Weekend White: 2017 dry Bordeaux

Château Tronquoy-Lalande Blanc

By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles 

20 February 2021

Much is said of 2019, 2018 and 2016 as recent “great” Bordeaux vintages, naturally regarding red wines. However, this world famous region crafts many whites, dry and “sweet”, so it was useful to taste a just-released 2017 dry white from the excellent Saint Estèphe estate of Château Tronquoy-Lalande.

The density and freshness to match spicy Thai beef and eggplant.

About the 2017 vintage

While September rain seemed to lessen the éclat of the Cabernets (Sauvignons and Francs), “it was not a problem at all to be cooler in the summer for the whites,” stressed Eric Kohler (of Lafite Rothschild) about his dry white Rieussec. “When you have a strong summer, it can make a great red, but then it may make the whites a bit tired,” he said. “This year it was great because the fruits and the clusters, you wanted to eat like a salad.”

It proved also important to pick grapes before a heat wave towards the end of the harvesting season, added wine consultant Thomas Duclos. “Those who harvested before some particularly hot days ended up with very nice wines, but for those who did after – starting on 5 September – it was a bit more complicated,” he said.

Château Tronquoy-Lalande harvested between 21 August and 1 September, avoiding the heat wave that ended up making some 2017 whites taste somewhat flat.
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New grapes in Bordeaux to fight climate change

Foresight, or an easy way out?

by Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com

6 February 2021

Late last month it became official: France’s wine appellation authority (INAO) authorized six new grapes for Bordeaux to better adapt to climate change. Two are very well known: Touriga Nacional and Alvarinho.

As most readers know, the late ripening Touriga Nacional, famous in Portugal, yields rich black fruit, high tannin and has good resistance to diseases in the vineyard. Alvarinho also is used for Portugal’s Vinho Verde whites and is the same grape as Albariño in Spain. As most readers know, it yields dry whites with rather high acidity and resists grey rot.

You can read more about all six new grapes from Chris Mercer’s reporting in Decanter.

The INAO chose these grapes for naturally high acidity and resistance against specific vine diseases, according to Mercer. Also important to note is that these new authorized varieties in Bordeaux could only make up 5% of a producer’s vineyard area and 10% of a final wine blend, according to the Bordeaux Wine Council or CIVB. Ten percent may not sound like much to some people, but it can alter the identity of a wine indeed.

Many are upset by the news.

Why not use other methods to fight climate change, such as canopy management or existing grape clones more resistant to heat and dry weather? What about less leaf stripping, planting vines in cooler vineyards with northern exposures, for example, or work soils to reduce pH? That makes sense. For his part, Bordeaux based wine writer Yohan Castaing says that the logic is not so easy to follow, in this report. “While evolution in viticulture seems to be the basis, the CIVB has chosen to plant grape varieties that are very far removed from Merlot, the two Cabernets or Sauvignon Blanc” and this is true, too. Read More

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Do wine scores miss the point?

by Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 

3 February 2021

When I look at how I scored wines about 10 years ago, the scores were more conservative. Many more wines were rated between 88 and 92, and that was just swell. For a while, I never gave any wine 100 points, because perfection can be boring. 99 sounds more interesting, more real. And yet, how to deny the sheer exuberance of tasting, say, Cheval Blanc 2018 from bottle? From bottle mind you. I cannot really understand 100-point scores for barrel samples: the product is not even finished. 

But never mind 100. I miss an era, not too long ago but sadly gone, when a wine that garnered 88 out of 100 reflected a very good grade. Indeed, for American schools, from which the 100-point scale originates in the first place, 88 out of 100 is a high B, or “B+” rating. A very good rating. It would be like obtaining over 16 points in a French school, which is a high score in the 20-point scale that was often used in France for wine scoring.

Of course A grades are superior. But these days, any wine worth considering has to be in the 90s and not the low 90s. The 100-point scale has not been reduced to the 10 points between 90 and 100, but is more like a five-point scale. These days even an “A-” (a score between 90 and 92, or even 93 and 94) would be considered less than exciting for retailers who need to get wines off shelves (in the pandemic era, off curbsides or delivered from online sales).

What is a trophy wine anyway?

Several merchants have told me that you need 95 or more to get a consumer truly excited these days. Could this mean that many more great wines are being produced these days? Of course, the wine industry would tell you that. But what of valid criticism? What does the 100-point scale mean anymore?

