Swiss-born Jacky Lorenzetti made his fortune in real estate. In 2006, he branched out into sport – becoming the majority shareholder in Racing 92, a then-struggling Paris rugby team that has, with his significant investment, become one of Europe’s best. Having sold his company (Foncia), he bought his first wine estate in 2008. He and his wife Françoise visited Ch. Lilian Ladouys – a Cru Bourgeois in Saint-Estèphe – and instantly fell in love with it. They acquired Ch. Pédesclaux a year later, then half of Ch. d’Issan in 2013 (which had long been owned by the Cruse family, who retained the other half). In September 2021, Lorenzetti purchased the Fourth Growth Ch. Lafon-Rochet. This property, with its iconic yellow château and labels, is just a stone’s throw from Ch. Lilian Ladouys (where the Lorenzettis live), separated from each other only by the D2 road.  The estate has a long history stretching back to the 16th century, but its modern era began under the Tesseron family (famous for their Cognac), who bought the estate in 1960, and purchased Ch. Pontet Canet in 1975. Although the château’s mustard-yellow shade has rapidly become part of its identity, it was only painted this colour in 2000, with a matching label and capsule re-design, under Michel Tesseron. Basile Tesseron took over in 2007, hiring Jean-Claude Berrouet (of Pétrus) as consultant – the first on the Left Bank to do so. Quality rose significantly under the Tesseron rule, but not to the same extent as Pontet Canet.  In 2022, Emmanuel Cruse and Jacky Lorenzetti formed Vignobles Cruse Lorenzetti – making their ongoing partnership official, with the new company responsible for all four of their properties in Saint-Estèphe and Pauillac. Their first act was to hire Christophe Congé as Managing Director. Bordeaux-born and -bred, Congé isn’t moving far – having spent 24 years at Lafon-Rochet’s neighbour, Ch. Lafite-Rothschild, working as Eric Kohler’s right-hand man, in charge of the winemaking for both the First Growth and Ch. Duhart-Milon, as well as being responsible for the estate’s on-site cooperage.   Tasting through a host of vintages, Lafon-Rochet has a clear style – classical, restrained and linear, very typical Saint-Estèphe, although there’s none of the rusticity of yore in recent vintages. In warm vintages like 2009, its clay subsoils keep the vines’ roots cool – adding a depth of fruit and plushness to the mid-palate, while cooler years like the superb 2014 are sleek and perfumed. For such a modest estate, the wines age beautifully – with the 1996 fully resolved yet vibrant and hard to resist.  The 2021s were made by the Tesserons, but Congé blended the wines and the just-released 2022 was his first full vintage at the helm – and it’s an impressive début. Given the hot, dry conditions of the year, Saint-Estèphe thrived – and Lafon-Rochet offers surprising freshness, with a linear mouthful of crunchy and pure cassis fruit.  There has already been a focus on sustainability here – with the vineyards farmed organically since 2021 (and certification set for 2024), and an agroecology project launched in 2019, planting 4.5km of hedgerows and 53 different tree species across the estate – but there is set to be more emphasis in the future. A new cellar and vat house should be completed in 2025, and changes are already being implemented with increased selection, smaller fermentation tanks and larger oak vessels; in the vineyard they are doing more soil studies and looking at possible replanting.  Talking to Congé and Cruse, the ambition here is clear, with “a new era” being declared. They’re looking to put Lafon-Rochet back in serious play alongside Saint-Estèphe’s other Classed Growths – and if things go as planned, this bright estate will soon be snapping at the heels of Calon Ségur. Watch this space.  Browse all listings of Ch. Lafon Rochet or read more about Bordeaux Photography: Emma Tournier

Change is afoot at Saint-Estèphe’s Ch. Lafon-Rochet – with new owners and big plans in the pipeline. Sophie Thorpe reports on the changes and what lies ahead for the Fourth Growth

With the new team’s first vintage released, we sat down with Emmanuel Cruse and Christophe Congé to find out more about what’s happening at Ch. Lafon-Rochet

