Multi-vintage, multi-pleasure

Blending is a Bordeaux signature. Bringing together grapes from plots across a vineyard, different terroirs and grape varieties to build a wine that is greater than the sum of its parts. But what if winemakers took a  wider approach to a Bordeaux blend, including blending vintages? Wendy Narby reports.

 

The Bordeaux blend is so iconic the term is used by wine makers across the globe, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

There is legal leeway here, even a wine carrying a vintage on the label can add up to 15% from a previous vintage. We know how fickle mother nature can be, more and more so, wine makers can keep some wine back from a successful vintage in case next year doesn’t prove to be so good or so generous. Blending can rebalance and improve complimentary vintages as well as complimentary varieties.

Blending more than15% is allowed, but in this case no vintage can be mentioned on the label. This is common practice in many wine regions. Champagne brands are the classic example, blending across vintages to create a consistent house style from year to year. Laurent Perrier does this for their prestige Grand Siècle cuvée, the latest release blends 2012, 2008 and 2007.

The solera method, a mainstay of Sherry, takes this a step further, adding fractions of newer vintages to older ones. So why not Bordeaux?

Harmonie The rule of 3

To celebrate 50 years anniversary of Château de Villegeorge, in the Haut Medoc, Marie-Laure Lurton and her son Gabriel Roux-Lurton have blended three vintages to create Harmonie, a limited-edition cuvée.

A blend of three vintages seems an apt tribute to three generations of the Lurton family who are behind the property. The late Lucien Lurton was the first to see the potential of the property, a former Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel, when he bought it in 1973. Marie Laure took over in 1992, the same year she took over Château la Tour Bessan in Margaux. Now, her son Gabriel has joined the team and the new label is designed by her daughter Joséphine.

 Harmonie also reflects their philosophy of working with, rather than against, nature. The 12.32 ha estate is Terra Vitis certified for 20 years – a pioneer in Bordeaux.

They‘ve chosen ‘colour transition bottles’, bottles with a colour defect, that would normally be shredded and recycled at a high carbon cost and have eliminated metal capsules, all contributing to reducing the environmental impact of the cuvée

The blend is a majority of Cabernet Sauvignon with one third Merlot and a little Petit Verdot. They launched and test drove the concept in reusable ‘WIT’ (Wine In Tube) and by the glass at their popular ‘after work’ events at the chateau. 9 000 bottles of Harmonie are being bottled now for this first release.

Family friendly

Pleasing everyone in the family was the motivation for Estelle Roumage to create her new multi vintage cuvée at Château Lestrille in Entre deux Mers.

With ‘Dimanche en famille’, Estelle has spread her net a little wider, across five vintages creating  a blend of the 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2020 vintages, all excellent Bordeaux vintages, for a first bottling of 8.000 bottles. Bottled as a Vin de France, 100% Merlot, part aged in barrel. All the wines come from her sustainable vineyard in the Entre deux Mers, certified Organic since 2023 and Beefriendly since 2020 .

Bringing together the smooth characteristics of older wines and the bright fruit of younger vintages, creates a wine to please all palettes, from young to older family members, a wine that everyone can enjoy together with Sunday Lunch. The label illustrates the point, it’s based on a black and white photo dating from the 1940s of the family enjoying a picnic together on the coast on the Basin d’Arcachon.

Could multi-vintage be a new way of reaching a larger Bordeaux market?  The next step in complexity and harmony of the Bordeaux blend or is it about Bordeaux wine makers having some fun? The two are not mutually exclusive.

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