."
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In the burst of August heat, Branaire lost some of its cabernet sauvignon to sunburn (this loss of grapes was the equivalent of a green harvest, noted director Philippe Dhalluin), with the result that there is more merlot in the blend-40%, compared to just 22% of total acreage. Dhalluin, like a number of his neighbors in the Medoc, compares 1998 to 1988, adding that Branaire was especially successful in '88. The wines have a rigid aspect, he pointed out, and it was necessary to extract carefully in order to minimize the vintage austere character. Extraction of merlot was thus actually gentler this year than in '97. Barely 50% of the production went into the grand vin in both '98 and '97.
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Branaire began the harvest on September 8, but stopped picking for several days on more than one occasion, ultimately finishing with the petit verdot on October 3. "Great precision was needed to harvest our four varieties," explained director Philippe Dhalluin, "and rigorous selection was essential to making good wine in '97." Branaire went for rather gentle extraction featuring cool fermentation temperatures; Dhalluin compares the resulting wine to the '88, but without the hard tannins of that year. The pH of the '97, says Dhalluin, is actually a bit lower than average here.
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