Bordeaux 2015 EP(1)
Last week’s release of ROSE DE CHEVALIER 2015 and ROSE DE LA SOLITUDE 2015
from Domaine de Chevalier kicked off quietly the 2015 En Primeur champaign.
After 5 years’ Bordeaux malaise, there should be plenty of excitement and no small amount of fanfare for a vintage heralded as the best in a generation after 2010. Can Vintage 2015 ignite the Bordeaux market?
Well, lots of optimistism have been expressed.
Jancis Robinson hints 2015 stylistics, that of power and structure, with the hot dry interchange, and hence. Decanter says 2015 is ‘on the verge of greatness’.
Assuring it is a good vintage, WSJ quotes from Gibbs of Livrex’, forecasting 2015 Ep sales boost after 4 months of continuous recovery on sales(since September 2015).
Drinks Business titles Bordeaux sales ‘on course to make legendary vintage’, citing some expert opinions.
The Local, a French magazines, says 2015 Bordeaux is ‘manificient’.
The collective view seems to be 2015 is comparable to 2005 in quality, if not in style. The Merlots are ‘wonderful’ and the Cabernets ‘perfectly mature. Yet warrants to say that lots of variances are with the vintage 2015, so actual tasting and experimental learnings are important.
Indeed the overall climate condition of 2015 pointed to a hot vintage. June was ‘dry and extremely dry’; it rained in August when véraison was achieved; there came some cool nights in September. Regional pourings were caused by Tropical Storm Henri, so water dilution was localized and results had been difficult to generalize. Bordeaux was just having un-Bordeaux climates.
It’s true that conditions are right, yet irregularities set in right after these good growth conditions. Some whites, particularly those from Pessac Leognan, seemed harvested earlier(Baudac et al) last week of August. Rainfall in North Medoc much higher than in South Medoc. Merlots harvest mostly before 20 September(Baudac et al). Some such as Angelus and Cheval Blanc even harvested earlier.
What wines are with the qualitites of 2015 vintage character, value and prestige all come together brilliantly? are they priced sensibly? That’s the question we attempt to answer. More updates will follow before the dust settles from the ‘manic’ launch and subsequent rush to lock down the top wines. We will step back a while to look at a distance at the wines which we feel have come to epitomise the 2015 campaign.
