Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - 8

FINED&

filtered

Letter from Bordeaux

Charm & Energy in 2016

by Fiona Morrison, MW

Journalists love to ask Bordeaux winemakers to compare their latest offering with a past vintage,
hoping the comparison will provide insight on the new wines. This year, all comparisons are
useless: Winemakers admit they have never seen a vintage like 2016. Finesse and power, acidity
and richness: The balance of these different elements hangs on a fine thread, which, when
successful, runs seamlessly through the wine. This is the hallmark of the top 2016s.

"This year, acidity and
freshness highlighted the
differences between the
domaines and brought out
their identities."
-Jean-Philippe Delmas

Morrison's Top Wines
Figeac (most improved estate this year)
Haut Brion
Lafleur
Latour
Léoville Las Cases
Lynch Bages
Mouton Rothschild
Palmer
Pétrus
Pichon Baron
Pontet Canet
Editor's Note: The author is not listing any
of her family-owned properties, including Le
Pin, L'If and Vieux Château Certan.

8

The Janus effect of the 2016 season began with a
winter of unending cold and rain, followed by a
summer that was sunny and dry from July until
November. The same amount of rain fell during
the first six months of 2016 (19.7 inches) as for
the entire year of 2015. By contrast, not one drop
of rain fell from the middle of June until the 14th
of August, when 2.2 inches fell in the Médoc and
less than 1.4 inches on the Right Bank. The dry
spell then continued, relieved only by showers at
the beginning of September, and virtually nothing more until the middle of October. Young vines
suffered through the drought; old vines benefited
from the slow-down in growth-the drought, in
fact, extended the growing season-producing
wines that were remarkably dark in color and tannic but well balanced. Many winemakers attributed this to the depths the roots had to travel in
search of water: They believe the vines absorbed
more of the various minerals trapped in the different layers of soils, adding to the complexity
of the fruit, and that the energy they expended
on root development led to more concentration
in the grapes. Also key: the cool northwest wind
that blew during the first two weeks of August,
especially over the Médoc, and cool September
nights (often around 41°F) -small but significant
reprieves from the heat for the vines.
"In 2015, with the density and richness, the 'big
boys' were more similar," says Jean-Philippe Delmas, referencing the first growths of Bordeaux,
including the wines he makes at Château Haut
Brion. "This year, we did everything to preserve
the acidity and freshness that highlighted the differences between the domaines and brought out
their identities." In spite of the summer drought,
he notes that water reserves in the top sites were
just about sufficient for optimal ripening. "In fact
we had almost Napa Valley weather conditions
during the summer; but if we had had permission
to irrigate, we would have lost the freshness, had
darker colors and less charm."

WINE & SPIRITS JUNE 2017

After the 2000 vintage, when many Bordeaux
wine estates made enough money to redo their cellars, they replaced their large stainless-steel tanks
with much smaller vessels of around 50 hectoliters,
often opting for concrete or amphorae in an effort
to temper the alcohol levels of recent vintages.
The 2016s have lower alcohol than the '14s and
'15s, and the smaller vats had additional benefits:
Many top estates vinified any overripe or droughtaffected fruit separately so as not to spoil the
purity or energy of the rest of the grapes.
The result is a vintage defined by charm and
energy. The wines are fresh and perfumed with
notes of violets, roses and meadow flowers. Even
in April, the wines featured tannins so fresh,
smooth and silky that it was easy to almost overlook the sheer depth of their flavor and their tannic richness.
There were a few exceptions: Some producers,
especially in St-Emilion, are still using extraction
techniques such as cold soaks, barrel fermentation
for red wines, pigéage or too much new oak-but
for most, the aim was to preserve the beautiful
pure fruit and floral aromas evident as the grapes
entered the fermentation vats. Olivier Berrouet
of Pétrus puts it succinctly: "This vintage was all
about precision and rigor. The road to the top was
steep: We needed to preserve all that greatness,
without going too far."
Although the most outstanding wines were
made in the great terroirs, there are lots of wines
from the Côtes, the Cru Bourgeois of the Médoc
and the satellite appellations that are very attractive and will offer good early to mid-term drinking
while waiting for the top wines to reach maturity.
Just know that this could be a very long wait: Most
château directors believe that these are the greatest wines they have made in the modern era and
that they will take a few decades to become ready
to drink. As Alexander Van Beek of châteaus Giscours and du Tertre sums up: "2016 is a classic
beauty with brains." n



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - June 2017

Contents
Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - Cover1
Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - Cover2
Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - 1
Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - 2
Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - 3
Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - 4
Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - Contents
Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - 6
Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - 7
Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - 8
Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - 9
Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - 10
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Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - Cover3
Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - Cover4
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