2013 Bordeaux Vintage

The trouble started early. December 2012 was close to average, but January, February and March were cool and wet, with January alone 51mm above normal. Winter rainfall from October to March ran 70mm over the 30-year average, across 91 days of rain, and the soils stayed cold and waterlogged for a long time. The first half of April stayed wintry, with 35mm of rain and below-normal temperatures. From April 13 the weather dried and warmed, and bud break began around April 15, two weeks later than in 2012 but more even. Frost on the nights of April 27 and 28 then hit parcels in the Sauternais, Blayais, northern Medoc, Libournais, Entre-Deux-Mers and Graves, most severely where vines were grassed between rows. May was one of the wettest in 20 years, with 22 days of rain, and the coolest since 1984. Growth crawled, and the pale vines showed root asphyxia and mineral deficiencies. From January to May the Gironde averaged 434mm of rain, 196mm more than in 2012. June was worse: maximum temperatures ran up to 7C below normal, rainfall more than doubled the 30-year average, and it was the wettest June in the Gironde in 50 years after June 1992. Mildew threatened to wipe out the crop. Mid-flowering came on June 18 on average, 15 days behind the 10-year average, and early-flowering Merlot set its fruit in heavy rain and cool weather, with coulure and millerandage rarely seen in the Gironde. Later parcels and Cabernet Sauvignon suffered less. By the end of June the season was more than three weeks behind the 15-year average. Summer finally arrived at the end of the first week of July. Mean temperatures ran 2 to 3.5C above normal, making July 2013 one of the two hottest Julys in 60 years, with 331 hours of sunshine against 247 in 2012. Violent storms with intense rain, and hail in places, broke on the evenings of July 25 and 26 across the Medoc, Graves, Entre-Deux-Mers and the Libournais. Sauternes and Barsac were spared, while the rest of the vineyard took 35 to 90mm, Pessac-Leognan the most. On the evening of August 2 hail destroyed more than 80 percent of the crop on nearly 10,000 hectares of Entre-Deux-Mers. The rest of August was calm and sunny at seasonal temperatures, good for aroma and acidity in white grapes, but after so much rain the vines kept growing almost to the end of the month. Mid-veraison for Merlot and Cabernet came around August 22, 15 days late, and growers cut off lagging bunches knowing yields were already very low. September opened with a hot, dry week, then turned gloomy, rainy and cool for 15 days, and ended warm but unsettled, with rain on the 28th feeding grey rot. Dry whites in Graves and Pessac-Leognan were picked from September 10 to 25. The first reds came in during the last week of September, and harvest ran about four weeks, dictated by rot rather than ripeness, with Cabernet and Petit Verdot picked until October 25. The crop was the smallest in Bordeaux since 1991, 27 percent down on 2012, at under 34 hl/ha against 49 hl/ha the year before.

• Coolest May since 1984, and the wettest June in the Gironde in 50 years after June 1992
• Mid-flowering June 18, 15 days late, with heavy coulure and millerandage on Merlot
• Hot July, among the two hottest in 60 years, then storms on July 25 and 26 and Entre-Deux-Mers hail on August 2
• Red harvest from the last week of September to October 25 under grey rot pressure; crop under 34 hl/ha

Merlot felt the September weather first. Sugars were slow to build and acidity slow to fall, but spreading grey rot forced most growers to pick in a hurry, about ten days earlier than the veraison dates implied. From the end of the first week of October rot threatened every variety, and whole parcels of Cabernet rotted overnight. Sandy and sandy-gravel soils took the worst botrytis; vines on clay or limestone held up a little better. Rain arrived in two-day stints, over the weekend of September 27 to 29, on October 3 and 4, and again around the weekend of October 12, with humid, rot-friendly spells in between. Saint-Estephe received only 25mm of rain from October 1 to 25, three times less than the other Medoc communes. Some of the larger estates in Pauillac, St-Julien and St-Estephe could point to their more resistant Cabernet Sauvignon on the gravel mounds near the Gironde, and healthy-looking Cabernet came in around the weekend of October 12 at vineyards like Lynch-Bages and Montrose. Decanter's vintage guide gave the northern Left Bank Cabernets the best deal among the reds. A few organic Medoc properties could not control the rot and bottled nothing. On the Right Bank, rot forced an early harvest of often unripe Merlot, and only estates with many pickers and scrupulous sorting made good wines. Selection was severe where money allowed: Malartic-Lagraviere put only 35 percent of its crop into its first red wine.

• Sandy soils suffered the worst botrytis; clay and limestone resisted a little better
• Saint-Estephe received only 25mm of rain from October 1 to 25, three times less than the other Medoc communes
• Gravel-grown Cabernet in Pauillac, St-Julien and St-Estephe held out longest; Lynch-Bages and Montrose picked healthy Cabernet around October 12
• On the Right Bank, rot forced an early harvest of often unripe Merlot

The whites told a different story. Dry white picking in Graves and Pessac-Leognan ran from September 10 to 25, a week later than 2012 and three weeks later than 2011, and the dry whites were largely in before the damp weekend of September 27 to 29. Sauvignon came in with bright fruit, lower sugar than in 2012, higher acidity and lower pH, and Semillon was fruity with good acidity. Sauvignon yields were higher than in 2012. The University of Bordeaux report called it a very good dry white vintage on suitable sites, with intense, complex fruit and remarkable acidity, and expected excellent ageing from well-made wines. For Sauternes and Barsac, the mild, humid autumn brought early, widespread botrytis, and heat from September 22 to 26 concentrated the berries. Picking began in the last week of September, with second and third passes from October 8 to 25 between showers. Yields were a little higher than in 2012 but below 2009, and the report described aromatic wines, less sweet than 2009 and 2011, with the finesse of very good vintages. John Salvi MW called the sweet wines "indubitably the glory of the 2013 vintage."

• Graves and Pessac-Leognan dry whites picked September 10 to 25, with bright fruit, high acidity and low pH
• Sauternes and Barsac picked from the last week of September, with later passes October 8 to 25
• Decanter's vintage guide advised keeping Sauternes and Barsac

Nobody pretended 2013 was a great red year. The University of Bordeaux report called it without question the hardest red harvest to bring home in thirty years, with sugars well below recent vintages and higher acidity from early picking. It also found that small quantities of pleasant, fairly coloured, charming reds with supple tannins and freshness were possible. John Salvi MW reached a similar view for Decanter, that it was possible to make "deeply coloured, pleasant, charming and supple wines with freshness for relatively rapid drinking." Decanter's vintage guide advised drinking both the Medoc and Graves and St-Emilion and Pomerol soon. Anyone who covered unripe fruit with too much oak or over-extraction suffered, the best wines have refreshing drinkability, relatively low alcohol and soft fruit, and this is a vintage to enjoy in the early to mid term.

• The best reds show refreshing drinkability, relatively low alcohol and soft fruit
• Heavy oak or over-extraction on unripe fruit backfired