An uneven vintage

Make no mistake: 2012 was a difficult year for the Bordeaux vigneron. The winter of 2011/12 was very dry, exacerbating a water deficit accumulated over several years. Spring had a false dawn, only for temperatures to plunge: Lynch-Bages recorded its coldest and driest February since 1956. Next, mild weather prompted an early budburst but then spring turned cool and rainy. Flowering was protracted and complicated, which led to uneven fruit development - both between and within bunches - and then there was pressure from mildew and oidium. From mid-July there was a dramatic change: La Conseillante recorded its hottest August since 2003; Cos d'Estournel a summer even drier than 2010, as well as substantial variation between day- and night-time temperatures. These conditions enabled greater or lesser degrees of recovery from the early setbacks - indeed, at Chateau Margaux they were even anticipating a great vintage. But early October saw a drop in temperature and the onset of wet weather, adding difficulty to a very late harvest.

Forty years ago, said Jean-Louis Triaud at St-Pierre, the results would've been mediocre. But much has changed. Today, Chateau St-Pierre employs nearly 250 people at harvest-time, together with satellite imagery to identify peak ripeness block by block, and spectrometry to measure tannin ripeness. Across the road, Bruno Borie used nine new hydraulic trailers - which unload by vibration - and "tri-optical" sorters (at 200,000€ a piece) to eliminate imperfections in Ducru-Beaucaillou. Others relied on experience and wisdom, not to mention constant labouring among the vines: bud thinning, shoot selection, tying-off, removal of secondary shoots, leaf removal, bunch thinning. Xavier Borie said it was making the right decisions at the right time which allowed him to "pull the rabbit out of the hat," at Grand-Puy-Lacoste. It was all about countering the heterogeneity, bringing the fruit to optimum ripeness, and then picking it at precisely the right moment.

Overall, the year favoured Merlot over the later ripening Cabernets, and Pomerol appears to be the single most successful commune. Yet there are some lovely wines on the left bank. Yields are much lower than they used to be - 39hl per ha at Branaire-Ducru, for example, compared with 55-57 for the '95/'96 vintages - and the levels of phenolic compounds (tannins and anthocyanins) much higher - "much higher than those of the mythical vintages of the '50s or '60s," according to Bruno Borie. Strict selection - both in the vineyard and the winery - has produced wines with concentration which also have freshness and, in the best cases, proper ripeness, fine tannins, and relatively low alcohol levels. Comparisons drawn included: '95/'96/'01/'06 (Branaire); '96 (Ch Margaux - and "not far" off '10); '98/'01 (Lynch Bages); '98/'01/'08 (Cheval Blanc); '01 (Haut-Brion); '04/'05 (Gruaud); '07 (Rauzan-Segla). The best wines will doubtless prove very popular for mid-term drinking. And let's not forget the dry whites - where we have yet another very successful vintage - or the sweet ones, where there are some delicious wines, especially in Barsac.

2012 is more variable from chateau to chateau than 2011, and the peaks - including several of the first growths or equivalents - are higher but the troughs lower. This is a vintage to buy very selectively en primeur. As usual, there has been a lot of speculation about pricing, and we can only hope that more proprietors follow the policy of Alfred Tesseron, who told us that he aims to set the price of Pontet-Canet at a level which makes buyers come to regret that they didn't buy more. With that in mind, here are three dozen 2012s which we think merit attention en primeur:

St-Estephe: Cos d'Estournel, Lafon-Rochet, Les Ormes de Pez, Montrose
Pauillac: Armailhac, Batailley, Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Haut-Bages Liberal, Lynch-Bages, Pichon Lalande, Pichon-Longueville, Pontet-Canet
St-Julien: Branaire-Ducru, Ducru-Beaucaillou, Gloria, Gruaud-Larose, Leoville-Barton, Sarget de Gruaud-Larose, St-Pierre
Margaux: Alter Ego, Angludet, Brane-Cantenac, Durfort-Vivens, Palmer, Rauzan-Segla
Pessac-Leognan: Domaine de Chevalier, Haut-Bailly, Latour-Martillac, Smith-Haut-Lafitte
Pomerol: Conseillante, L'Eglise-Clinet, Feytit-Clinet, Vieux Chateau Certan
St-Emilion: Canon, Clos Fourtet, Figeac

There's also been a lot of speculation about an early campaign. Yesterday there was evidence of it with the release of Gazin. /AR