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In Vino Veritas - The 2008 Red Bordeaux

While heading to Bordeaux for my first look at the 2008 vintage, I was worried that at best, quality would be average to above average. With the deepening global economic crisis, I wondered what the point was of putting my nose to the grindstone for 10-12 hours a day for ten long days, not to mention the enormous expense involved in travel, lodging, transportation, etc. Would this be 10 days wasted tasting an unexciting as well as unsaleable vintage?

I should have known better. When I was in the Rhône Valley in early September, several French newspapers came out with stories about the deplorable quality of the 2008 Bordeaux vintage. These pre-harvest reports resonated in other areas of the world press, as well as on those notorious blogs that can be authored by anybody who can string a noun and verb together, and by many who can’t. As most reasonable people know, it is absurd to try and judge the quality of a vintage before a single grape is harvested, or even before the châteaux have made their selections and final blends. And, as I have learned for the last thirty years, you taste and judge with an open mind. Factoring in economic conditions as well as anything else not related to wine quality is hazardous to writing a measured and thorough report on the quality of the wine.

It did not take me long to realize that the 2008 vintage was dramatically better than I had expected. It had all the qualities that make an excellent and in some cases, a great vintage so special: exceptionally dark opaque colors, gorgeously ripe fruit, stunning purity almost across the board, great freshness (because it was a cool year), slightly higher acids than normal, and remarkable density as well as concentration. Moreover, one of the significant keys to evaluating quality is the maturity of the tannins. In 2008, the tannins are unusually velvety, even in wines that may lack concentration. By day three I was thinking about how this could have happened. When you look at all the facts (not the rumor-mongering from irresponsible bloggers), it seems clear that after the vinifications were done in late October and early November, something excellent had been produced. The wine producers all knew it, but Bordeaux is always the first to be accused of over-hyping their wines, and the global economic crisis had begun in earnest by November, 2008.

So why has the quality of the 2008 vintage turned out to be excellent, with a number of superb wines that are close to, if not equal to the prodigious 2005 or 2000 vintages (two years with many of the best wines I have ever tasted from top to bottom)?

The facts, not second-hand reports or rumors bereft of careful analysis, are:

(1) 2008 provided an historically long hang-time for the grapes. There is an old saying in winedom that a vigneron needs 100 days between the flowering and the harvest in order to produce wines with good ripeness and character. In 2008, the flowering for the more precocious terroirs on the right bank occurred in late May, and finished in the Médoc in early June. The harvest did not occur until mid-October for most top estates, and many did not finish until the end of October. The shortest hang-time for any estate was approximately 130-135 days, and the longest approached an unprecedented 150-160 days. That long hang-time has led to a steady, long maturation that has provided far more nuance and flavor intensity than anyone expected.

(2) It was cooler and sunnier than normal. By and large, the temperatures during the critical growing months of May through October were equal to those in 1996. Also, the total hours of sunshine were much higher than in a normal year. Examining the weather more closely reveals that May was very wet, creating some issues with flowering, which reduced the crop size significantly for the right bank Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Damp, cool weather conditions in early June provided similar difficulties with the later flowering Cabernet Sauvignon in the Médoc. By the time the flowering was completed, it was obvious throughout Bordeaux that for all grape varietals, each vine had fewer bunches. It was clearly going to be a small crop. June, July, August, and September were slightly cooler than normal, which seemed potentially dangerous at the time because of the fear of rot if hot, humid weather occurred. As it turned out, an unexpected period of Indian Summer-like weather (warm, but not hot, days and cool nights) gave the remaining grapes the opportunity to mature more evenly. Furthermore, the harvest was sunnier than normal.

(3) It was also drier than normal. Even in July, drought conditions existed in some vineyards that began to show hydric stress at the beginning of August. Most Bordelais tend to spend their summers at their resort homes in Arcachon, and August was not nearly as wet as many reports suggested when you look at the statistics from the different weather stations. Yet it was drizzly and overcast as well as cooler than normal on many days. This created a far more gloomy image of what was happening in the vineyards than actual realities. The first 12 days of September were considered to be poor weather, but the actual amount of precipitation was less than one inch, a relatively insignificant amount. These factors - the long, historic hang-time, the cooler as well as drier than normal growing conditions during the critical months of June, July, August, and September, the perfect dry, warm July and late September and October, as well as very small yields, all resulted in a vintage of at least excellent quality. In some cases, there are wines as profound as 2005. In short, the vintage is vastly superior to 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003 (with some exceptions in that unusual vintage), 2002, 2001, and 1999.

