En Primeur 2007 - Vintage Reports

Please find below Michael Schuster's vintage report on the 2007's.

"Des Grands Vins Blancs, des Rouges Gourmands – Vins de Plaisir"

Headlines:

A Depressing and Difficult Growing Season
Last year, tasting the 2006's in mid April 2007, one felt summer was just round the corner. Blue skies, shirtsleeve temperatures, barely a drop of rain, the wisterias' flowering almost over. At the end of April the growing season looked a promising ten days in advance. But a wet May and cool, occasionally showery June provided conditions that made for an uneven, very extended flowering, which also set the scene for unremitting mildew problems, subsequently exacerbated by the wettish July and then a cool, moist, and occasionally very wet late August. But it was not so much a 'wet' summer, as a cool and damp one (Bill Blatch, in his excellent annual report, describes it graphically as a Bordeaux summer where "we had the windscreen wipers on half-speed all the time"!) This all led to an extremely demanding July and August in the vineyards, with extensive treatments, lateral shoot pruning, leaf removal, and bunch thinning (green harvest), in the hope of having a well prepared, healthy, not too heavily burdened vineyard for harvest time.

The drawn out flowering, coupled with the lack summer warmth and sunshine, meant that ripening was also both irregular and protracted. Instead of the red varietals changing colour evenly from green to purple-black some bunches still had green, pink, red and black grapes on them in the third week of August. An irregularity which then led to the unusually long harvest. During the last ten days of August there were two significant downpours, on the 20th and the 29th, at which point many vignerons thought the vintage would be a wash out. But August 30th saw the start of a splendid two month Indian Summer. September, if not that warm, was exceptionally dry, meaning that there was no threat of rot to follow the mildew, and the benign conditions meant that you could wait, without worry, for healthy grapes to ripen fully.

An extended Harvest in almost perfect weather
The dry white wine harvest was carried out in perfect weather during the first three weeks of September. The red wine harvest was similarly problem free, in fresh, mostly dry conditions. It was notable for two things, its relative lateness, given the 'mid flowering' date, and its length. Not long ago, 100 days / 14 weeks used to be considered the normal wait between flowering and harvest, today 110–115 days / 16 weeks is more like the norm, in 2007 it was not unusual to pick fruit that had been 'hanging' for 130 days or more, closer to 18 weeks. (There had been similarly long hang times and protracted harvesting in 1997, the difference being that the 1997 fruit was significantly diluted by the week long, late August rains).

Current longer 'hang times' are mainly due the changing notion of what is meant by 'fully' ripe, today's taste being for wines that are fuller and 'sweeter' flavoured than was the case in the past. The exceptionally long time on the vine for red grapes in 2007 was due firstly to the fact that the benign weather made it possible, and secondly to the need for it, given the unevenness and delay in ripening caused by the cool, damp, growing season. The late harvesting garageistes apart, majority of Merlot was picked over the fortnight from the 24th September to the 5th October, most Cabernet during the first two weeks of October, some well in to the third. This extended period on the vines, in dry weather, allowed the grapes' skins to ripen more fully, and to yield, in the case of the Cabernets especially, wines which ended up with a surprisingly high phenolic content, given the cool growing season. And in consequence an aromatic complexity and mid palate richness in the best Cabernets which is absent in most 1999's and 1997's.

Red wines: quality and style
I think it is particularly difficult to generalise about the red wines of this vintage, from the point of view of quality as well as style. In a complicated growing season, more than usual depended on your soils, rootstocks, clones; and differences here may well account for the very varied results that are otherwise not easy to explain. It is not a Merlot vintage, it is not a Cabernet vintage. It is not a right bank vintage, it is not a left bank vintage. It is not a grand vintage, but it would be a mistake to think that it is a weak one. And it is interesting to consider the respective performances of Merlot and the two Cabernets, which go some way to explain the complex mosaic of results.

