January 28, 2016

From the Other Side of the Table

For an afternoon, I was a Bordeaux representative pouring the 2013 vintage.

It was an exciting opportunity to help the members of the Union Des Grands Crus De Bordeaux (UGC). The blizzard detained or just prevented some Chataeau representatives from attending the tasting in New York.

I filled in for two Chateaus. First was Chateau Fieuzal from Pessac Leognan region. Chateau Fieuzal produces a red and a white but is more known for their white wine. I had the opportunity of pouring it to just a few appreciative white Bordeaux wine guests. Bordeaux whites are generally not understood and appreciated. They are a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. The Château rep came shortly and I moved on to the St. Emilion region and poured Chateau La Dominique. Here they only produce a red Bordeaux blend. The 2013 blend was 85% Merlot 12% Cabernet Franc and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon. I spent almost the rest of the afternoon pouring the 4 bottles given to me. I was located next to the Chateau rep from Chateau Troplong Mondot. After having some quality time in talking with her, I saw the view from both sides of the table at once. Then as I poured, I saw my viewpoint as the taster/evaluator and that of the proud producer. It made me appreciate more of this 2013 vintage that I was pouring.

If there was a group of words that was just as common as the red wine stains on the tablecloths, it was the words “it was a difficult year”. This was the answer that my neighbor gave to the question “How is your 2013 vintage?” Later I also heard these same words from many of the Chateau reps.

They were not happy about it. But they are farmers first and wine makers second. They were given a slow start with a cold and very rainy spring. Summer was good but still not warm enough to help the grapes catch up from the slow start. A rainy September continued to make it a difficult year. Merlot, being a predominately early ripening grape variety, came to an acceptable ripeness level on the Left Bank.

Bordeaux has such a high benchmark that a year like 2013 made the wine taste worse then they actually did taste. Putting aside the great vintages of 2005, 2009 and 2010 this 2013 vintage did not even meet the Bordeaux  description of “Classic”. Therefore, I like to use the term “off year”.

I also saw a lack of enthusiasm with the tasters. The Château reps knew what they had in the bottle and knew that they made their best wine from what was given to them. Not every vintage can be a great one, so those non great vintages give us the opportunity to drink and enjoy the wine today. The 2005’s are still too young to truly enjoy what it has to offer. Now we can add the 2013 vintage to the drink today list.

The Chateaus are most likely going to have a difficult time in selling their entire 2013 vintage as soon as they would like to but it is still Bordeaux wine. It will be sold.