2009: the best vintage ever made?

At the Ban de Millésimes dinner in Bordeaux last night they were calling it ‘the best vintage ever made in Bordeaux’. Is it?

Well, on the Left Bank, where the hallmark of the year is the silkiness of the Cabernet Sauvignon tannins, there are wines of beautiful balance and superb elegance, often for the very long term.

But 2009 is not entirely homogeneous. For one thing, there are two kinds of tannins. There are the velvety-soft kind – often enormous, but so soft you could sink into them.

You see a lot of these in Pessac-Léognan, and they can be almost Californian in their lushness. Then there are the more classic kind: fine, ripe, extremely well handled, but definitely brisk at the moment, even chewy.

The Médoc has quite a lot of these. It doesn’t seem to be simply a matter of extraction, because there are light wines and extracted wines in both kinds.

Christian Moueix surmises that the rainstorms which hit the region to varying degrees on 19-20 September might have been a contributory factor in creating the difference.

For another thing, although it’s a vintage marked by balance – and the top wines are seamless – there is some over-extraction, particularly among some St-Emilion Grands Crus Classés, and some wines where the alcohol is hot and obtrusive.

Merlot was often coming in at 15%, and needed to be calmed by the Cabernet. So while yes, they probably are right, consumers will still need advice.

The dry whites are ripe and pure-fruited, and as for the sweet whites… Yquem 2009 is I think the finest young Yquem I’ve ever tasted.

Margaret Rand, reporting from Bordeaux, 01.04.2010