The new team at Ch. Lafon-Rochet

Meeting the new team at Ch. Lafon-Rochet

In some parts of the wine industry, oak has almost become a dirty word. Many winemakers eschew its use, seeing it as something that homogenises varieties and styles with its overbearance, given its potential to dominate a wine’s final flavour. The use of new barriques in particularly has become less and less popular in varieties that are more prone to oxidation and whose delicate aromatic nature is lost to the perfume and spice of toasted oak. This certainly seems to be the case for the Italian varieties Sangiovese and Nebbiolo, for which there is a decided swing back towards more traditional, larger, old oak vessels that do not impart oak flavour to the wine.  Although Burgundy’s Pinot Noir and Chardonnay have a great affinity to new oak, its use is declining significantly. Today in the world of fine wine, terroir is the trumping card and if new oak is a barrier, then its use starts to be questioned – but the Bordelais have long been strong affiliates to long ageing in barrique and the additional complexity that this brings wine.   Amongst Bordeaux’s elite, there remains a strong endorsement for the continued dominance of oak. Hugely influential producers such as Ch. Margaux have no qualms about using 100% new oak. Winemaker Philippe Bascaules believes criticisms of overusing new oak are due to “the weakness of the wine” – rather than the power of the oak. For Bascaules, “The most important quality it brings is the evolution of the tannins,” – and this is something he is not willing to give up. After many years of experimentation, Ch. Palmer's Thomas Duroux (another of the region’s leading names) also believes the oak barrique is the vessel that best develops the tannin structure of a wine. For him, the 225-litre barrique provides the perfect ratio of wine to wood and level of oxygen exchange for “building the wine”, and thus creating more structural complexity. But for some vignerons, new oak does has its limits. Duroux himself is well aware of new oak’s ability to overpower other flavours and he tries to maximise structure, while not losing the primary fruit character and aromatic complexity of the wine during oak ageing. He has come to his own conclusion that the best approach is to age the wine in two phases.  From November to July, he ages the wine in 225-litre barriques (either new or one-year old oak). Then from the July after harvest to the following July, the wine is transferred to larger oak foudres (2,900-litre barrels). Duroux describes this second phase as, “the refining period, where the wine becomes more integrated, more delicate – without taking on oak flavour or oak tannin”. He started trialling this method in 2017 and now Palmer has 20 foudres in operation. For the 2020 vintage, 30% of the wine has been aged this way. Bruno Borie (Ducru-Beaucaillou), however, feels that the reason for using new rather than old oak is often misunderstood. It is not the flavour that is important, but the cleanliness of the vessel. With wines such as the reds of Bordeaux, where pH levels are fairly high, it only becomes more important, since the wines are prone to bacterial spoilage, something that plagued the region in the 1980s and ’90s.  “We don’t sell wood, we sell wine,” Borie says. “We just use new wood because it is clean and sterile.  Brett [Brettanomyces, which causes bacterial spoilage] is so dangerous.” Older barrels are difficult to clean effectively after use, agrees Margaux’s Bascaules, and when a barrel is beyond a year old, the risk of microbial spoilage simply becomes too high. For Duroux, the older barrels also develop a sulphate compound which can “dry out the wines”.   Oak flavours are undoubtedly integral to the flavour of Bordeaux – but even its strongest supporters are today more open to understanding and better controlling its effects. Although Bascaules has no plans to change how Margaux is made, he is excited to learn what the wine would taste like without oak.  Over many years working at the château, this is something he has never experienced and still does not know. He has plans to experiment with glass amphorae, the idea being that by knowing what Margaux tastes like without oak, it will help him better understand how different elements bring flavour to the wine. “Many flavours people assume are from oak are not,” he says. “Cabernet Sauvignon, for instance, can produce coffee-like flavours. Often it is the reaction of oak and fruit that creates the flavours together.” Using these new glass amphorae will bring a better understanding of Margaux’s DNA – or at least this is what he hopes. Borie also notes that long oak maturation is essential for extending the ageing potential of the wine, something alternative vessels simply cannot do. “We make wine for collectors, wines that can be cellared for decades. Bordeaux’s ageing potential is very important, it is one of its signatures,” he says. Since 2003, Borie has extended the time Ducru-Beaucaillou spends in oak from 12 to 18 months to further extend the wine’s 
longevity. “Longer maturation in oak brings a special textural complexity, a different level of integration – a melding of tannins,” he explains.  But there are others in Bordeaux committed to oak alternatives. One of the region’s top châteaux that has made a significant switch from oak is Ch. Pontet-Canet, which has been ageing 35% of its wines in concrete amphorae since 2012. For Pontet-Canet’s Justine Tesseron, “Too much oak hides too much of the fruit flavour.” The clay amphorae, she feels, “help to keep the freshness of the fruit and keep the purity of the wine”. Happy with the results, Tesseron is considering increasing its proportion in the future, convinced they aid them in retaining “a pure expression of what the terroir is giving us”.  But no one in Bordeaux is giving up on the oak barrel altogether. In fact, the strongest advocates of alternative vessels tend to think a combination of both is where you can achieve the most complexity. Guillaume Pouthier from Ch. les Carmes Haut-Brion is known as one of the more experimental vignerons in Bordeaux and was amongst the first to introduce clay and glass amphorae as an alternative to oak. He feels clay in particular is “very interesting” as it allows the same oxygenation as barrels but you keep the “freshness, you keep the first aromatics of the wine”. He has some 2018 still in clay amphora and it smells like it was just picked.   Ageing wine in glass containers, however, sees no exchange with oxygen, meaning “the tannins don’t evolve” and the resulting wine is “very pure”, something which he feels adds energy to a blend although can risk making the wine “too hard” if there’s too much. For Pouthier, small proportions of wine aged in clay or glass brings additional complexity to the wine, working in combination with oak-aged wine.   Despite these tentative steps into alternative vessels, some have been less than impressed with their experiments. Bruno Borie comically uses history as his guiding light: “Amphorae were used prior to the Romans. But the Romans introduced oak because they saw it as an improvement – they chose the gods of the forest. Being ancestors of the Romans, we should do the same.”  For the top growers in Bordeaux, such as Ch. Lafite, oak still remains an incredibly important element in their wine. With their own cooperage on site, they produce 90% of the oak they use each year, with the Grand Vin typically seeing 90% new wood. Lafite’s Jean-Sébastien Philippe believes that in addition to building volume in the wine, oak also adds important “aromatic and flavour complexity”. These additional layers of flavour are down to the skills of the cooper and, for him, are something that should be celebrated. “Light and delicate toasting – not vanilla or coconut – but toasted spice adds complexity to the wine,” he says. While Cabernet Sauvignon clearly has a great affinity to the barrique, Cabernet Franc and Merlot seem to have better results with larger oak foudres and amphorae. Nicolas Glumineau at Ch. Pichon Lalande is going to start trials with glass and concrete, having been really impressed by wines, in particular, aged in glass. “The more structured the wine, the better it is in terms of definition and tannic structure. I was impressed with the results with Merlot, but the Cab Franc was stunning,” he said.   Pomerol’s Ch. l‘Evangile is experimenting with ceramic jars, which they believe not only “preserves intensity, purity and freshness of the fruit, but causes a vortex [within the vessel] constantly moving the wine around, resulting in more contact with the lees, that brings a more rounded, silky texture to the wine” .  While their influence remains minor in the final assemblage, these new amphora advocates are convinced that their judicious use adds complexity to their wine – and oak alternatives look set to become a permanent fixture for many in Bordeaux. For châteaux, like L’Evangile, these experiments are happening in conjunction with a reduction in the percentage of new oak in recent years (from 80% to 50% for L’Evangile) and they are not alone.  Overall, despite the healthy levels of experimentation going on in the region, oak barriques still reign supreme in Bordeaux. In their trials with alternative vessels, many vignerons have fallen back in love with the unique properties of the oak barrique. While cement, clay and glass, as well as larger oak, will continue to play a minor role at some properties, it’s unlikely that the barrel will fall from favour anytime soon.  Read more about oak in Finding the balance: the art of the cooper or explore Bordeaux 

A region where producers were once known for using 200% new oak, Bordeaux has long championed the barrique. But at a time when winemakers around the world are looking to alternatives for ageing wine, we talk to Bordeaux’s leading names, asking whether their love affair with the barrique is over

Chx. Margaux, Palmer, Ducru-Beaucaillou and more on the Bordeaux region's relationship with the barrique – and why it may have fallen from favour

Bordeaux and its relationship with the barrique 

Is Bordeaux over oak?

