2002 Bordeaux Vintage

Winter was dry and the start of the year mild. The Grande Ferrade weather station recorded 311 mm of rain from October 2001 to the end of March 2002, against a 20-year winter average of 556 mm, a figure not seen since the winter of 1988-1989. November and December were cold, but January to March ran 1.6 to 2.6 degrees C above normal, and budbreak came early, becoming general in the last week of March. April was dry, with very local frosts. The crop set out large, but May was wet, with 110 mm of rain against a normal 75 mm and a very cool end to the month, and from 4 to 11 June 27 mm of rain fell as flowering got under way. Mid-flowering came on 7 June. The result was coulure and sometimes millerandage: Merlot was hit hardest, especially vines 20 to 40 years old, Cabernet Franc was fairly regularly affected, and Cabernet Sauvignon generally resisted. July was cool and August rainy and cool; on 19 and 20 August some areas got barely 5 mm and others 60 to 70 mm, and berry splitting followed in some plots. The summer of 2002 was one of the coolest and grayest ever in Bordeaux. Early September stayed wet and cool until the weather changed radically from 9 September: dry, fairly warm sunny days, cool nights and an unusual north-east wind that stopped the grey rot. Between 11 September and 10 October there were 241 hours of sunshine and 55 mm of rain over just 4 rain days. On the afternoon of Friday 20 September violent storms, sometimes with hail, struck parts of the Gironde, causing major damage in places and forcing some growers to rush their picking, with rainfall ranging from a few mm to more than 80 mm. The dry wind returned quickly, and Cabernet Sauvignon could wait for full ripeness. White picking began around 10 September, and in the Medoc the red harvest ended around 10 October. Coulure left total Gironde production lower than in 2001, and the drying wind cut Medoc volumes by a further 15 to 20 percent.

• Dry winter: 311 mm of rain from October 2001 to March 2002, against a 20-year average of 556 mm; budbreak general in the last week of March
• Wet May (110 mm against a normal 75 mm) and rain from 4 to 11 June brought coulure, hitting Merlot hardest
• Cool July, rainy and cool August, then dry, sunny weather with a north-east wind from 9 September
• Storms with local hail on 20 September; Medoc reds finished around 10 October, and Gironde production fell below 2001

In the Medoc the weather was unpredictable, with a harsh November and December and above-average temperatures in spring and early summer, and the violent storms of 20 to 21 September were very localised. Decanter's best appellations for the year were Saint-Estephe, Pauillac, Saint-Julien, Margaux, Listrac, Moulis and Pessac-Leognan. For the dry whites, Sauvignon was a general success and Semillon more irregular, with fruity aromas of good intensity and a fresh structure; the first whites came in around 10 September in very fine weather, though grape quality then slipped and picking called for great rigor. Decanter called the dry whites of Graves excellent. In Sauternes and Barsac, noble rot developed very early and gave some lots of great quality, but its later spread was patchy; the Bordeaux oenology faculty's report expected quality to depend on strict selection but to be quite satisfactory.

• Medoc: unpredictable weather, with a small crop of small, clean, healthy berries

The late sunshine and wind concentrated the grapes. Must sugar levels were often particularly high, which made some alcoholic fermentations difficult, and acidities were higher than in recent years, which in some cases slowed the malolactic. Potential alcohol in the Medoc was around 12.5%. For the great reds, the Bordeaux oenology faculty's vintage report called Cabernet Sauvignon certainly the most successful, giving rich, powerful, harmonious wines with spicy aromas, while Merlot probably benefited less and, despite high must weights, did not always show its brilliance and breed. The report judged the reds well made overall where they came from well-managed vines on suitable soils, but found some wines from less prestigious, high-volume appellations overly hard with slightly bitter finishes, and cautioned against over-extraction. Wine Spectator reported top estates finding some young reds, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon, very high in alcohol and packed with tannins, and warned that producers who did not keep yields to the bare minimum were sure to have made "green," diluted reds. Anthony Barton, owner of Leoville Barton and Langoa Barton, told the magazine that some of his wines have "some of the highest levels of tannins and color that I have seen in years."

Decanter's vintage guide for Medoc and Graves 2002 advises drinking now and describes crisp, fruity whites and well-structured, stylish reds with aging potential. Jean-Dominique Videau of La Tour Carnet, a Medoc classed growth, called 2002 "the wonder vintage": "Up until 10 September, we were seriously worried, but from then on superb weather turned the situation round." He added, "It's a small vintage, but of excellent quality." In Graves, Dominique Haverlan of Vieux Chateau Gaubert, president of the Graves Syndicate, compared the year with 1992, a wet year unfavourable for the reds but an excellent white vintage, and said the high acidity meant fresher, livelier wines. The Bordeaux oenology faculty's report summed up 2002 as a vintage whose quality owed much to a radical change in the weather, average at the start and very good as ripeness approached, and one that will be remembered for its fairly modest volume.

• Decanter's advice for Medoc and Graves 2002: drink now