Blatch on Bordeaux 2006 – the wines

2006 dry whites are possibly the best and most regularly good part of this erratic vintage. They were mostly picked at a leisurely pace during the early September heatwave, so they missed the mid-September rain. After a moist August and now a hot September, only a few grapes here and there had rotted and these were easily eliminated. The cool August was, as in ’02 and ’04, a boon for the whites, avoiding loss of acidity and preserving freshness. Growers were especially pleased with their sturdy, aromatic yet powerful Sauvignons, tensile like the ‘98s and ‘04s, but also very reminiscent of those ripe almost New Zealand Sauvignons of ’96. The Sémillons were slightly weaker in constitution, but very good all the same and, together, they will make an excellent vintage, in the vibrant style of ’98 and ’04 but with some of the fatness of ’96.

2006 red wines are very variable, from region to region, estate to estate and within each estate. For the Merlots, it was primarily a question of the degree of ripeness when the grapes started to go fragile. The earlier regions like Pomerol and Pessac-Léognan clearly had an advantage here, whilst the Southern Médoc would seem to have done better than the North because it received less mid-September rain. Beyond these very broad generalisations, it was an estate thing rather than a region thing. Some vats show good depth and concentration, but everyone had parcels that had to be picked before absolute ripeness, so, in spite of the generally lesser acidities than in ’05, there is a certain impression in other vats of sharpness. Happily, the sugar levels remained high to the end (with the water-tables so low, the vines drink less, and the yields were naturally low), and so there is alcohol power to balance, generally well over 13° – very little artificial concentration or chaptalisation were needed this year, for the eighth year running. All those osmosis machines have seen zero return on an 8-year investment. Some Merlots, especially the earlier ones, have a lovely bright freshness of fruit, whilst others, partly maybe because they withered a little, are blander, lacking real intensity of flavour.

This was not a year for over-vinification. With traces of green in the tannins, and pips that were not at total ripeness, there was a real danger of extracting bitterness. So the watchword was for moderate pumping-over, cap-plunging etc and shorter macerations than usual. “Saignées” (vat-bleeding) were generally performed on most of the Merlots, most around 15%, and especially on those that came in slightly diluted by the mid-September rain, but skin-contact was little used for fear of extracting hardness. As in Burgundy, such winemaking moderation can give a false impression of lightness, and the wines are expected to “flesh out” in barrel.

The Cabernet Sauvignons generally fared better than the Merlots. Like the Merlots, they had re-concentrated in the extraordinary early September heatwave, but being less ripe when the rain came, had been less vulnerable in mid-September. They were to approach total ripeness only as they re-re-concentrated for the second time (just as in ‘96) in the sunny warmth of late September / early October. The heavy rain of the night of 3rd October, right in the middle of these proceedings, did not seem to do much harm. It came at night and quickly ran off. The following days, however, were showery and warm, and the nights were warm too, so there was not much point at this late stage of tempting the devil and, by the weekend of 7th October, everyone had finished, the final ones, as in ’98, in a bit of a hurry and maybe not at total phenolic ripeness. Everybody was pleased however with the main body of the Cabs, and in most Médoc estates, although they are finer and “slighter” than the quite strong Merlots, they are considered to be the mainstay of the vintage.

Yields for the red harvest were generally lower than the already short ‘02s, ‘03s and ‘05s. Beware allocations! At Bordeaux Rouge level, the CIVB policy of ultra-tight production control continues, and at commune AC level, the permitted yields were virtually unchanged from ’05. We are now in a yield mode that is 30-40% less than in the roaring 80s. This just has to account for some of the extra concentration that we otherwise would not have had in a year like this: with 80s-type yields, ’06 would have ended up a gooey mess. Anyway, the yields were very naturally low this year and the controls were finally not very necessary.

2006 reds will certainly become known, as in ’01 and ’04 and left bank ’98, as a fine-styled elegant vintage, but there is also a certain power there that will surely sneak up on it with time. Because it was a drought year, and because July and early September were so hot, there will be elements in it of ’95, even’05, and for the Cabs ’96, that will surely fill out the currently fine, tight, fresh character of the fruit. However, there will also be elements of not totally ripe Merlot that could give a hint of ’02, and of Cabs that didn’t quite make it to the end as in ’88, or that got a bit pinched by the rain as in ‘99. So the premature over-simplistic conclusion of the red vintage could be expressed as: 50% of ’04, 15% of ’88, 10% of ’99, 15% of ’96 and 10% of ’95. How’s that?

Sauternes suffered like everyone else from the damp August followed by the early September blast of heat. In addition, this region had seen more rainfall in July and August than elsewhere: 28 mm 2nd – 6th July, 16 mm 2nd August (when Mérignac had only 5), 23 mm on 18th August (16), plus the 16 mm that everyone had on 25th August. When the early September heat arrived, there was a lot of bad rot to weed out – botrytis on green grapes, “aigre” [sour]: grapes that had gone volatile.

As a result, just as in 1997 (not too shabby a reference), a first “negative harvest” had to be performed to clean up the vineyard very early, some around 7th September, others after the onset of the rainy period 14th. Of course, during this operation, there was good botrytis mixed in with the bad, and this became the long stretched out first “saved trie”. These musts, at seriously run estates, were exceptionally pure and fine, with high sugar levels and good acidities.

Most stopped for the worst of the rainy period 14th – 18th, then, with the rising temperatures of 20th bringing fresh botrytis, proceeded to do the same again: a negative harvest simultaneously with the second “trie” – or continuation of the first, or both together. This time, there was more of the good stuff and less of the bad, and the week of 25th September saw the largest part and the best of the harvest, most of it in tip-top condition.

A third and fourth “trie” immediately followed as even more botrytis arrived very rapidly (this was a warm, humid autumn) and many finished before the heavy rain of the night of 3rd October, whilst others continued in the fine weather of the rest of October, but had to agree afterwards that these final picks were not the best.

All the “lots” are of course still apart, and, as for the reds, there are tremendous differences between them, but the general impression is of great freshness, quite high acidity and high potential alcohol, usually 20 – 22°C (If this had been an “off-year”, they wouldn’t have been even at 18). The aromatics are extremely interesting, being a combination of very ripe fruit (presumably from the hot July and early September) and of very fresh fruit (from the cool August). In this sense, it resembles ’02 and ’04, but seems to have more power and “roast”, something of ’97 or ’05 in addition. Most fermentations stopped at 13° rather than the more usual 14° on the initial musts, and many châteaux deliberately chose to ferment higher on the final “tries” to compensate the slight lack of alcohol of the first ones, without losing all their brilliant freshness in so doing. But, despite these efforts, generally the final prototype blends are of lesser alcohol and higher sweetness than usual, showing 13°5 + 8 rather than the 14 + 7.5 which we might have expected from such a vintage and which would certainly have been automatic 20 years ago. Question of fashion? – “Vive l’Ontario libre!”.

Just like the reds, this vintage will possibly be associated en primeur more with its problems than its successes, but it is certainly a candidate to secure its place in the ’98, ’99, ’02, ’04 league of “very good vintages” rather than the “great vintages”, but, with Sauternes sales continuing so buoyant, the vintage focus at some stage just has to progressively widen beyond only the greats.

Yields in most cru classé estates were merely 10-15 hectolitres per hectare (the maximum permitted is 25). They would have been at 18 – 25, just as in ’05, without the “vendanges negatives”.

A table showing the year’s monthly rainfall and temperatures will be published here on Monday 26 feb.

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Bordeaux 2006

Jancis Robinson