Bordeaux Primeurs 2013: Silence the media!

The Cavissima team tastes the 2013 Primeurs wines.

Cavissima shares its observations on the 2013 Bordeaux Primeurs wines.

Back from Bordeaux, where the team Cavissima spent two days to taste the 2013 Bordeaux Primeurs and no less than 160 different vintages, here are our impressions.

We were pleasantly surprised during the tasting and found no major flaws in these wines. The 2013 vintage will be neither exceptional nor catastrophic, as the media predicted. See our previous blog post on this topic.

The weather had made the ripening of the different grape varieties particularly difficult. The incessant rain from February to June gave way to two pleasant months of July and August, but September was again marked by rainy spells and relatively warm nights. With the threat of botrytis looming, the harvest dates became crucial and speed of the collection will have been even more decisive.

Paradoxically, the great wines of the Right Bank will be predominantly made from Merlot, as the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are not yet fully ripe. Conversely, the great red wines of the Left Bank will be mainly made from Cabernet Sauvignon due to coulure (poor fruit set) affecting the Merlot grapes, particularly the older ones.

Regarding this delicate vintage, Here are our observations :

• The hierarchy of the 1855 classification is generally respected. The terroir has regained some of its rights.
• The work in the vineyard will have been necessary To adapt the plant to specific conditions: rapid leaf removal, green harvesting, and disease control. More than ever, biodynamic production has often better controlled the impact of weather through soil cultivation that regulates water stress.
• Those who were able to harvest early enough, before September 27, were able to avoid further losses.
• The sorting process allowed us to select the pretty berries. That's the price we paid to achieve quality. yields were heavily impacted under these conditions with price reductions ranging from 10% to 75%.
• Slow extractions allowed the berries to be worked gently and yielded... tannins of a truly remarkable silkiness.
• Sweet wines are sumptuous and deserve special attention.
• The dry white wines are successful and have great potential.

Our favorite names are, in order Sauternes, Pomerol, Margaux, Pessac Léognan, Saint-Emilion, Saint-Estèphe, Moulis And Haut-MédocThe rare Pauillac The ones we tasted were remarkable.

Find the following in this 2013 vintage notes by Robert Parker.