From January 2021, the Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur appellations permit the use of several new varieties – Touriga Nacional, Marselan, Castets and Arinarnoa, as well as two white grapes, Alvarinho and Liliorila, the theory being they’ll help shield the region from the ever-growing threat of global warming. As the region heats up, or more importantly dries up, some of the Bordeaux mainstay varieties are suffering from rising alcohol levels, disease and water stress. The new varieties all possess properties that counter climate change – natural high acidities, resistance to mildew and later budburst to offset the risk of spring frosts. While the recent changes only affect wines under the more basic Bordeaux appellations, are they paving the way for a wider relaxation in the region’s rules? And does that mean the flavour profile and identity of Bordeaux’s top châteaux are about to change? For Pierre-Olivier Clouet at Ch. Cheval Blanc there is concern over the potential of the varietal blend (encépagement) changing. “We believe that the encépagement is part of the DNA and the identity of the estate,” says Clouet. “Planting some Touriga Nacional, Grenache, Syrah at Cheval Blanc… it seems ridiculous.” While plenty of winemakers up and down the Médoc are dismissive of the idea, the warming climate is not selective – and even the top terroirs are going to be affected. The 2020 vintage was the hottest on record when you look at the temperatures throughout the 12-month period. The summer was also one of the driest, with not a single drop of rain in some regions for over three months. Pomerol, according to Omri Ram of Ch. Lafleur, is into its fifth consecutive year of drought and these weather patterns are becoming the norm in the region. Clearly some terroirs are better prepared for climate change than others. The clay soils of Saint-Estèphe and the limestone bedrock of Saint-Emilion, for instance, survived 2020’s drought virtually unscathed. These water-retaining soils are adept at locking in moisture and slowly releasing it through the drier months. But the deep gravel soils of the Left Bank are putting vines in real danger during long periods of drought. Lorraine Watrin from Ch. Montrose outlined the huge difficulties faced at their other Saint-Estèphe estate Ch. Tronquoy-Lalande, where (unlike Montrose) the estate’s gravel soils go down a staggering 10 metres. The drainage is so good on these soils that when there is no rain, the vines really suffer. Montrose is more fortunate, having just 1.5 metres of gravel sitting on a bed of moisture-retaining clay. But ongoing droughts are going to pose real problems for deeper gravel vineyards in the future – and solutions need to be found. Despite the obvious threat of drought, speaking with top estates on the Left Bank, they remain fairly comfortable about their future, even though their best soils are on raised gravel beds. The reason why? Cabernet Sauvignon. As temperatures have increased and the level of rainfall has dropped, Cabernet Sauvignon has proved its mettle. The vine is incredibly resistant to disease and its long ripening cycle has seen the variety thrive in the longer, more intense summers. Nicolas Glumineau from Ch. Pichon Comtesse is a big fan of Cabernet Sauvignon and has continued to increase its role in his wines’ make-up over the last decade. “Even if the temperature increases, Cabernet Sauvignon will still be very adaptive to the Left Bank,” he says. In their 2020, the wine consisted of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon with a further 7% Cabernet Franc, Merlot representing just 17% of the blend. Glumineau is not alone, in fact amongst all the producers I spoke to, there was little to no concern over Cabernet Sauvignon’s future and its dominance in their blends in the long term. Being such a large wine-growing region and with plenty of investment, Bordeaux is a hotbed for change, but Ducru-Beaucaillou's Bruno Borie thinks the addition of new varieties is premature. He reminds us that Bordeaux is one of the more moderate climates in Europe. It wasn’t that long ago his father was forced to plant more Merlot to avoid having to chaptalise the wines (add sugar to the must) because the Cabernet Sauvignon wasn’t ripe enough. “Without being arrogant and with all sincerity, we benefit from having Cabernet Sauvignon riper much more often than in the past,” he says. “Bordeaux is the northern limit for ripening the grape and here there is no need to replace it.”  Merlot’s future is perhaps a little less assured on the Left Bank, as Borie admits – but he believes the alternative to Merlot is likely to be already permitted varieties, rather than new ones. “Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc should keep us going another 50 to 70 years at least,” he says. Asked why not just switch to 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, Borie believes that however hot or dry it gets, the low-lying, clay riverbed vineyards would never ripen Cabernet. Despite concerns for Merlot’s future, grown in the right places the variety continues to thrive on the Left Bank. Just look at its success in 2020, a very hot vintage. Rainfall at just the right time helped retard alcohol levels in the Merlot. For those whose cooler Cabernet Sauvignon parcels didn’t fully mature, their Merlot replaced it and played a more significant role in the blend and saved the vintage. The grape is still fulfilling its role as the balancing variety in today’s Bordeaux blend. Despite Cabernet Sauvignon’s and Merlot’s impressive performances of late, plenty of experiments are going on, even at the very top estates. Ch. Lafite-Rothschild is already trialling massal selection of their own vines and new varieties including Touriga Nacional, Marselan and Malbec. For the moment it is too early for Lafite to draw any conclusions, but they’re keeping an open mind.  While the major estates aren’t switching up the blend yet, producers are looking at peripheral Bordeaux varieties as potential alternatives. On paper, Malbec seems a good option. Before phylloxera, Malbec was the most planted variety in Bordeaux, but never really made a comeback after the outbreak. But seeing Malbec’s success in the hotter, drier mountain valleys of Argentina, could it rise back to prominence with global warming? Nicolas Audebert – winemaker at Rauzan-Ségla and previously at Cheval des Andes in Mendoza – is not so sure. Malbec in French literally means ‘”bad beak” or “bad nose”, thanks to the negative reputation the variety had in Bordeaux, even when more dominant in the blend. “Prior to phylloxera, Malbec was used as a ‘filler‘ grape,” Audebert says, “used to balance out problems in the vineyard – namely providing more colour and ripeness to the wine.” Audebert compares it to Pinot Meunier in Champagne, whose role is similar. “Pinot Meunier is less sensitive to frost, so it is planted in the more frost-prevalent lower slopes, rather than the best terroirs. It never had the chance to reach the potential of Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. Malbec suffered the same issue.” Audebert has planted Malbec at Ch. Berliquet in Saint-Emilion. He believes Malbec on clay could be extremely interesting and is keen to see how it works in the blend. But Malbec has its problems: it’s very sensitive to coulure (flowers not developing into berries, therefore producing lower yields), as well as mildew. Of the Bordeaux varieties, it responded the least well to grafting – hence why it wasn’t replanted widely in Bordeaux after phylloxera. Audebert reminds us that Argentina didn’t have these problems: “Low humidity in Mendoza meant mildew was not a problem in spring and there was no grafting, as the region used flood irrigation to battle phylloxera.” Since these remain challenges for the variety in Bordeaux, he doesn’t see it becoming more dominant in the future. Many wineries up and down the Médoc are lowering the proportion of Merlot in their blends, opting instead for more Cabernet Franc. “Blending just 5% of Cabernet Franc in with Merlot can be an effective method of lowering the alcohol, as well as adding freshness,” says John Kolasa (ex Director of Ch. Canon ). “It is something Pétrus did with the 2019 vintage. Look at the success of Ch. Figeac in 2019 – a third Cabernet Franc, a third Merlot and a third Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a big increase of Cabernet Franc in the blend and is performing better in the warming climate.” There aren’t many wineries in Bordeaux not increasing the Cabernet Franc plantings in their vineyards, given its improved performance in a warming climate. Pichon Comtesse, L’Eglise Clinet and of course long-term believers Cheval Blanc and Lafleur are all confident of the variety’s future and its growing role in the Bordeaux blend, both on the Left and Right Bank. Petit Verdot is another late ripening variety that thrives in the hotter, drier conditions. Could this peripheral variety become a star performer in Bordeaux’s future? Unlike Cabernet Franc it has yet to become more prominent in blends, often because just a small amount can dominate the structure and flavour of the wine and overpowers the more nuanced characters of Cabernet. Nicolas Glumineau is unsure that the variety is a saving grace, however. “I have some difficulties with Petit Verdot, it is a very tricky grape to grow… it’s very fragile – to wind, to rain, to many things and finally you just can’t pick it absolutely ripe every year.” While the new appellation rules allow new varieties, is changing the blend really the best solution to the ongoing issues of global warming? Ch. Margaux’s Philippe Bascaules certainly doesn’t think so. For him, changing the grape varieties is far too extreme when there are other, more subtle changes that, he believes, would be much more effective. “Currently we are at 10,000 vines per hectare but we don’t have to be,” he says. “Changing the row orientation would also have good results. Good for changing the effect of sunburn on the grapes.” Ch Pontet Canet's Justine Tesseron is another advocate of making alterations in the vineyard, not changing varieties. She is happy with how the Cabernet performs on her gravel soils and feels that there’s simply no need to experiment with other grapes. For Tesseron, the way in which the vines are farmed is more important: “A biodynamic vineyard is better placed to cope with the extremes. We treat individual vines based on their individual needs – it is all about the small details.”  Pierre-Olivier Clouet at Cheval Blanc sees a change in varieties as a last resort. He and his team have long been thinking about how to tackle global warming. “We are sure that the answer is in the vineyard management,” he says. They are looking at rootstocks, the size of the canopy, the yield (“If we want to preserve freshness, it’s better to have a little more yield”), cover crops, ploughing or no-till farming and how polyculture can help. Clouet is another Bordeaux vigneron who sees the problems – but also plenty of potential answers. They experiment a lot at their other property, Ch. Quinault l’Enclos. “We try to always be very open minded,” he says. But he is clear also that “We should never forget who we are.”  Bordeaux is awash with a mix of cautious optimism, as well as open-minded experimentation. For the time being, it doesn’t look – at least amongst the more prestigious classified estates – like they will be adding new varieties to the blend any time soon. Until alternative approaches in viticultural and vinification fail, Bordeaux’s varietal DNA looks safe. Read more about Bordeaux or explore more Editorial

Climate change poses a serious threat to wine-growers around the world. Bordeaux has just allowed the use of new grape varieties to help its producers cope with the increasingly hot, dry conditions – but what does this mean for the region’s identity? We talk to the top winemakers about the future

Cheval Blanc, Margaux, Lafleur, Lafite, Ducru-Beaucaillou and more on climate change in Bordeaux

Is climate change threatening the Bordeaux blend?

