If you were to trace my knowledge of Bordeaux through the 20th century it is during the s that it begins to deepen. Over the years I have of course tasted wines from many older vintages, from the s and s back into the first half of the 20th century, such as this All The Nines in Bordeaux tasting, which started with the vintage.
But I would say my own understanding of the region, opinions formed around extensive and repeated tastings of the wines rather than occasional encounters with potentially dodgy old bottles really begins in the s. When I cut my teeth on Bordeaux it was with this decade; I quickly became familiar with the too-easily overlooked , much-hyped and frankly under-rated vintages, the wines of which I have returned to many times since.
Take me back a few years though, into the s, and we are in less familiar territory. Right on the cusp, sitting at the very edge of my guide to Bordeaux and its vintages , is Coming after a run of several late-ripening and challenging years see, I do know something about s Bordeaux , was another late harvest for the region, the fruit picked under difficult and stormy conditions.
The problems began in May and June, when a prolonged period of damp and cool weather both delayed and prolonged the flowering. As a result there was both coulure and millerandage , and even that fruit which did set successfully the subsequent ripening was heterogeneous. It was looking like another slow year and another delayed harvest fraught with the risk of rain. It was in August that the vintage turned around, albeit just a little. The vines were helped by a warmer than expected September, but conditions became so warm and humid it resulted in a series of thunderstorms, bringing rain at harvest time, a defining moment for the vintage.
Some picked before the rain, while some waited and picked afterwards, many that did so recording their latest harvest for sixty years. Some just soldiered on regardless. Many wines were on the lighter side, and by the s some prominent commentators of the day were already suggesting the wines be drunk up.
