Blog: Steven Spurrier
The wine market in Bordeaux, the world's largest fine wine producing region with over 110,000 hectares under vines and a history going back to the Romans, is unique in that its wines are tasted by international professionals only a few months after each vintage and long-ranging decisions are then taken by the estates who have their wines to sell and the international wine market on this very early judgement.
The reason is that, historically, the wine-producing chateaux have needed to finance to sell early on to cover their expenses of the past vintage and the vintage to come. This is no longer the case, as the top chateaux have been in more than sound financial health for a decade or more, but still the "futures" system, known as "en primeur" exists. For this reason I, and many wine critics and merchants from the UK, were in Bordeaux the first week of April, just five months since the last bunches of grapes were harvested, to make our judgements on the hundreds and hundreds of wines we taste, still in their very raw state, during those five days. The opinions of people like myself are then placed on websites around the world and the quality of the vintage is announced, although the red wines, at least, will not be bottled for another 15 months and should not be drunk for a minimum of another five years. In the current economic climate, the 2008 vintage had not received many accolades so far. To say that I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement.
"Nobody's going to believe it, but 2008 in Bordeaux is rather a good vintage." Thus wrote Bill Blatch back in December in his annual report for Vintex, the Bordeaux negociant. With almost four decades at the centre of the action, Blatch is the master of reflective comment. "Meteorologically, 2008 looks to be the identical twin of 2007: each month's temperatures and rainfall figures are about the same, starting with a mild winter, continuing into a wet spring, a mediocre, dull and damp summer and were then saved by a miraculous turnaround in the form of a glorious autumn."
So how is it that the late-harvest wines of 2007 - bright, fruit-driven and forward - are so different to the darker, richer, more generous and more tannic 2008s? The answer, according to Blatch, is that the 2007s had an erratic early start, slowed down completely during the summer months and were then saved by a flash last-minute ripening in September. In 2008 the vine never did anything fast, had very slow cycles which allowed it to ripen the grapes very gradually, and (to people's consternation) very inconspicuously.
What of the actual wines? The 2008 dry whites continues the run of very good wines for this increasingly admired category, overall less tight than 2007, perhaps less fleshy than 2006. The sweet whites - I only tasted in Barsac and Sauternes - are finely-poised, elegant wines, but not a patch on the stand-out 2007s. The reds surprised me with their depth and consistency of fruit across all the appellations. Certainly, acidities are firmer than 2005, but tannins are less tough than 2006 and a fresh ripeness is everywhere evident, bolstered by a highish but harmonious alcohol content. General opinion was that 2008 is less good than the perfect 2005, superior 2004 and perhaps better-balanced than 2006. My view is that it resembles the under-rated 2001, with a little more vigour and concentration due to the smaller crop, a vintage that needs to be laid down for the medium to long term. As to whether it is a Right or Left Bank vintage, the better wines were so consistent that both banks impressed equally, the Right showing advantageously at this stage, thanks to its earlier harvest.
And the prices? Berry Brothers and Rudd announced before the tastings that "if prices don't come down by half, we won't buy a single case". Speaking to Simon Staples, the Bordeaux buyer, on the flight back on Friday afternoon, this was softened to "the wines have to show good value for our customers, which they certainly have not for the past two vintages; we are talking to the chateaux, but if they hold a gun to our heads, we will walk away." As I write, one week since my return, some prices are coming out at the same level as those for 2004, a 40% drop from 2007. Since 2008 is a better vintage than 2004, which were themselves considered undervalued compared to the expensive 2003s and the very expensive 2005s, this could be considered a "bargain", but such is the state of the economy that sales will be slow.
The Bordeaux futures market has little bearing on what will be sold on the Indian market, as, apart from a few collectors who already have a habit of buying "en primeur", these wines will not be offered until they are safely in bottle. Perhaps the world-wide economies will have improved by then? Whatever the future has in store, one thing is very plain: the era of intense speculation in the wines of Bordeaux since the 1995 vintage has come to an end. Inevitably, it will start up again, for the Bordeaux market represents the only "blue chip stock market" of wines in the world. But for the moment "satisfaction" is my watchword, not "speculation". I will certainly buy some 2008s for my own cellar, but not just yet.
