1998 Branaire-Ducru
France
Saint Julien
Bordeaux
Red
72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Merlot, 3.5% Cabernet Franc, 2.5% Petit Verdot (2024 vintage)
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2018 - 2035
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As of mid-July, 2000 was shaping up as one of the worst vintages of the last hundred years, director Philippe Dhalluin told me at the end of March. But then came a near-miraculous second half of the growing season, and the fruit finally ripened: Branaire harvested late, beginning the merlot on September 25 and finishing up the cabernet on October 10, just before persistent rains began. Dhalluin describes the 2000 as more opulent at the outset than this estate superb '96, but notes that the earlier vintage may be more elegant and classic. Still, he says, the 2000 shows a sappy freshness to go along with its big tannins. Incidentally, Dhalluin convinced me that the key to Branaire's characteristic chocolatey quality is not its merlot, but rather a parcel of old cabernet vines planted on late-ripening chalk and red clay soil in St. Laurent, a few kilometers west of the chateau. "This fruit always adds an exotic aspect to our wine," said Dhalluin. "If we vinified it by itself, we could make a very interesting vin de garage." We then both agreed that that would be a bad move for a major Medoc chateau.
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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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