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Bordeaux 2014: Left or Right?
Widely acknowledged as the best vintage since 2010, even if not perfect, do critic’s scores for 2014 generally favour the Left or Right Banks of the Gironde?
After a tricky growing season the 2014s were saved by a late burst of sun and warmth in the run-up to the harvest. Declared a “miracle” vintage in some quarters and at least a “top” vintage at Montrose, even some Bordelais, including at Cheval Blanc, admitted it wasn’t “outstanding”.
Reports from the trade have been mixed, praising the vintage in some areas and expressing some disappointment in others. Taking two critics’, Micheal Schuster and Jean-Marc Quarin, preliminary notes which “rive” appears to have the edge in 2014?
In his report, Michael Schuster said the reds in particular could be “inconsistent”, quality being decided on, “when, where and how much it rained.”
As is usual in difficult, wet years, the earlier-flowering and ripening Merlot on the Right Bank suffer proportionally more than the later ripening Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc on the Left although Right Bank estates with a high reliance on Cabernet Franc can be spared the problems suffered by Merlot-dominated blends and this appears to have been the case.
The best wines are marked, said Schuster, by their “freshness” and the Cabernets in particular have a “fine textured tannin” thanks to the Indian summer that allowed full phenolic maturation which was lacking in the Merlot (which were at least sugar ripe).
Bordeaux-based critic Jean-Marc Quarin also referred to the cool July conditions which he said: “Generally leads to a lack in a wine’s performance on the mid-palate, not enough vigour and no tight tannic structure on the finish.”
He continued: “As the wine builds on the palate, it’s as if it cannot take off from the sensations on the attack and the mid-palate to make it up to the finish. The wines can be attractive and have balance and a certain presence, but fail to move into top gear after five or six seconds on the palate.”
Nonetheless, he noted that the very best wines (as is always the case) had managed to evade “better than others” these pitfalls.
What is interesting, when the notes between Schuster and Quarin are compared, however is their respective choices for “best” wines of the vintage, the former leaning more to the Left and the latter to the Right.
Pétrus is the only Right Bank estate to appear in Schuster’s “Absolute Top Wines”, which also include Mouton, Latour, Ducru Beaucaillou and Cos d’Estournel.
By contrast, Quarin picks the Cabernet Franc heavy (a record 60%) Ausone as his top wine, followed by L’Extravagant de Doisy-Daëne (Schuster didn’t list any Sauternes but the wines come in for special praise), Lafleur, Angélus and Les Carmes Haut-Brion.
These were closely followed by Cheval Blanc (with Quarin surprised with a slight lack – 45% – of Cabernet Franc “in view of the wine’s history and the vintage”) and l’Eglise-Clinet.
Other than this preference for one bank over the other the list of top wines from both includes a number of similar names.
Schuster rated Angelus, Ausone and Lafleur a little lower than Quarin, just as Quarin pegged Latour, Mouton and Petrus lower in his; but Palmer, Margaux, Vieux Château Certan and Pichon Baron all appeared on both lists in respectable positions.
Discrepancies between tasters’ lists is completely normal and there is the long-held view (not entirely inaccurate) that UK palates prefer cooler, Cabernet wines to the richer, Merlot driven wines US taste buds seem to admire so.
Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see what broad consensus the trade came to when Liv-ex releases its “Merchants’ Survey” in the near future. Will the Left Bank dominate or will Cabernet Franc dominated Right Bank heavyweights steal the show? Might Yquem bag best wine of the vintage for the second year in a row?
Ultimately, Schuster observed that there a great deal of good wines across the spectrum of region and (potential) price and that: “Red and white, will give a great deal of pleasure and win many friends for Bordeaux. At the right price, they certainly deserve cellar space.”
Micheal Schuster’s full Bordeaux report will appear in the June issue of the World of Fine Wine, while Jean-Marc Quarin’s notes can be found on his website.