Whatever the case may be, these days 90 can be considered rather good and nothing more; 93 quite good, 94 very good, 95 excellent and 97 outstanding, with 98-100 “nirvana zone” wines. We edge closer to Michael Broadbent’s five star ratings, with 96 one star and 100 the coveted five stars.

As for 100-point wines, they can only be those wines that have properly aged, arriving at time-earned complexity. For wines like 1982 Petrus or 1959 Latour, or 1988 Krug or 1996 Oenotheque Dom Perignon, which I have been lucky to have enjoyed, I can say “100” with more ease, not only out of sheer exuberance, but also because of intrinsic greatness from aging that brought about complexity.

In reality though, many wine writers and critics have upped their scores on the scale to reflect this new reality and so it can seem like we live in an era of point inflation.

All the more reason to read the notes of a wine critic or writer and to pay less attention to the scores. I find it more interesting to read what the writer or critic has to say about the wine rather than rely on a number, but – gee whiz – how original a thought is that? 🙄 😂 🍷🍷

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New dry white from the Médoc meets increasing demand

Brane Cantenac Blanc 2019

By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 

2 February 2021

The label contrasts royal blue and white, evoking perhaps the Mediterranean Sea.

But this is no Greek dry white, but another from the Médoc, known for its great red wines. Made from vines on 3.2 hectares on siliceous, clay soils, this maiden 2019 vintage of Brane Cantenac Blanc blends 72% Sauvignon Blanc 28% Semillon.

Owner Henri Lurton, of the excellent second growth in Margaux, Château Brane Cantenac, decided to introduce this dry white wine no doubt out of his passion for winemaking, and he thus joins a growing number of white wine producers from the Médoc.

Production is not going to be substantial and yet market demand is growing for dry white wine. As this recent market report summarizes, “the global dry white wine market is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate during the forecast period, between 2021 and 2026.” Indeed, this year the report indicates dry white wines sales already “growing at a steady rate”.

So it makes sense for Bordeaux appellations like Sauternes to produce more dry whites (given lower demand for the “sweet wines”). An increasing number of red wine producers in Bordeaux are following suit, which seems less clear. Indeed, I do not recall tasting as many dry white wines from the Médoc as I did late last year to assess the 2018 vintage of dry white wines from Bordeaux, tasting notes here.

Harvested fairly early in this maiden vintage to retain freshness, the Brane Cantenac Blanc (appellation Bordeaux AOC) exhibits a steely aspect but also fine freshness. There is citrus, some exotic fruit and subtle notes that integrate the 25% new oak quite nicely. The wine was aged for eight months on lees in 225- and 500-liter French oak barrels.

However, I wonder about the €58 (retail) price tag, as one can find comparable quality for less.

Chalk it up to the prestige of the estate as a selling point?

The wine clocks in at 13.5% alcohol, with 4.71 grams of acidity per liter and with pH 3.09. More information about the wine here.

 

 

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Bordeaux 2018: Where does reality in bottle meet hype from barrel?

By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 

24 January 2021

From barrel, I had characterized 2018 Bordeaux as a vintage for “Hedonists and Intellectuals”. Over the course of the last few months, including several visits to Bordeaux during official lockdowns in France, I tasted 2018s on location, after recent bottling. Some bottles had been sent to me to Strasbourg, but it was great to go on location and taste when I could.

Then again, the advantage to having bottles delivered is that you can spend more time with each wine… I may request that for 2020.

My intro to the vintage as published in Wine-Searcher.com last month – here the link – posed the question whether the reality in bottle meets the hype from barrel, and to some extent it does.

Thanks for reading that text before you go to my tasting notes. Suffice to say, the term “great” often has been used to describe each new dry and hot vintage in Bordeaux, but – as ever – the devil is in the details.

Based on my tastings, many wines from the less-hyped 2019 vintage should surpass the 2018 vintage for lovers of cooler balances, even if alcohol levels are not so different. 2018 may win in terms of density, but 2019 seems to convey more subtlety, overall. Certainly 2016 is the vintage par excellence for lovers of cooler balances, of which I count myself.

How will 2016, 2018 and 2019 compare down the road?

Having said that, 2018 has many a gorgeous gem and some excellent wines with excellent price/quality ratios (although 2019 may prove the most interesting in terms of pricing), and I have purchased some 2018 vintage wines as a result, including, for higher end purchasing, Château Canon, Château Cheval Blanc, Château Larcis Ducasse and Château Léoville Las Cases. Read More

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