Berrys' Bordeaux 2007 Vintage Overview

As Bordeaux is, in viticultural terms, a marginal climate, any assessment of the quality of its vintages has to start with a look at the weather. I am hugely indebted to Bill Blatch's informative and comprehensive notes for the background and detail of the year's climatic variations.

A rainy March and remarkably warm April ensured an early start to the vegetative cycle and led to an early flowering. May was very wet, provoking the onset of mildew, and the unsettled weather led to an uneven flowering and the onset of coulure.

The summer months proved cool, grey and drizzly, and August, such a crucial month for the ripening process, was punctuated by heavy showers and a lack of heat. In July and August there were just 11 days with a temperature above 25C, against an average of 28. The Medoc suffered more than the Right Bank from rainfall, registering almost double the average for the month of August.

After two major downpours on August 20th and 29th most growers were ready to write off the vintage as a lost cause, but then the weather changed dramatically. September and October were dry, warm and clear, with a north-easterly breeze drying and concentrating the grapes and blowing away any risk of rot. This Indian Summer, reminiscent of 1978 and 2002, saved the vintage, but the cool, wet weather of August had taken its toll, since it is impossible to produce wines of great density and concentration in the wake of such conditions.

A key result of the uneven flowering, and the mildew, was uneven ripening of the bunches, necessitating frequent sprayings to combat the latter and significant removal of unripe grapes in the vineyard to eradicate the effects of the former. Those estates with the financial means to carry out huge additional work in the vineyards achieved markedly better results than those who did not.

The slow, uneven ripening led to picking dates spanning a much longer period than usual; the harvest for the dry whites began in early September and the Merlots in mid-late September, but the boldest estates waited until well into October before harvesting their Cabernets, giving them as much time as possible to benefit from the perfect conditions to gain an extra degree or two of ripeness.

Figures show two remarkable records for such a generally disappointing year, weather-wise: April was the hottest for 100 years, while September was the driest since 1985.

The Wines

The dry whites are exceptionally good; they always benefit from a cooler summer as this preserves aromas, and the fine September weather enabled them to reach perfect maturity.

The sweet whites are also outstanding; the dry September ripened the grapes but failed to induce much botrytis, but this was remedied by the onset of foggy humidity followed by clear, sunny weather in October, perfect for the rapid development of the best type of botrytis, or noble rot.

The best Sauternes have elegance and complexity to go with their lush sweetness, and the style is in line with other late-recovery vintages such as 1988 rather than the hotter years such as 1990 or 2003. They are stylistically similar to 2001 but fall just short of that sublime vintage's perfection.

The red wines are very mixed. Pomerol and St. Julien are the most consistent appellations, but there are good (and less good) examples from almost all the major communes. Pauillac is very good with one or two exceptions. Aside from Pomerol, the Merlots are a little one-dimensional, and many Medoc properties have shunted more Merlot than usual into their second wines, reserving the more nuanced Cabernets for the Grand Vin.

The long, slow growing season (130-140 days from flowering to harvest, against a normal 110 days) enabled the Cabernets to develop significant complexity and smoothness, if not concentration, and the best of these will make highly interesting bottles.

The fruit in these wines is very pure, the tannins very present but ripe, and acidities correct and not at all intrusive. The tannins in the Cabernet-dominated wines are, in fact, not far short of the extraordinary levels found the wonderful 2005s, and when the wines have acquired a little more weight through time in barrel they will be soft, fragrant, supple and medium-bodied.

This is not a red wine vintage for financial speculation or for long keeping. It lacks the intensity for greatness or the density to age, but it will provide delicious, short-to-medium term drinking while we wait for the more structured 2005s and 2006s to mature.

The wines to avoid are those where winemakers have sought to add depth through excessive extraction or use of new oak. These will have dry, harsh flavours which the fruit will not adequately be able to mask. Many will be delicious from 2011 onwards. It is hoped that producers will reflect the style and marketability of the vintage in their pricing!

Alun Griffiths MW