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Bordeaux 1994
Following the dreadfully disappointing trio of vintages from 1991 to 1993, the Bordelais were desperate for a successful year. With the 1994 vintage it seemed, at least at first, that this was to be the case. But in Bordeaux, nothing can be taken for granted. My vintage review below gives a brief summary of the characteristics of the vintage, and there are links to my tasting notes to the right.
Vintage Review
The summer was characterised by several months of warm, sunny weather;
optimum conditions for the ripening of healthy grapes full of flavour and
tannin. Like the preceding three years, however, rain stopped play. During the
middle two weeks of September there was non-stop precipitation on the vineyards
of Bordeaux, bringing quality down, and the hopes of the winemakers with it.
In some areas the vintage is rated a success, by me at least, but in others the wines are less highly rated. There is occasionally a difference of opinion, with some critics viewing the vintage as a good source of classically styled, tannic wines, which have good structure and which will come good with time in the cellar, whereas some think of them merely as overly tannic, harsh and charmless. I find myself somewhere between the two camps. I cannot apply the blanket description of 'charmless' to the vintage as I have certainly found some wines with charm. Also many wines display a healthy structure, substance and fruit. I do not deny that some can be found which perhaps have an excess of drying tannin, but tannin is a problem shared with the 1986 vintage. In both cases the simple fact is that this should improve with cellar time, and we can only hope that the fruit holds out.
The communes that fared best in 1994 were Graves, Pomerol and the top left bank villages. Indeed, I have had some superb white Graves from this vintage, not least from Chateau de Fieuzal. The reds from these regions can also be very good, with the usual suspects such as Léoville-Barton, and the freshly revitalised Pontet-Canet - this vintage marked the beginning of an amazing about-turn for this estate - all showing well. (7/7/04, updated 24/5/07)
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