PAUILLAC, France-I joined hundreds of wine buyers and critics for the annual tastings of the new vintage in Bordeaux this week. But amid all the talk of business, the wines themselves sometimes seemed to be overshadowed. So how does 2012 Bordeaux look?
Assessing the quality of a vintage at this stage, only a half-year after the harvest and a year or so before the wines will even be bottled, is always tricky. That caveat is especially relevant for 2012.
Certain Bordeaux vintages lend themselves to easy generalizations. 2009 was good across the board, producing opulent, delicious wines that appealed to critics and consumers. 2010 was equally good or even better at the high end, yielding classic wines for long aging. 2011 was several notches below its two predecessors, but produced some very good white wines.
Now comes 2012, which defies generalizations. There are good wines from almost every part of Bordeaux, at almost every price level - and very disappointing ones, too. Quality is unusually heterogeneous. It is what is sometimes called, euphemistically, a “winemaker's vintage,†one that favors those with the skills and experience to deal with a challenging growing season.
Spring was cool and wet, delaying flowering and development of the grapes. A brighter August and September saved the vintage, but the vines struggled to make up for their late start. While some vintages are picked in September, 2012 dragged well into October â€" and then the chateaus had to work overtime to harvest before the rains set in.
“We had to bring in all our pickers from all our properties and pay them well to keep them smiling,†said Olivier Bernard of Domaine de Chevalier in the Pessac-Léognan appellation.
In these conditions, merlot, one of the two main red varieties in Bordeaux, fared relatively well, because it ripens quickly. But the other important red grape of Bordeaux, cabernet sauvignon, did not always develop fully.
In theory, this ought to have favored the wines of the “Right Bank†of Bordeaux â€" appellations like Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, to the east of the Gironde estuary â€" which rely heavily on merlot. The “Left Bank,†which includes Pessac-Léognan and the Medoc appellations of Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe ought to have suffered.
To some extent, this was borne out by my tasting. Pomerol seems to have been the most favored red appellation in 2012, with plenty of ripe, rich yet nicely balanced wines, including Chateau Petit-Village and La Conseillante. Yet Saint-Emilion, even though just next door to Pomerol, was much less impressive, with many wines showing unpleasant herbaceous flavors â€" or worse, clumsy efforts to cover them up.
On the Left Bank, the wines were all over the map; some were powerful and structured, resembling the 2010s in style if not in quality, while others were light and airy. Some were smooth and refined while others showed harsh, drying tannins.
From the Medoc, north of Bordeaux, I liked chateaus Lynch-Bages, Batailley, Gruaud-Larose, Saint-Pierre and Rauzan-Ségla. Some less heralded estates, like Grand-Puy Ducasse, Les Ormes de Pez and Phélan-Ségur, also made a good impression.
From Pessac-Léognan, south of Bordeaux, I was impressed with Domaine de Chevalier and chateaus Pape-Clément, Fieuzal and Seguin.
This is definitely a vintage to taste before buying. Sampling several hundred red Bordeaux in their formative stage is less fun than it might sound; after a day of dawn-to-dusk tastings, your teeth and gums are stained purple, your tongue hurts and you generally resemble a character in a teenage vampire film, though you feel considerably older.
At that point, it is always nice to turn your attention to the whites. The dry whites of 2012 are satisfactory, though perhaps a notch below those of 2011, which I liked for their freshness, and those of 2010, which have a tangy intensity that is captivating.
The wild cards of 2012 are the sweet wines Sauternes. Here the vintage was even more difficult than elsewhere in Bordeaux. The yields in the vineyards were tiny, and producers struggled to reach the concentration that is customary for these rich, unctuous wines. Several of the biggest names, including chateaus d'Yquem, Suduiraut and Rieussec, decided not to make any wine at all.
With that in mind, I had low expectations when I headed into the Sauternes tasting, but was pleasantly surprised. True, these wines are rather light; this is not a Sauternes vintage to keep for decades. But many of the wines showed excellent botrytis â€" the “noble rot†that gives Sauternes its distinctive complexity. They were also very fresh, in a nervous, energetic way that I liked. Among others, chateaus Doisy-Daëne, Myrat, Sigalas-Rabaud, Coutet, Rayne-Vigneau, Clos Haut-Peyraguey and Lafaurie-Peyraguey all seem to have pulled through nicely.
