White Bordeaux harvests, everyone else waits

The harvest of Bordeaux’s white varieties is well underway as winemakers in the region and Burgundy fix their sights on a late September harvest for the reds.

The outcome of the Bordeaux 2010 harvest is still debatable, with some producers confident of a decent vintage and others pointing to extreme water stress in the vines.

Châteaux La Garde, Haut Brion and Carbonnieux began harvesting their white grapes in the first week of this month.

Guillaume Pouthier, head winemaker and director of Domaines Dourthe, said that the Sauvignon Gris harvest had been completed without a hitch and the harvesting of the Sauvignon Blanc should begin either today (9 September) or tomorrow.

“The berries at La Garde have excellent aromatic potential with fine acidity and freshness. The volumes are normal and the Sauvignon Gris grapes are perfectly ripe,” he reported.

“To date, we are finding freshness of the 2007 vintage but with sugar balance closer to 2001.”

However, it is the state of the red grapes that currently divides opinion. Ronan Laborde of Château Clinet told Bordeaux Index that the outlook for 2010 was “promising”.

He estimated that production would be 15% less than 2009 and that, despite a difficult flowering and hot conditions: “All the berries have already turned to red on our spot (Cabernet included). Looking at the leaves and tasting some berries makes us think it is a promising vintage.”

Frédéric Bonnaffous, also a director at Domaines Dourthe, said that: “There is less stress (than 2009) and more opportunity for the development of aroma, colour and tannins. The berries are small, concentrated and have good acidity.”

This analysis goes against a recent warning from consultant Jacques Boissenot that unless rain arrived this week, the grapes would not have achieved the right levels of ripeness when it came to harvest.

Boissenot, who consults for 180 prestigious châteaux including four of the first growths: Lafite, Latour, Mouton-Rothschild and Margaux, said that July and August had been “desert-like” and that water stress was a severe problem.

The early-flowering Merlots have been the most severely hit in his opinion and grapes in Pomerol are “almost dry”.

Readings taken on 2 September showed the potential alcohol levels for the Merlots pushing 13.5% and 12.5% for the Cabernets. This means the final wines could surpass even 2009 for alcoholic strength.

Boissenot continued, saying that even with rain forecasted for next week it may be too little too late and the risk of rot and dilution would increase. Whether the rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week was enough is not yet known.

On the other hand, while some producers have admitted that their vines are thirsty, several have commented on the general health of their crop and said that, due to the dry conditions during the summer, the grapes would be in a good condition to withstand the threat of rot and disease caused by any rain in the run up to the harvest.

Producers have begun to place the date of the harvest at 24 September, weather permitting.

Meanwhile in Burgundy, Louis Jadot released a pre-harvest report that also predicts the main harvest taking place in Burgundy in late September and mid-September in Beaujolais.

Louis Jadot’s president, Pierre-Henry Gagey, reported that: “The 2010 vintage has been challenging but these first few days in September will have a great influence on the final harvest so we wait in anticipation.

“This year particularly we know that the quality of the harvest will be far from even all over the Burgundy and Beaujolais regions and that there will be many variations between crus and producers.”

Volumes are expected to be small in both regions and growing conditions have been largely similar to that of Bordeaux.

Météo France forecast a mixture of sun and rain in Burgundy over the next week and a sunny end of the week in Bordeaux followed by rain from Monday 13 September to the Wednesday.

The effect this will have on the red varieties and the complications it could have on the white grape harvest remains to be seen.

Gary Boom, Bordeaux Index’s founder, said: “The early signs are promising for the 2010 Bordeaux. However, we’re certainly not getting carried away – there’s a long way to go and a lot can happen before we can start getting really excited.”

Gagey summed up the likely situation for both regions when he said that it would be, “a winemaker’s year”.

Rupert Millar, 09.09.10