Merlot was particularly badly affected during flowering by the end of May rains and it often ripened stubbornly afterwards. In some left bank cases parcels of Cabernet Sauvignon coloured earlier, ripened sooner and were picked before the Merlots – an almost unheard of scenario. Flowering earlier, and therefore being picked earlier, Merlot had less time to recover from the August downpours before harvest, (meaning its yields were often relatively high), and for the same reason it also had less time than the Cabernets to benefit from the long Indian Summer weather and to ripen to the same extent. Many wines with a high percentage of Merlot, mostly right bank of course, are unexceptional; not unripe, just rather plain. Fleshy, smooth, uncomplicated, pleasant - but lacking in depth and energy. Yet there are some almost pure Merlot wines which are also notable successes: Troplong Mondot, Clos Fourtet, La Mondotte; Evangile, Clos L'Eglise, l'Eglise Clinet to name a few. And whilst much left bank Merlot was relegated to second wines, a handful of these are also very successful: Les Pagodes de Cos, Clos du Marquis, Alter Ego de Palmer, La Chapelle de la Mission, whilst Palmer itself, at 49% Merlot, is a beauty in 2007.

Cabernets
The later flowering of the Cabernets took place under better, more even conditions than those for Merlot, and their ripening curve was subsequently more normal. They had longer to recover from the late August rain, and longer to ripen fully under the blue September and October skies. Many wines have a higher than usual proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon: Latour (91%), Ducru Beaucaillou (90%), Lafite (85%), Léoville Las Cases (82%), Mouton Rothschild (81%) and there is an aromatic complexity and tenacity of flavour in these wines which is missing in many others of the vintage. Low yielding Cabernet Franc from old vines also benefited from the fine late season, contributing a conspicuous vitality, spiciness and, above all, scent, where it formed a noticeable proportion of the blend: Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Angelus, Figeac, Canon on the right bank, for example, Carmes-Haut-Brion on the left.

Style
The outstanding characteristics of the good 2007 reds are a juicy succulence of ripe fruit, a softly defining acidity, a very fine, almost fleshy textured tannin and, at either side of 13% typically, alcohol levels which are relatively low by today's standards. The very best are complete, harmoniously resonant mezzoforte wines with a deliciously satisfying richness, no lack of complexity, and a measurable tannic charge which may well give them a capacity to age rather longer than their current en primeur softness suggests - even if the tannins don't seem likely to harden much in bottle. These come from across the region. They will mostly be accessible from 5–10 years, and then drink for a further 5-10, a 5-20 year window that is. The less successful Cabernet based wines are simply too tannic for the weight of fruit, whether from insufficiently ripe grapes or overenthusiastic extraction. (Winemaking this year very much emphasised the fruit, with a mixture of lower temperatures, fewer, shorter remontages, a briefer maceration period, a smaller percentage of new oak, and so on). The less successful Merlot based wines are almost too soft and smooth for their own good: fluidly modest in flavour, low in acidity, and with barely any tannin, they are ripe but plain. There comes a point where they are so supple and frictionless that their texture is almost soft water slippery, 'sleek' becomes 'slack' and they no longer refresh as a good glass of claret should. These will slip down easily enough almost from the moment they are bottled, and possibly for a further 5 – 8 years.

Quality, and comparisons with other red wine vintages
Today there is no such thing as a complete wash out of a vintage, like 1963, 1965, 1968, 1972 and so on. The last poor vintages were those of the early nineties. Since then the climate has been getting warmer, viticultural management of tricky weather has become much better and, above all, selection of what goes into the Grand Vin, the prinicipal brand, has become a great deal more severe. It is becoming increasingly clear that it no longer makes a great deal of sense to categorise a 'less than great' vintage in simple terms. Yes 2007 is a variable vintage, but we should not let that blind us to the fact that there are a fair number of both first rate, and also very good red wines.

As with so many claret vintages, it is difficult to find really useful comparisons. That is part of their fascination of course. They are clearly much better than 1997 which had a similarly early budding, difficult flowering period, markedly uneven ripening and prolonged sunny September; but its grapes were the result of a very hot August, and a very wet end to the month – so that the wines were made from fairly ripe, but dilute fruit. And I don't find the comparison with 1999 either accurate or illuminating. 1999 was hot in June and July, very hot in August, and very wet during the harvest, the wines being made from very ripe fruit rained on, producing a style that is similarly soft in acidity to 2007, but dilute – if very ripe - in flavour, and high in alcohol for red Bordeaux. They are pleasing, supple, accessible wines, but they have an alcoholic warmth which is atypical for claret, and by and large they lack richness and complexity.The good 2007's in contrast, issue of a cool August, a long, dry Indian summer, and fine harvest conditions, have a very different taste profile: they are less 'hot', they are not dilute, and they have both more core and more complexity. They are finer wines. Perhaps the best have something in common with the softly ripe fruited, accessible early 1962's and 1953's?