Bordeaux 2020 is the third in a trilogy of outstanding vintages for the region – but, talking to producers, one thing is abundantly clear: the year was not easy. Covid-19 aside, the year’s unusual conditions demanded attention in the vineyard. “It was a marathon,” Noëmie Durantou Reilhac of Ch. l’Eglise Clinet told me. Nicolas Audebert of Chx Canon and Rauzan-Ségla was more frank: “It was a f***ing tough year.” “Extreme” is the word that comes up time and again. It was both wet and dry, mild and hot – a contradiction in terms throughout, demanding producers’ attention. As Jean-Sébastien Philippe at Lafite described it, 2020 was “un millésime de vigneron" (a winemaker’s vintage). The winter and spring were mild and wet, replenishing water reserves and kicking off the growing season early. It was so mild – with temperatures on average around 2˚C warmer than usual – that there were already signs of budbreak at L’Eglise Clinet on 4th February. Flowering was early and homogenous; at Ch. Margaux it was a full 15 days ahead of normal, Managing Director Philippe Bascaules noted, bringing the entire season forward. This early start led to fears of possible frosts, but (unlike in 2021) the temperature barely dropped and the threat to crops was minimal. Overall, 2020 saw more rain than any other year in the last decade – however it fell almost entirely over the winter and spring, with subsequent concentrated bursts in May and August. This relative downpour was essential for what was to come, for the summer was parchingly dry. As Pierre-Olivier Clouet of Cheval Blanc explained, the spring provided the vines with enough reserves to survive the long, dry summer.  But the damp also brought mildew pressure – a particular challenge for those working organically or biodynamically. “On 12th May we had to spray copper by hand over 25 hectares of vineyards, as it was too wet to put tractors in the vineyards,” said Thomas Duroux at Ch. Palmer. Justine Tesseron at Ch. Pontet-Canet explained how dry breaks in the weather helped them avoid the damage seen in 2018, allowing them to get into the vines and spray. The mildew seemed to impact the Right Bank less, although work was still essential to avoid losses. Then in mid-June, a switch flicked and the weather shifted dramatically, becoming warm and dry. “It’s like only having two seasons instead of four,” Nicolas Glumineau of Ch. Pichon Comtesse explained, something he fears is becoming the new normal with climate change. The warm dry conditions concentrated the berries and then, as the vines gradually started to
become more stressed in August, slowed the vines’ growth. This was, Noëmie Durantou Reilhac of Ch. l’Eglise Clinet noted, important – helping to slow the sugar accumulation, and allow the phenolics to catch up. But the vines were stressed. “Vines are living beings and we ask them to go through a lot. If you were drinking a gallon of water every hour for a month and then had no water for two months…” Noëmie Durantou Reilhac said. The team at Pichon Comtesse was starting to worry as the leaves started to turn yellow and the vines were visibly struggling. But relief arrived in mid-August, with rain on
the Left Bank (with the least falling on Saint-Julien) and Saint-Emilion, although Pomerol had to wait until 1st and 2nd September for the weather to break briefly and provide the water the vines sorely needed. “This really refreshed the grapes, diluting the sugar content, but early enough to allow for concentration to build up in the berries,” Bascaules at Margaux explained.  From the end of August to late September, the mercury rose even higher. At Pichon Comtesse, with temperatures reaching 40˚C, Glumineau started to become nervous about the wine they’d be able to make, visibly seeing the berries reduce in size each day during the last two weeks of September. Cool nights were key at this time, preserving acidity and aromatics, despite the heat of the day. The harvest itself was fast and furious. Thanks to the homogenous flowering, everything ripened at once – and quickly. The whole season remained 10 to 15 days earlier than normal, and picking of the whites kicked off in mid-August, while the Merlot started coming in from early September, then the Cabernet from the middle of the month. Everything was in before the close of the month. Timing were similar to 2003, 2015 or 2019. Nicolas Glumineau noted that rainfall at the very end of September – falling on 25th and 26th – was of particular importance, helping “polish the tannins” on the last few plots of Pichon Comtesse’s Cabernet Sauvignon.

“It was a textbook perfect vintage,” Damien Barton Sartorius, Director of Léoville and Langoa Barton said – the only thing that upsets him is the volume of wine produced. The dry conditions broadly led to smaller berries with thick skins, and therefore less juice. In general, yields are a little down on 2019 and 2018, around 10 to 25% in most places, with the smallest crops in Saint-Julien (down 20% at Léoville and Langoa Barton, 25% at Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou), and Sauternes and Barsac.  “It was a crazy, crazy vintage,” said Omri Ram of Lafleur. Rushing through the growing season like this, it’s clear it was, but producers aren’t shy about the results, nor should they be. The wines are superb – more classical than those of 2018 or ’19, with some comparing them to the wines of 2016, ’15 or ’09. Read more about the vintage in our overview or commune-by-commune breakdown

The 2018 and 2019 vintages might be tough acts to follow, but Bordeaux 2020 seems to be more than up to the job. We spoke to producers about the year’s extreme conditions – and the stunning results it produced

Chx l’Eglise Clinet, Cheval Blanc, Pichon Comtesse and more on the extraordinary conditions that shaped the 2020 Bordeaux vintage

