I never turn down an opportunity to taste top-shelf Bordeaux, and for whatever reason those opportunities have been plentiful lately. After countless trade events and a masterclass or two, I’ve racked up such a mountain of notes on both sides of the Gironde that it felt like a good time for another installment of our “Beyond the Scores” series, where we dive into a range of recent vintages in more detail than a simple vintage chart.
Most Bordeaux enthusiasts will point to 2003 as the beginning of the “modern era of Bordeaux”. Leaving aside the usefulness of such a moniker, I would argue that, though the heat spikes of the 2000s (2003 and 2009 in particular) were unusually intense, there were roughly the same number of “good” years and “bad” years as in a typical Bordeaux decade. If there is a true beginning of Bordeaux’s modern era, I’d put my money on 2015. That iconic vintage kicked off a string of truly unprecedented vintages in the region, forcing winemakers to adapt to a new normal – the intense heat that has become Bordeaux’s reality.
Without further ado, let’s get into it.
2015
After a string of weak (2011, 2012, 2014) and downright dismal (2013) vintages, Bordeaux was due for a comeback in 2015, and when the fruit started to roll into the wineries, it looked beautiful. Hopes were high and critics whispered of the best vintage since 2010.
More than a decade later, the picture is not so rosy. The Right Bank wines are proof that Merlot-heavy producers hadn’t yet grasped how to handle heat waves like those delivered by the early summer of 2015. The Saint-Émilion and Pomerol 2015s are boozy and extracted, lacking the elegance they achieved even in a middling vintage like 2012.
The prognosis is cheerier on the Left Bank, where the top houses are showing promise. Margaux seems to be displaying the best balance at the moment, not only from Château Margaux itself but also across many of the other classified growths.
Exceptional producer: Château Giscours Margaux
2016
Another scorcher on the Right Bank, though recent tastings suggest it has been less disastrous than 2015. The top Right Bank houses made good if still slightly overripe wines in 2016, but they are unlikely to become long-term cellar favorites due to imbalanced alcohol and a lack of fruit precision. The Left Bank, however, is another story. Ten years on, many of the top Left Bank properties seem to have struck gold in 2016, with wonderful balance between the ripeness of modern Bordeaux and the herbal, structured profile of a classic claret.
All the usual favorites of the Left Bank should be bought with abandon, with particular attention paid to the second and third growths, many of which produced once-in-a-decade wines.
Exceptional producer: Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Pauillac
2017
Late April frost devastated Bordeaux’s crop in 2017, followed by uneven ripening that necessitated strict sorting. While the dedication to rigorous sorting at the top properties resulted in wines of good concentration, the bulk of Bordeaux suffered. The Right Bank fared better than the Left, with earlier-ripening Merlot finding its mark, but most estates produced merely good wine. However, the top houses like Figeac, Cheval Blanc, and Angélus managed to achieve remarkable, classically styled wines, perhaps the only “classic” Right Bank wines from 2015-2020.
The Left Bank and Pessac properties that include larger amounts of Merlot (Haut-Brion, Palmer, etc.) tended to do better in 2017, as the late-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon simply didn’t get to a point where there was much meat on the bone, creating nervy, thin wines. Like 2011, some of these wines may age beautifully and turn into unexpected favorites in the cellar, but at this stage most are still tasting austere.
Standout producer: Château Figeac Saint-Émilion
2018
The early parts of the 2018 growing season were typical of a more classic and challenging Bordeaux vintage, with hail and intense mildew pressure caused by cold and rain. But it was what came next that defined the vintage. Summer and early fall were not just hot – they were sweltering. The intense, prolonged heat caused issues in the vineyard (vines shut down, halting the development of key flavor and aroma compounds in the grapes) and also in the wineries. High potential alcohol, in a region where watering back musts is officially prohibited, created major fermentation challenges. Stuck fermentations from elevated alcohol, sometimes combined with concurrent malolactic conversion, plagued the Right Bank.
The wines of 2018 are almost universally overripe, with dried and jammy fruit and high alcohol that feels out of balance. Extreme richness wouldn’t have been the end of the world if the grapes had been able to keep building aroma and flavor compounds. In fact, it might have made the wines more appealing to a global audience that loves the warmth and opulence of Napa. But the vine shutdown made the wines of many normally balanced producers into booze bombs without the stuffing to match. Classicists should avoid this vintage. Lovers of opulent, rich styles may enjoy the 2018s for earlier drinking, and a few may go the distance, but it is not the universally positive vintage many critics claimed it was.
Standout producer: Château Montrose St-Estèphe
2019
A combination of cooler weather at flowering and increased know-how among the Bordelais in handling summertime heat spikes caused a marked improvement in quality in 2019. If 2018 was the vintage that showed the weakness of vineyard managers in the face of a warming climate, 2019 was when they bounced back. Far more freshness and acidity were retained on both sides of the Gironde, and many critics have tentatively dubbed the Left Bank 2019s a new benchmark for “classic”, or rather the best-case scenario in a Bordeaux where long summertime heatwaves have become the norm.
2019 is a vintage to cellar. While alcohol levels may have risen, 2019 is packed with acidity and layered tannins that will repay patience, all while stuffed to the gills with flavor for the long haul. Quality was strong across Bordeaux overall, but pay special attention to the top properties of Pauillac.
Standout producer: Château Lynch-Bages Pauillac
2020
Despite the extreme summertime heat that the winegrowers of Bordeaux were now expecting, 2020 presented a bevy of challenges – downy mildew pressure and thunderstorms during harvest meant Cabernet Sauvignon berries took on significant water before picking. Arguably, this was a good thing after a late summer and early fall that saw soaring potential alcohol and some raisination, which the rain thankfully remedied.
Merlot was generally picked before the storms and shows more like the 2018s, continuing the Right Bank’s high-octane run, with many displaying more heft than substance. There are still some Right Bank wines with a bright future (Château Canon, for one), but those sensitive to high alcohol should be wary.
The Left Bank wines were much more universally successful, with lively acidity, plentiful tannins, and balanced (if just a touch elevated) alcohol. They may have slightly less definition than the 2019s, but it’s difficult to say at this stage which vintage will age more gracefully. Both are well worth stocking in your cellar.
Standout producer: Pichon-Longueville Baron Pauillac
Needless to say (but perhaps still worth repeating), every vintage in every winegrowing region is complex, and surprises can happen both from producer to producer and over time in the cellar. As always, the top properties will fare best with age, but part of the joy of Bordeaux is that relatively obscure producers (Durfort-Vivens comes to mind) can provide exceptional drinking pleasure after extended cellar age without the capital investment of the blue-chip names. Buy with curiosity, hold with patience, and open with generosity and an open mind.