My Article: Final Report on 2010 Bordeaux Futures

I just reviewed all my 2010 Bordeaux barrel tasting notes again in both English and French, and I have to shake my head, almost in disbelief. Bordeaux really has pulled off a back-to-back classic vintage with 2010. The 2010 and 2009 are great years for Bordeaux.

The 2010 vintage IS an exceptional year for red, and harks back to such great years as 2000, 1990, 1986, 1961, and may be even 1929, but the wines are made with much more precision in the vineyard and cellar giving them a more polished character than historic vintages. The young wines have such beauty in a toned and muscular way. The reds’ tannins are layered and caressing. Their acidities are strong and creamy. These are wines built for aging, but they also impress you when they are young. I really enjoyed tasting almost 700 samples from barrel in late March in Bordeaux.

The top dry whites of Bordeaux are absolutely mind-blowing. I can’t think of a better vintage in my 28 years of tasting barrel samples in Bordeaux. They are so dense and intense in fruit, yet bright, aromatic and fresh, that they come across incredibly balance and enticing when you taste them. Don’t miss out on buying some.

Sauternes is very good in 2010, but not outstanding. I prefer the vintages of 2009, 2007, 2005, 2003, and 2001. The sticky wine of the vintage is Rieussec, which shows incredible intensity of spicy, botrytis and dried fruits. I even slightly preferred it to the legendary d’Yquem.

A lot of factors contributed to the greatness of 2010 for Bordeaux. The wet winter helped the vines continue growing during the dry summer, which was one of the driest in memory. The cool nights helped maintain the acidities and perfumes in the grapes and, therefore, gave this quality to the wines. The grape yields were slightly lower and the berries slightly smaller. And grapes were left a little longer on the vine than past top years due to the less extreme weather conditions in August and September. It all added up to gorgeous ripe grapes with bright acidities, ripe fruit and creamy tannins.

There’s little use in talking about winemaking. The Bordelais are some of the best winemakers in the world. And the more prestigious names made incredible sacrifices to make the best wines in 2010. Some succeeded and others didn’t. But the effort was made. Many lesser estates in Bordeaux are following, but it’s difficult for those who do not have the economic means (i.e. high enough selling prices) to make such right sacrifices in their vineyards and cellars.

Some critics of 2010 believe that winemakers, especially those on the Right Bank, overdid their macerations after the fermentations. They say the wines were “over extracted.” But I can’t say I found this in 2010. Perhaps the fresh acidities balanced this out and critics were misinterpreting the tannins for the new barrels for aging. In any case, I think in nearly all instances the slightly “New World” styles of Bordeaux in 2010 will be mitigated with the maturation process in the cellar.

My two favorite wine districts in 2010 were St. Emilion and Margaux. I think that they both did better in 2010 than 2009 overall. The Cabernet Franc was exceptional in St. Emilion and the Cabernet Sauvignon fabulous in Margaux. The latter is clearly a case of 1983 being better than 1982. In other words, 2010 is better than 2009 for Margaux.

Interestingly, my top wines from nearly three weeks of barrel tasting in Bordeaux were from all the key appellations. Of course, you would expect first growths such as Haut-Brion (white), Lafite-Rothschild, Margaux, and Petrus to impress me enough in such a great year to receive tentative 100-point scores, but Vieux-Château-Certan was also perfect. It is the big surprise of the vintage for me. What a compelling young red with fabulous complexity and awakening intensity.

I found five other wines to be possible perfect reds, or 99-100: Cheval Blanc, Ducru-Beaucaillou, Lafleur, Mouton-Rothschild, and Domaine de Chevalier Blanc. Ducru perhaps made its greatest wine ever with a massive red that was incredibly agile and fresh. The DC white might also be a “best ever;” absolutely stunning with the power, richness, and brightness of a great Montrachet.

This all written, nobody has to only focus on the high-scoring wines of 2010. So many excellent reds and whites will be available to buy. I found hundreds of the more than 650 wines I tasted to be of outstanding quality, and many are going to be very affordable, especially compared to the big names. I think that many wonderful wines in the $20 to $50 range will be available from 2010 when they are finally bottled and brought to market.

I didn’t speak about price to most people during my trip to Bordeaux because I wanted to focus on the quality of the wine, and I didn’t want such conversation to influence my tasting. Moreover, prices for the top wines are still months away from being set. But it has to be said that prices for some young top Bordeaux have become unimaginable. They really have become luxury items. They are out of the reach of most wine lovers. But that’s the market, particularly for the ultra-wealthy wine consumer in Asia. (My Hong Kong Tatler James Suckling Guide to 2010 Bordeaux will be released in June to more than 30,000 reader of Hong Kong Tatler. Stay tuned.)

Nonetheless, it’s still just one part of the global Bordeaux market, and chateau owners should be prudent in not increasing their prices for their 2010s. I hope they haven’t forgotten that their wines still need to be bought and consumed one day.

I hear rumors that some wineries plan to increase their prices 10 to 20 percent more than 2009, but I am sure consumers all over the world will still buy. The global demand for the best wines of Bordeaux is at an unprecedented high level and prices are sure to escalate.

What can you do when you have two great back-to-back vintages like 2010 and 2009? Hell, I am probably going to buy some 2010 futures myself.

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