Exploring the Bordeaux 2020 growing season

Bordeaux wine vintage 2020: a tale of two halves

“I can die happy now,” Jon Bonné chuckles to me. The writer spent almost a decade as the wine guy at The San Francisco Chronicle, and is now Managing Editor at Resy, having spent time at Punch, writing for Noble Rot, Decanter and many more in between. His latest book, The New French Wine, was released earlier this year and The New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov dedicated an entire column to singing its praises – something he almost never does.  The hefty, two-part tome has been a long time in the making – almost a decade, in fact. The idea was a frivolous suggestion, casually agreed to over one too many drinks (“unsulphured Gamay in Oakland – as one does”) with his editor in 2014, soon after the publication of his seminal The New California Wine. But what was conceived as part of his quest for “the next thing”, to build on the momentum of his first book, rapidly spiralled.  “It's very hard to see a bigger picture of French wine because it is so overwhelming,” Bonné tells me over Zoom. Initially he’d envisaged a few trips, a project that would take a couple of years – but it “kept growing and growing and growing”.  “There was this much bigger story that I was sort of stumbling into,” the writer says. He gradually realised that there was an “enormous meta transformation” taking place across France – and this is what the book wrestles with. As he writes in the book’s introduction, “I imagined the new French wine would be about the undiscovered country – the cracks between known places.” But as he soon discovered, the new French wine was everywhere – and it took him nine years to piece it all together.   The work is split into two separate books – The Narrative and The Producers, the former the story behind the reference guide that forms the latter. The Narrative is a deep dive into the face of France and its winegrowing today, broken down by region, with break-out essays on topics such as natural wine, farming and the appellation system. It’s a rich tapestry of stories, interjected with the frank and striking photography of Susannah Ireland and occasional illustrated map by Francesco Bongiorni, reminiscent of Art Deco postcards.  For Bonné, the “new France” is about postmodernism, about “wilful rejections of the b******t of the past”. It’s about a (re)focus on site, about producers seizing their destiny and hunting for a more sustainable approach – in the vineyard, winery and beyond – although it’s far from that simple. “To understand French wine and to love it, you simply have to embrace its messy, self-contradictory, and, yes, complicated postmodern reality,” he writes. He points to Muscadet and Beaujolais as two of the most exciting and representative regions of this movement – both having entirely reinvented themselves within a generation. Producers here, he tells me, are “doing the work and focusing on terroir and technique and farming”, while Champagne “has completely transformed its vision of what its wine should be”.  Change is most importantly, however, “an inclusive force” – and looking at who did (and didn’t) make it into The Producers, Bonné’s definitive gazetteer of the nation’s movers and shakers, shines a light on this. It’s not a list of the vignerons he loves, it’s a pain-staking selection of those he deems significant and meaningful in the context of the movement – encompassing both more traditional names and those on the fringes. Take the Bordeaux chapter; you’ll find Pétrus, Lafleur and Pontet-Canet, as well as many less conventional, smaller and often natural-leaning properties such as Clos 19 Bis or Ch. Julia – with “Benchmarks” and the more up-and-coming “Names to Know” highlighted.  It’s fascinating – and fun – to see these two, seemingly opposing strands of France’s wine scene woven together. When I queried the inclusion of these elder statesmen of French wine, he highlighted how, for him, Pontet-Canet perfectly exemplifies the change in France today, with the forward-thinking Tesseron family handing the keys to previous cellar master Jean-Michel Comme to do “radical, radical s**t”.  Bonné deliberately chooses to champion those who have revved the engine of broader revolution – and those who reflect that revolution’s values. When it comes to Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, for example, he describes how they “upheld the moral pillars of Burgundy and winemaking” and “use their power for good”; whereas one top Pauillac estate he vehemently tells me is “perpetuating the worst practices of the Bordeaux trade”. For him, “wine is a consumable” and, as 21st-century consumers, “people have a right to explore the values of producers”.   While Bonné certainly likes natural wine – and many of the movement’s figureheads feature in the book, he is far from an evangelist. When he first started thinking about the book, natural wine was different; “It hadn’t quite catalysed into this very specific cultural beast,” he says, a cultural beast born in Hackney, Bushwick or Paris’s 11th. He talks about the movement’s “sense of tragic fashion” and how, with its clique-y nature, it has “baked in its own expiration date”. There were, he tells me, producers that didn’t make the cut – those who act as a “cautionary tale” for natural wine. “There are wines that can be delicate to being transported. And then there are wines that are just f***ed up at the source,” he says frankly.   His outlook is broadly positive for France, the nation’s ongoing revolution and its vignerons, but the book also acts as a call to arms of sorts, for: “The enforcers of the old ways will be forced to adapt, or they will perish,” he writes.  It’s not a perfect book. With a work of this size (over 860 pages and 600,000 words), it is almost inevitably slightly out of date by the time it is printed – especially with the pace of change today. Lafleur’s entry, for example, talks of Acte but not Les Perrières. I’d also have loved to have captions for each of Susannah Ireland’s images, knowing where – and of whom – they were taken. But these are quibbles.   I can’t pretend to be unbiased. Bonné is one of my favourite wine writers. There’s a lightness to his phrasing, with dry humour and a palate that I tend to identify with – although I’d argue he’s become a little more funk-friendly over the years. His writing is intelligent without being arduous. Perhaps it’s because, like Andrew Jefford, he was and is a journalist first. What really fills his writing is a sense of joy, of almost gluttony – it’s still filled with the excitement that so many wine writers seem to lose, as they tire of bottle after bottle of exceptional wine. He’s still easily absorbed by the stories that make each one different. For me, he doesn’t fit neatly into the critic box, even though it’s a term he uses to describe himself repeatedly in our conversation. “The notion of a critic has devolved to a place where you are simply handing out numbers,” he explains, but to him his work is about “criticism at a deeper level”. It’s about “being able to dive into the culture and come away with the insights and interpretation, and explain why certain wines really do matter”.  And it is this that makes The New French Wine stand apart. It isn’t just a wine book; wine is the lens through which Bonné observes a broader cultural shift. Whether you agree with everything he says or not, it’s a joy to read, hold and look at. It’s a book that will prompt conversation, prompt you to uncork bottles, prompt you to consider quite how complicated – and endlessly fascinating – France’s wine scene is. And is there anything more French than that?  The New French Wine: Redefining the World’s Greatest Wine Culture (Ten Speed Press) is out now.  Read more Editorial 

Ten years after The New California Wine was published, Jon Bonné has published a new book – an epic tale of France’s revolution. Sophie Thorpe caught up with the author to talk about his ambitious project to capture The New French Wine

We sit down with Jon Bonne, the wine writer and author of The New French Wine, to find out more about his second book