Compared to other recent vintages, the good '07's mostly have a richer fruit core than their respective '04's (with the exception, possibly, of Pomerol), but less acidity. I retasted many '06's next to their '07 counterparts and in almost all cases the '06's have a bit more density and aromatic complexity, but they are in a much less fleshy style, with more perceptible acidity, and a much firmer, drier tannin which will take time to mellow and harmonise. Beside them the '07's are softer, fleshier, more seductive, the best with a delicious succulence and an attractive complexity.

The Communes.
I see little point here in doing my usual Commune run down, as I don't think I can usefully add much to my headline: No single red wine commune really stands out, there is excellence to unexceptional throughout. My notes and my favourites tell the story. Perhaps Pomerol, as a commune, has a higher proportion of the soft and easy, emollient style. Not surprising this year, considering its combination of precocity as a terroir, and high proportion of Merlot.

Dry whites: quality and style
Another excellent year for dry white Bordeaux, the fourth fine vintage in a row. Ripe grapes, with plenty of acidity, were picked in perfect conditions over the first three weeks of September, and quality is good across the spectrum from the lowly to the aristocratic. These wines have a deliciously tonic character to them; the lesser ones will be good young, and the best will age too. There are some strikingly different 'interpretations' of the vintage, depending on a property's view of what good dry white Bordeaux should be. With vineyards barely a long stone's throw from each other Fieuzal's Pessac-Léognan is a taut, refined, racy middleweight of around 13%, Malartic Lagravière's is a deliberately late picked style: super ripe, concentrated, vigorous, powerful, and weighing in at around 15.5% alcohol!

Sauternes: quality and style
A very simple story. This is a first rate vintage where the various tries could be picked at leisure, in ideal conditions, from the second week of September through to the second week of November. The wines are rich, very sweet, with a vividly defining acidity, a lovely purity of flavour, and plenty of spicy, botrytis complexity. What is particularly remarkable is the consistency of the wines across the quality range.

Even at the lower end, where quality has often been disappointingly ordinary even in the fine recent vintages, there are fresh, clean wines which will give a lot of pleasure. Selection is clearly much more stringent and winemaking cleaner, at levels and at châteaux where they haven't been in the recent past. Assuming the bottled wines reflect their en primeur samples this certainly looks like being the most consistent Sauternes vintage to date. Quality is similar to 2005, livelier in style than 2003, not quite up to the intensity, clarity and brilliance of the best 2001's, but much more consistent at the lower end. Perhaps a richer, more polished version of 1988? There is little to choose between Sauternes and Barsac, the Sauternes are a bit more powerful, the Barsacs have a racier freshness.

IF to buy? What to buy?
Given good wines, the price of course is everything, but if the price is right then there are certainly 2007's worth purchasing en primeur. The less expensive dry whites will be mouthwateringly good young, whilst the top wines look like fine medium to long term prospects, certainly worth purchasing if you like mature Pessac-Léognan. As far as Sauternes is concerned, the sweet toothed amongst us are literally spoilt for choice, and the consistency of quality makes it hard to go wrong.

As for the reds, if you have pounds or dollars in your pocket it is tempting to confuse economic weakness with wine weakness (if I can't afford it, I'd rather it weren't good…), especially if a vintage is not immediately hailed as 'great', and if it is not straightforward to understand. But we shouldn't confuse quality with value. There are some excellent reds as I have described, and I don't see any recent vintage whose style and quality is a substitute for the good 2007's: succulently delicious, very individual medium term clarets.

Of course many wines will appear overpriced for many pockets, but I'm equally sure there will be good value drinking worth purchasing. I have just qualified for my London Freedom Pass – and Monika and I will certainly be buying some 2007 reds from amongst the favourites I list below. There's faith for you. In me, and in the wines!

What about my taste?
Like all wine commentators I try to be objective in my descriptions and assessments, but also like all wine commentators I have preferences for certain styles of wines. I can readily admire what I wouldn't necessarily want to have at my own table, but constitutionally I don't like excess, and I feel strongly that winemaking excesses are almost by definition 'in poor taste', often just lacking simple common sense. Like most people I am often impressed by powerful tasting impressions at the tasting bench, and by high quality new oak. But my wife and I do a lot of entertaining – and a lot of wine drinking – and I also recognise that these impressions don't make for ease of drinking, for actual beverage pleasure, at least not for us and many of our guests. And certainly not all of the time.