The overall characteristics of the 2008s

There is no question that Pomerol seems to be the epicenter of many extraordinary wines. I would even go so far as to say the 2008 Pomerols eclipse/surpass the quality of the 2005s, 2001s, and 2000s. It is an amazing vintage in Pomerol, and this carries over to some of the finest wines made in the satellite appellation of Lalande de Pomerol. St.-Emilion, given its incredible diversity, range of styles, and huge surface area, has just about everything. An extremely strong vintage, it appears to be a notch below 2005, but it is better than any other vintage of the last decade except 2000. Not surprisingly, in both Pomerol and St.-Emilion, yields are frightfully low. Normal yields tend to be between 40 and 60 hectoliters per hectare, but in 2008, yields ranged from a low of 12 to around 25-30 hectoliters per hectare. In the Médoc, yields were higher, but still modest, and much lower than most recent vintages. Some great wines were produced in the Médoc, yet styles can differ. There are producers who made soft, forward wines, and others who aimed for a denser, richer, concentrated style. This applies to the Pessac-Léognan/Graves region as well. What was evident in my tastings was that all the regions exhibited the following traits: (1) dense purple, opaque colors; (2) an exceptional density of ripe, but not overripe or under-ripe fruit; (3) incredibly sweet, velvety tannins, even though, analytically, most estates had indices of polyphenols/tannin/extract that were equivalent to what was achieved in 2005; (4) very fresh, crisp acids, and (5) surprisingly high alcohol, 13%-14.5% being the norm. One can’t really taste the acidity as one often does in young Burgundy, but there is a precision, nuanced, fresh character to these very intense wines that is somewhat reminiscent of the way the top wines presented themselves in 1996 and 1986, but the finest 2008s are more dense.

To reiterate, the cool weather, low yields, and historic hang-time allowed most vineyards to harvest as late as they wanted. They were able to achieve incredibly sweet tannins as well as ripe fruit, with no danger of over-ripeness because there was no excessive heat. Moreover, the 2008s possess a purity and freshness that are admirable. Because the tannins are so sweet, and there is so much fruit in the wines, they should be approachable young, but the freshness and high level of extract and tannins will allow them to age for 20-30+ years.

The challenges of pre-selling futures in 2009

I am not an economist, but it is clear that wines that exceed $25 a bottle in price have hit a dead spot in the American marketplace, and I have seen the same thing in Asia and Europe. No one can predict whether the global economic crisis has bottomed out, and things will begin to turn around. We may be headed toward even more severe economic troubles for the balance of 2009. Certainly the wine trade as well as the mentality of wine consumers is adamantly opposed to buying wines two years before they are delivered. There is also great pressure on the Bordelais to do something dramatic in their pricing, dropping the prices significantly so they are once again appealing to consumers. Obviously, the world of wine speculation, especially for the first-growths, is over, at least for the time being. While there are sentiments in Bordeaux to drop prices, there is also another school of thought. Many top producers, who made so little wine, and are so pleased with what they have, claim they can’t afford to lower prices to pre-2004 levels. Some very famous estates are already up for sale, and many more are teetering on the abyss of bankruptcy. It’s easy for most wine consumers to forget that many top estates that receive wonderful reviews in this guide have invested heavily in better cellars and more equipment. Most of these investments were done before the global market began to contract, and the economic crisis hit with such carnage.

I can not tell anyone what they should do, whether it’s a château owner trying to set a fair price for their wine, or a consumer deciding whether they want to purchase a 2008 Bordeaux now or two years from now. My responsibility is to taste and judge the wines, giving consumers a candid and hopefully informed point of view as to quality. So many other journalists seem to be totally obsessed with breaking the Bordelais, and demanding that prices come down, irrespective of quality. I don’t believe this is the role of a wine critic, although I do believe prices must ultimately decline if proprietors expect to have any success in the futures campaign for 2008. Certainly the quality is so high that these wines will ultimately sell, whether they are pre-sold in barrel, or eventually sold in the bottle. Bordeaux lovers and serious wine consumers throughout the world will adore the vintage’s finest wines. That’s a given. But at what price is impossible to predict. I am hoping that the leaders who will set the market prices, in this case the first-growths, will come out at much lower prices than in recent years. Whether they do or they don’t, and whether other producers follow suit or not, ultimately has nothing to do with the quality of the exciting 2008s I tasted. In the end, it is always about the wine, and in vino veritas says it as well as possible.

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