Writer Jon Bonne on The New French Wine

Facing up to The New French Wine: Jon Bonné

Talking to producers about the 2020 vintage in Bordeaux, their excitement is palpable. Dramatic gesticulation and unabashed grins made for little modesty, but there is also a certain amount of relief. This was not an easy season for the region’s vignerons – a rollercoaster of a year that really put them to the test (and that’s without taking the global pandemic into account).  You can read more about the conditions in our piece on the growing season, but – in brief – it was a vintage of two halves. The season started with a mild, wet winter and spring, with the growth cycle around 10 days earlier than normal. “It was a very, very precocious vintage,” Daragh Quinn at Ch. Fieuzal explained. The damp conditions led to mildew pressure, demanding winemakers’ presence amongst the vines to stave off the threat (especially for organic or biodynamic producers).  From mid-June, the weather shifted dramatically, becoming dry and hot, resulting in some vine stress. Mid-August rain provided some relief on the Left Bank (less fell on the Right), while cool nights in late August and September were key to preserving aromatics and acidity. Harvest was swift and early, with the whites picked from mid-August, the Merlot from early September and Cabernet following from the middle of the month. There was a little rain towards the end of harvest, welcomed by some producers in the Médoc to plumpen the extremely concentrated Cabernet berries.  The resulting crop was beautifully ripe, but with particularly small berries – something that means yields were impacted. “The frustration is the volume produced,” Damien Barton-Sartorius of Léoville and Langoa Barton explains. “I’m a farmer talking – we like a good quantity.” For him, the yield was down around 20%. At Lafite and Duhart-Milon, the reduction was around 15%, a little lower at L’Evangile where mildew had more of an impact. Angludet was hit hard, with just half the normal crop – something that surprised Benjamin Sichel – but this was an exception rather than the rule, with a reduction of 20 to 30% on 2019 the norm.  So, how did winemakers handle the vintage? First and foremost was managing the extreme growing season. Getting out amongst the vines to spray and protect against mildew was essential. Most left larger canopies in place to offer much-needed shade for the fruit during the hot summer conditions. Picking dates were key to preserve acidity, and many also chose either to pick in the early morning – allowing both the fruit and pickers to enjoy cooler conditions – or chill the fruit on arrival at the winery. This helped preserve the delicate aromatics and enabled producers to control fermentations better.   The small and concentrated berries meant there was a higher than usual skin-to-juice ratio, and the potential for a lot of tannin. It was therefore all the more important that extraction was gentle, especially as the seeds weren’t necessarily ripe as Edouard Moueix (of Ch. Bélair-Monange and La Fleur-Pétrus) highlighted. As Guillaume Pouthier at Les Carmes Haut-Brion told us, it was about “passive extraction” which he did entirely via infusion for the first time this vintage. Lafleur has never pumped over as little as they did in 2020, but it simply wasn’t needed with the perfectly ripe fruit, Cellar Master Omri Ram explained: “Aromatic compounds, ripe tannins, flesh, it all came out of the grape so easily.”  On paper, it’s tempting to think that the 2020s were destined to be big, bold, super-ripe and tannic. Fortunately – and much to many producers’ bafflement – it’s not so. While in some ways the vintage could be compared to the similarly hot 2003, the wet start was key – supplying the vines with essential reserves to get them through the warm, dry summer. Similarly, the mid-August rain was a godsend for the gravel soils on the Left Bank.  In short, the 2020s are very good and, in some cases, outstanding. Surprisingly elegant, the wines combine the ripeness and density of a warm year, yet with a wonderful freshness and aromatic precision. On the Left Bank, the alcohol levels are modest (notably Lafite is a mere 12.8%, while few sit above 13.5%) – something attributed by some to the August rain. The fruit is ripe yet with a real refreshing crunch to it. There’s a vibrancy and saline acidity that makes the wines moreish. These classical expressions of Claret are, as one winemaker noted, wines that will appeal to the English palate. “It’s quite incredible, the freshness,” Vincent Millet, Calon Ségur’s General Manager, said. He noted that these are wines with “beaucoup d’éclat” – wines that leap out of the glass.  “I just love the 2020,” Nicolas Glumineau at Ch. Pichon Comtesse told us. “It’s full of energy, exploding out of the earth. Full of minerality.” Thomas Duroux at Palmer captured it nicely, describing the vintage as having a “Latin flair” yet also a class and restraint. Antoine Gimbert (Léoville Las Cases, Nénin and Potensac) put it similarly: “flamboyant and subtle at the same time”. Pauline Vauthier at Ausone highlighted the long ageing potential of the vintage – having the requisite length, minerality and freshness.   On the Right Bank, the wines are plusher, the alcohol levels consistent with recent vintages (most at 14 to 14.5%), but there’s still a restraint and elegance on show. While there’s plenty of concentration and structure, the tannins are seamlessly ripe (making them relatively approachable for cask samples) and they are aromatically expressive, often with a distinct floral imprint. Noëmie Durantou Reilhac (Ch. l’Eglise Clinet) emphasised how important she felt élevage was for the vintage. It “would have been very charming, very seducing – but not as deep as it could be. The élevage brought that deepness to that very juicy, flashy fruit,” she said. Pierre-Olivier Clouet at Cheval Blanc feels it’s a wine that will need time, describing the tannins as “a little academic”. For him, the dry conditions “explain perfectly why the wines are so dense, so powerful, so intense”.  It is important to note that this not a totally homogenous vintage. The challenges of the growing season meant that only those who could and did put in the requisite vineyard work excelled. The dry conditions meant that terroir held even more importance than normal. Cooler, water-holding clay and limestone soils were an advantage; the well-drained gravels that house much of the finest Cabernet sometimes struggled. It is for this reason that the Right Bank seems to have really shone, and it’s arguably a Merlot vintage – but that isn’t to say there aren’t some superb Cabernet-led wines. Saint-Julien, Margaux and Saint-Estèphe are the most consistent on the Left Bank, while the top names in Pessac-Léognan have over-performed. The finest Pauillacs are glorious – pinpoint, precise examples of what this commune does best.   Justine Tesseron at Pontet-Canet was one of many to agree that 2020 is the “third in a trilogy of top vintages”. Given the year’s unusual conditions, comparisons have proven hard. Pierre-Olivier Clouet at Cheval Blanc feels 2020 has a palate like 2010 or ’11, with the nose of 2015 or ’09. The wine reminds Noëmie Durantou Reilhac (Ch. l’Eglise Clinet) of 2015. At Léoville Las Cases, Jean-Hubert Delon compared it 1988. Vincent Millet at Calon Ségur feels it is like 2016, except with more density. While in numbers it’s similar to 2010, Haut-Bailly’s Véronique Sanders feels 2020 is a very different wine – with a “contrast between power and this elegance”.  “It’s very close to 2019 – very classic,” Nicolas Glumineau (Pichon Comtesse) said. “To me it has something like the energy of the 2019, and the uprightness and strength of the 2016. It’s a great wine, I’m sure about this.” The term “classic” comes up time and again – something Jean-Sébastien Philippe at Lafite also proposed, versus the more modern 2018 or 2019. At Ch. Margaux, Philippe Bascaules described it as a more concentrated 2019, or a fresher 2018, but feels all three vintages are of the same, high quality.   From our own tasting, we can’t help but agree – this is another very good vintage to follow on from 2018 and ’19. Great? Maybe. The best properties – wherever they’re based – have made brilliant wines that sit comfortably alongside the best vintages in recent memory. Although not every wine reaches such heights, the balance between power and freshness is impressive – and sets them up for a long life in the cellar. Overall, however, there’s a classicism and elegance to the 2020s, with expressive and delicate aromas that make these wines utterly seductive. We can’t wait to watch them evolve in bottle.   The vintage in brief  Very high quality, with some exceptional wines Complicated growing season with a wet start and hot, dry summer  Ripe yet surprisingly fresh wines  Classical and aromatically expressive  Right Bank more consistent than the Left  Excellent wines to be found in every commune  Yields are down by 20-30%  Read more about Bordeaux, including our breakdown by commune

The 2020 vintage in Bordeaux was not easy – but the resulting wines are undeniably very good. After several weeks’ tasting and talking extensively, we give an overview of the eventful year and the impressive wines it produced 

After several weeks’ tasting and talking extensively, we give an overview of the eventful year and the impressive wines the Bordeaux 2020 vintage produced 

