After a very promising start in early September the weather started playing it's usual Bordeaux tricks, and once again the harvest crews were using their slickers more than their sunscreen.
However, don't by any means write off this year's harvest. The grapes were very healthy, and many parcels had close to record sugar levels. Much of the Merlot was picked before any rain and careful growers were able to dodge the showers as they waited for good maturity to gather the Cabernet.
Hubert de Bouard put a few noses out of joint in St. Emilion in mid-September with his rather premature statement that he wouldn't be producing any Angelus this year because of the hail damage to his crops.
Coming from such an illustrious owner this cast a cloud over the quality of the harvest, which was in fact generally very good; even in some properties that did get hit by the hail. Despite Hubert's announcement, just last week he had selected 24 barrels that were "likely" to become the 99 vintage.
I've also been enjoying my last tasting of the 98's before I return to the USA for the winter. I have to say that I still find the Médoc and Graves wines better than many commentators have given them credit for. It's true that Pomerol and St. Emilion had some superb results in 1998, but it would be a mistake to let this overshadow the "Left Bank" wines.
These wines are by nature much less generous in the early spring when the crucial first showing is given to the press and negociants, and I can't help feeling that the qualities of "traditional" styled Bordeaux are starting to be eclipsed by the easier-tasting wines from the Right Bank. These wines have a much higher Merlot content, and in addition many undergo their malolactic fermentation in barrel, making them rather more approachable as early barrel samples.
Still, since these methods have only been in use for the past 10 years or so we'll have to wait another 10 or 20 years before we pass judgement on them - not so long really in the history of Bordeaux …
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