2012 Bordeaux Vintage

After a mild, wet December, 2012 opened dry and cold. February brought 15 morning frosts and ran 4.9 C below normal. Then spring turned wet and cool: April ran 101mm wetter and 2.3 C cooler than normal. Bud break came in mid-April on the ISVV reference plots, three weeks later than in 2011. Mildew pressure was extreme; synthetic fungicides generally held it back, but organic growers, limited to copper, lost significant crop, especially on Merlot. The first flowers appeared in the last days of May, but cool, rainy weather from 6 to 13 June hit full bloom. Mid-flowering fell on 11 June, and the flowering was drawn out, with coulure and millerandage. July began with maximum temperatures 3 to 5 C below normal and ranked as the fifth coolest July in 30 years, before dry, sunny weather set in from the 17th. August was remarkably dry, hot and sunny. There were 12 days of 30 C and over between 9 and 27 August. Heat spells caused light scorching in places, and veraison, which reached its midpoint on 12 August, three weeks later than in 2011, dragged on to the end of the month. The first two thirds of September stayed favorable, with maximums 1 to 2 C above normal. Across the season, heat accumulation was in line with the average of the previous ten vintages, and 420mm to 460mm of rain fell from March to September, close to the 476mm average, though almost half of it came in April. The weather broke abruptly from 25 September, making 2012 a late harvest. Merlot picking began from that date and Cabernet two weeks later, and October brought heavy rain on the 18th, 19th and 20th. The crop was small: growers had to drop green bunches after 15 August, when the harvest was already shaping up small, and Gavin Quinney judged yields low but not as bad as other parts of France.

• February: 15 morning frosts, 4.9 C below normal and very dry; April: 101mm wetter and 2.3 C cooler than normal
• Spring frosts on the night of 16 to 17 April in the Libournais and Entre-Deux-Mers, and on 9 May in the Graves
• "We had more than 100mm of rain in April, but then only 30mm between July 15 and Sept. 15," Frederic Engerer, director at Chateau Latour, told Wine Spectator
• Mid-flowering on 11 June and mid-veraison on 12 August; the uneven veraison and irregular ripening came mainly from rainy flowering and fruit set

The red harvest favored Merlot. Fine, dry harvest weather came fully only for the dry whites and the Merlots; many Cabernets needed about another good week to ripen fully, and the October rain did not allow it. Some Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc showed a vegetal note at harvest linked to methoxypyrazine levels above the perception threshold, though many Cabernets were free of it. The red harvest began in earnest in the first week of October on both banks, with Pomerol largely finished by the end of that week and top Saint-Emilion estates starting on Monday 8 October. Humid, drizzly weather over the weekend of 7 October pushed many to bring picking forward, and most estates finished their reds before the heavier downpours of 19 October. Many Cabernet Sauvignon growers had to pick before full phenolic ripeness, and soils able to drain or hold water as needed were decisive.

• Merlot picking began from 25 September; Cabernet followed about two weeks later
• Christian Moueix told Wine Spectator he cut all the late clusters in July and August, about one third of the crop, to even out ripeness
• Chateau Cheval Blanc in Saint-Emilion had 40 people removing green bunches toward the end of August
• Expensive grape-sorting machines earned their keep

Dry whites were the safe harbor of 2012. In the Graves and Pessac-Leognan they were picked from 2 to 18 September, two weeks later than in 2011, in sunny, dry weather with warm days and cool nights, and the fruit was in perfect health with no trace of grey rot. Yields were below average for Sauvignon Blanc but fairly satisfactory for Semillon. Decanter pointed to good whites from Entre-Deux-Mers and the Cotes de Bordeaux, along with some excellent Pessac-Leognan and Graves. Sauternes had a harder time. No noble rot had formed by 22 September; about 40mm of rain on 23, 25 and 26 September set botrytis going, and picking on the Barsac limestone plateau could start in the first week of October. Rain on 19 and 20 October interrupted the passes through the vines, and roughly 50mm in the first week of November ended the harvest. Several properties made no 2012 sweet wine at all, including Yquem and Raymond Lafon.

• Graves dry white harvest: Sauvignon Blanc 3 to 10 September, Semillon 10 to 18 September (ISVV)
• Botrytis arrived late in Sauternes and Barsac, after about 40mm of rain on 23, 25 and 26 September
• Yquem and Raymond Lafon were among the properties that made no 2012 sweet wine
• The ISVV described the rare sweet wines as pure and balanced

Geny and Dubourdieu of the ISVV summed up 2012 as very good dry whites, great Merlots on their favored terroirs, uneven Cabernets and rare but sometimes delicious Sauternes. They called the Merlots on limestone, clay and clay-gravel soils truly great: deeply colored, fruity, dense and smooth. Some Cabernets succeeded on the best terroirs that withstood the summer drought, while others lacked a good week of ripeness, and Petit Verdot was good without being exceptional. Producers mostly described moderate alcohol levels and sometimes firmer tannins. Decanter judged the best wines to have lovely fruit structure, real definition and excellent balance, with consistency the warning.

• Medoc and Graves: Decanter judged the top estates excellent and the vintage overall better than 2011
• Wine Spectator listed Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc as promising grapes and Cabernet Sauvignon as challenging
• Quinney judged quality uneven, with some very good wines