Bordeaux 2020 vintage overview

Bordeaux 2020: vintage overview

For good or for bad, the 2021 was a vigneron’s vintage, a year that required every bit of nous to circumnavigate the many issues that plagued the growing season. With an early budbreak and one of the latest harvests on record, it was a long and exhausting vintage for everyone involved. This was by no means a vintage that made itself – and its success was determined by the actions of man not nature. Whereas normally there tends to be quite a bit of variation between the sub-regions of Bordeaux throughout the growing season, in 2021 things were decisively challenging everywhere. All were initially threatened by frost, followed by mildew pressure, excessive rainfall in June, cool summer temperatures and a general lack of sunshine throughout the spring and summer months – only to be rescued in the final sunny weeks leading up to harvest. Some unlucky enough (mainly around Sauternes) also suffered hail damage prior to harvest. Despite the homogenously bad weather, the varying soils and varieties throughout the region all reacted quite heterogeneously, meaning some suffered more than others. Such were the manhours required in the vineyard in 2021, production and quality were going to be badly affected. Bear in mind this was all still at a time when Covid-19 was still a pressure point for employment, as noted by a number of wineries we visited. The mild and very wet winter brought an early and uneven budbreak, as early as 10th March in Pessac-Léognan and 15th March in Saint-Emilion – which was a full two weeks ahead of normal. This was followed by unseasonably warm weather, Ch. Figeac in Saint Emilion registered 25˚C, resulting in the vines’ quick acceleration of growth. With the vines already so advanced, the threat of spring frosts was all too apparent. Right on cue, temperatures plunged at night.  The 6th, 7th and 8th April saw black frosts cause significant damage across the region. Those worst affected in the classified sites were in Sauternes and Pessac-Léognan – with some châteaux in Sauternes witnessing their entire crop wiped out. The threat of frost was a prolonged agony for many, lasting right up until the 5th May, with temperatures recorded as low as -5˚C. For the Moueix estates in Pomerol, the combination of wind turbines and smudge candles could raise the temperature in the vineyard up by 2˚C – enough to protect the grapes. Other properties without such resources weren’t so lucky. Ch. Margaux's white wine vineyard is famously susceptible to frost. After installing a sprinkler system throughout the whole 8.5 hectares, the system malfunctioned, not working on 1.5 hectares where they lost everything (fortunately the remaining seven escaped harm). The frost damage was far from democratic, with estates within the same appellation seeing widely different levels of damage. As always, the châteaux on the Left Bank closest to the Gironde such as Ch. Léoville Las Cases and Latour came away largely untouched by the frost. Further north in Saint-Éstephe, châteaux such as Calon-Ségur and Montrose were also unaffected – not just due to their close proximity to the river. The cooler clay-rich soils of the appellation mean budburst is always delayed, and with the vines not as advanced, damage was limited. The risk of frost threatened Saint-Emilion for 10 days straight and led to a huge amount of work in the vineyards protecting the vines. The vineyards on the lower plains were worst affected, Croix Canon for instance, while Ch. Canon and neighbouring Ch. Berliquet up on the limestone plateau were spared, due to the vineyards’ fortunate south/south-west exposition – the brow of the hill protecting the vines from the freezing northeasterly winds. Vines basking in the sun at Ch. Latour If there was one moment of calm throughout the 2021 growing season, it came at flowering. Clement, dry weather engendered successful flowering, though rains arrived at fruit-set, leading to coulure for the Merlot. A huge deluge fell in June – as much as three times the month’s average rainfall. The damp, cloudy conditions saw the widespread outbreak of mildew that remained throughout June, July and into August. Bordeaux’s proximity to the Atlantic and the naturally high levels of humidity this brings have always made it susceptible to mildew, but for many vignerons we spoke to, this was the worst outbreak they had ever seen. The poor climatic conditions saw coulure and millerandage (the development of fewer and differently sized berries) badly affecting the Merlot on the Left Bank. This is why you’ll see such high proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blends this year – with Cabernet being much less susceptible to both conditions. Despite the blanket attack of mildew, its effects varied from property to property. Ch. Margaux believed the mildew outbreak was the worst they had ever seen, yet for them, it never reached the grapes, only the canopy – allowing them to protect the fruit from damage. Perhaps their largely Cabernet Sauvignon plots made it easier to protect; Merlot certainly wasn’t so lucky. Further north in Saint-Julien, Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou chose to leave the grass cover throughout the growing season to soak up the humidity and reduce the rain splash which spreads the mildew to the vines. Many sprays later and the yields were still significantly impacted; their Grand Vin is 98% Cabernet Sauvignon (the highest proportion ever) and production is the lowest on record, cropping at 20hl/ha. Ch. Pontet-Canet in Pauillac was devastated by mildew in 2018, losing two thirds of their crop. Despite the bigger outbreak in 2021, production was down only 15% – clearly having learnt how to better cope with the issue. The estate’s Justine Tesseron emphasised that you had to react fast to protect the grapes – you had to get out into the vineyards immediately after each rain episode to stop the spread. It was the year their newly built “tisanerie” came to the rescue, making them much more efficient in preparing their biodynamic sprays and reducing the overall impact. Many estates including Ch. Cos d’Estournel and Calon-Ségur carried out early de-leafing to reduce the impact of the disease. It was a huge risk. If the climate switched to more intense sunshine, the crop would have suffered significant sunburn. But the intensity of the sun, fortunately for them, was never that strong. With such high levels of rainfall in the summer months, the vignerons faced their next issue – a slow and uneven véraison. That moment where the energy of the vine switches from producing its canopy to ripening the grape is set off by a period of hydric stress – something which was not forthcoming in 2021. An event that typically takes place over two weeks was spread over four. The high rainfall also meant bigger berries and dilution was a concern, particularly as they edged towards harvest, worried the skins could burst and rot would set in. Fortunately, things finally started to dry up in August and, while temperatures remained mild, the grapes pushed through véraison. The September weather finally brought some hope for the vintage and, according to many vignerons, was their saviour. Sunny days and cool nights were ideal for grapes to concentrate, retaining freshness, while producing the beguiling aromatics that are so distinct in the 2021 wines. There was a little more rain in mid-September, most notably in the Médoc, which brought concern over rot, but any significant damage was held off by a dry and sunny October. Smudge pots or "bougies" between the vines, on hand to offer protection against frost The northern appellation of Saint-Estèphe was noticeably drier than appellations to its south, with hydric stress starting in July and “perfect weather” followed in August according to Ch. Montrose’s Lorraine Watrin. She compared the growing season to 2014, which was particularly successful in the appellation. By the end of September, throughout the regions, most of the Merlot was picked. Of course, the Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon grapes, capable of growing in much cooler, wetter conditions, were much less affected by all of Mother Nature’s shenanigans. For the estates that avoided the frost, the whites reached good volumes and the fresh temperatures of the growing season proved ideal for the varieties. The whites were largely picked in the first two weeks of September and the top examples proved exceptional. For the reds, Mother Nature had one more card to play. Weather forecasts for the first weekend in October predicted heavy storms and more rainfall. With the large berries close to ripeness, a heavy storm could decimate the later-ripening Cabernets and would prove catastrophic for many on both the Left and Right Bank who rely on large proportions of Cabernet in their wines. With little choice, most ran the risk, and held out picking until the storms passed. Thankfully Mother Nature’s trump card was never played. Amazingly, the forecasters got it wrong, and the storms never came. Finally, the Cabernet was picked under sunny skies. Many châteaux such as Calon-Ségur held out as long as possible and were harvesting right up until 13th October – their latest harvest since 2012. What is extraordinary about the 2021 vintage is the complete inverse effects of the previous three years. Three vintages of relative drought, plagued with concerns over rising sugar/ alcohol levels, vines blocked from maturation due to hydric stress, and a genuine concern that the wines would lack full phenolic maturity, due to the compacted ripening season. Every one of these concerns was turned on its head in 2021, producing wines that are the opposite of the 2018, 2019 and 2020s. This unique season has put technology advances in Bordeaux to the test – from weather stations, UV boosting to state-of-the-art machinery – and at its best, they’ve defied the odds. A couple of decades ago, a growing season like 2021 would have produced very little wine at all, but today the Bordelais have proven that man can – at least for now – manage almost everything Mother Nature throws at them. And, most importantly, still produce wines of striking finesse and aromatic charm. Read more Editorial 

Man versus Mother Nature: The 2021 growing season in Bordeaux was in complete contrast to the previous three vintages. Gavin Smith runs through the key moments that shaped this unique year

Everything you need to know about the 2021 growing season in Bordeaux, how the best chateaux managed it – and how it impacted the style of the wines produced

