My Article: First Impressions on 2013 Bordeaux

How bad is 2013 for Bordeaux?

It’s really bad for some wine producers but not so bad for others. Sauternes and dry white wine producers made very good to outstanding quality wines.

I have tasted about 150 wines so far, mostly Right Bank, and I have to say that I have tasted just about everything from outstanding, harmonious red wines to diluted, green and metallic ones. Wineries that weren’t seriously selective in their vineyards or wineries made really terrible wines – some of the worst young wines I have tasted in the last 30 years.

However, I also tasted some delicious wines, even outstanding ones. These were produced by winemakers who were prepared to do just about anything to harvest relatively clean and ripe grapes.

“It certainly was a memorable year,” said Alexander Thienpont, the winemaker of Vieux Chateau Certan and Le Pin. He only made three barrels of the later and VCC was one fourth the normal production or about 1,000 cases. “If we left the vintage to go on its own, it would have been 1963 [one of the worst vintages ever], but it was a year of savoir faire and selection. The 2013 vintage is a success for what we did. It’s a happy surprise. It wasn’t a miracle. It was just a lot of work.”

Indeed, I am amazed when I continue to hear from winemakers in Bordeaux how they worked so hard in the vineyards and cellars. The best chateaux were fine-tuning every minute to try to get the best out of the vines and later wines.

I am happy that so many also emphasized that they did not push their winemakers with such techniques as reverse osmosis or bleeding the vats during fermentation. They were worried about extracting bad character and tannins from the grapes.

This is why the best red wines of the vintages are fresh, silky, and lightly fruity. Some producers compare their wines in weight and texture to Burgundy. In fact, one producer from St. Emilion said his 2013 is like a good Nuits St. Georges while another from Margaux said Chambolle Musigny.

Regardless, the best 2013s will be light wines for early drinking, which isn’t a bad thing. The big question now is price, which has to drop at least 30 percent to 50 percent compared to last year for most of the top names to generate any interest in the market.