Bordeaux 2021 en primeur - the growing season

 Bordeaux 2021: the growing season

There are few people that get to taste Bordeaux as often or as thoroughly as the Wine Advocate Editor-in-Chief Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW. Based in Napa, her knowledge of how the Bordeaux varieties are managed – both in Bordeaux’s moderate climate and the hotter region of Napa – has become a huge asset in understanding and assessing Bordeaux in a warming climate. With such exposure to vintages past and present, being mentored by the world’s most influential critic Robert Parker, there’s no one better to consider what defines Bordeaux today.  Perrotti-Brown has a clear idea of how and why Bordeaux has changed so much in the last 20 years, while at the same time emphasising that there’s no “hard stop” to an era. An individual château’s period of change can be different to its neighbours. “It seems like every château has had its challenging period,” she says, “whether it be a dogmatic winemaker, recurring faults in the winery or even financial difficulties.” Each era of Bordeaux is not simply defined by set vintages, however – with the benefit of hindsight – she believes you can see clear, defining moments over the last two decades where the style of Bordeaux has changed. Like much of the wine world in the 1980s and ’90s, Bordeaux châteaux were still understanding the effects of faults in their wines – whether it be volatile acidity, dissolved oxygen or Brettanomyces. With increased emphasis on ripeness and new oak, these issues only increased. “Brett and other faults love new oak and higher alcohol, it was almost a perfect storm,” she explains. But as this became more of an issue in the region, it led to more research, bringing about a much better technical understanding of why these things were happening. It was this scientific awakening that Perrotti-Brown believes was the catalyst for the modern era. “Momentum for change has sped up in the last 20 years and there have been lots of triggers,” she says. “There is a better understanding of what ripeness is, precision viticulture and winemaking, the development of technology and of course there is climate change.” But outside this and perhaps the most important “trigger” behind this change, she believes, is money. “To run a château has become very expensive: 30 or 40 years ago many of these châteaux were simply operating as agriculturalists, now it is a multi-million-dollar business.” Big money has no doubt brought about big investment and Perrotti-Brown believes in many ways it has “levelled the playing field”. A lack of investment in the winery and vineyard is now a rare excuse for poor performance. “It has raised the standard throughout the region. Investment and greater precision has created a lot of diversity – more than we have ever seen before.” In terms of taste, the most positive developments in Bordeaux for Perrotti-Brown come from the vigneron’s better understanding of ripeness, both in terms of tannin ripeness and fruit concentration. “Hindsight is a beautiful thing,” she quips, “but we have seen dark periods on both sides of the spectrum in Bordeaux.” There were real issues with lack of ripeness through much of the 1970s and ’80s. High production levels saw diluted grapes harvested and simply chaptalized (sugar added) to bring up the alcohol, then at fermentation, the must was overworked to extract enough colour and tannins. Since top Bordeaux was known for its long ageing potential, this was necessary to create the structure to age – “Otherwise you were going to end up with a diluted, watery mess,” explains Perrotti-Brown. This extended maceration saw the extraction of very hard tannins – “the wrong sort of tannins that come at a later stage of extraction”. “It is better extraction techniques, only extracting quality tannins, that is a major reason behind the most recent improvements,” Perrotti-Brown explains. She points to the legendary 1982 vintage. “A lot of people at the time were saying the tannins of the ’82s were too soft, too juicy, too fruity and it just wasn’t true.” The vintage was warm, particularly for that era. “At harvest the vignerons were picking grapes with a natural ripeness to the tannins, which meant during extraction the tannins and colour came easily.” They didn’t have to overwork the grapes to extract the tannins, producing wines that were great in their youth and have since aged incredibly well. It was the quality, not quantity, of tannins that stood the 1982s in such good stead, a lesson that wasn’t necessarily learnt instantly. Overworking the musts and a lack of concentration continued to be commonplace throughout much of the ’80s and ’90s. Many wines were hugely extracted and required plenty of patience. “You compare that with now,” she says. “I was discussing the 2020 vintage with Ch. Margaux’s Philippe Bascaules – and he barely needed to touch the grapes during extraction.” At better ripeness levels (as seen in 2020), the colour and tannins extract themselves. In the mid-90s to early 2000s, however, there was “a chase for ripeness”, in Perrotti-Brown’s words. “It was the beginning of the garagiste era – with reductions in yield, later picking and an emphasis on power. You had super low yields, producing behemoth, impenetrable wines in their youth, 200% new oak etc – people were really pushing the boundaries.” It is a style that is seen by many as actively encouraged by Perrotti-Brown’s mentor Robert Parker, who at this point was arguably the most influential man in Bordeaux. The incredibly hot 2003 vintage marked a watershed moment for Bordeaux. “Bordeaux winemakers had never seen anything like it. Grapes were turning to raisins on the vine,” Perrotti-Brown says. Despite the year’s conditions which exposed the push toward ripeness, the emphasis on power continued up until the 2010 vintage. Despite the focus on ripeness and extraction, there were some exceptional vintages – but Perrotti-Brown questions how well these wines have since aged. This is, in her view, a key shift in the region. She compares tasting the 2005s en primeur, with tasting the vintages of today. While 2005 was clearly a fantastic vintage, tasting these wines so young was really difficult, with aggressive tannins. Many winemakers were, Perrotti-Brown says, “making wines by formula”. A high-quality vintage gave vignerons a free ride to push the extraction even more. The criticism often made of 2005 is that it has taken such a long time to come around. Similar issues are raised with the same vintage in Burgundy. The year was at the height of the trend for maximum ripeness and extraction, for both Bordeaux and Burgundy, and the resulting wines shut down for a long period. Perrotti-Brown accepts that people have different expectations on when to drink Bordeaux, but she loves to drink wine in its mid-life, when there is both primary fruit and tertiary development. The problem with the 2005s, she says, is that that window never really opened: the wines remained closed, only beginning to open up now, when there is little primary fruit left. “Many of the ’05s are, wow, exceptional now, but you miss that sweet fruit and it’s what I like about the modern vintages,” she says. Looking back, “Winemakers could have dealt with 2005 much more wisely.” The 2009 vintage provides an interesting contrast. Like the ’82s, the natural ripeness of the tannins meant the wines didn’t shut down in the same way the 2005s did. Of course, higher levels of alcohol also helped increase the potential tannin extraction. Alcohol is a solvent. Increased ripeness, which in turn leads to higher alcohol levels, can therefore lead to too much phenolic extraction. While this was a risk for many wines in the early 2000s, fortunately today’s winemakers know much more about how to handle riper fruit. The 2010 vintage might have been the last year of big, bold, extracted wines, it was nature rather than the Bordelais that dictated the change, Perrotti-Brown notes. The ’11, ’12, ’13 and ’14 vintages meant winemakers had to deal with cooler, more difficult vintages. It was not possible to produce bold wines in these vintages and retain balance. This was almost a period of introspection for Bordeaux and, for Perrotti-Brown, it led to a distinctive development where “the ethos of precision” took charge from the 2015 vintage. While there are of course exceptions, from 2015 Perrotti-Brown feels you started to see more plot-by-plot management of the vineyard, with picking times becoming much more accurate – picking plots and fermenting them separately, “rather than throwing everything together”. Extraction also became much more precise, focusing on only the quality tannins – a marked change from the previous era. This new ethos brought, in Perrotti-Brown’s view, a lot of “soul-searching” in the vineyard, with people like Alfred Tesseron spearheading a movement toward more sustainable practices. But overall, Perrotti-Brown notes, “There is so much creativity too and many people are doing different things. It has created a lot of diversity.” Amongst the creative changes happening in the winery and vineyard, developments in the wine’s élevage always seems to be a big talking point in Bordeaux. Oak is an integral part of the Bordeaux “recipe”, but – after an over-reliance in the 2000s – its use was becoming increasingly scrutinised. “Oak doesn’t ever go,” she says. “It settles down, integrates and evolves with the fruit, but it can push itself forward.” “Oak is absolutely necessary for giving shape and spice to the fruit, as well as tannic interest to the wine,” says Perrotti-Brown: for her, it’s about oak being used “smartly”. “Most people have pulled back on the new oak from the 2015 vintage onwards, but, like the tannins, it is not about more or less oak, but about using it more wisely. There is a much better understanding of oak today and much better quality of oak being used. What it lends to the tannin structure is a nice back up to the skin tannins and a spiciness in the background.” The new era – from 2015 onwards – is certainly contributing to Bordeaux being “on a good run”, in Perrotti-Brown’s words. But while there is great consistency today, she’s under no impression there won’t be problems ahead. “Warm, dry vintages have become the norm, but how warm and how dry before this becomes an issue? Bordeaux was lucky in 2020 that they got a bit of rain in August,” she says. While a lot has changed over the last 20 years in Bordeaux, there are no guarantees for the future. No matter the technology, Bordeaux’s fate lies in the hands of the shifting climate – and terroir, or more specifically the clay or limestone soils equipped to deal with hot, dry conditions, has never been so important. For now at least, though, Bordeaux is basking in its era of precision, with 2020 the third great vintage in a row. Let’s hope Mother Nature holds the region in her favour a little longer. Read our summary of Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW's report (including the wines she rated most highly) in our round-up of the critics’ verdict on the vintage Find out more about Bordeaux or read more Editorial 

No doubt that the style of Bordeaux has shifted over the past two decades. But what’s caused the change – and are the wines better? We sat down with one of the world’s most influential wine writers, Wine Advocate Editor-in-Chief Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, to delve into what defines modern Bordeaux

The Wine Advocate’s Editor-in-Chief Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW on 20 years of change in Bordeaux – and what defines modern Bordeaux

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW on the Bordeaux evolution

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW on the evolution of Bordeaux

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