2015 Bordeaux Vintage

Winter 2014-2015 was unremarkable: rainy in its first two months, then a month of real winter between January 17 and February 14 with 14 days of frost, and about 10 percent more rain than normal over the winter. Wine Spectator's harvest report credited the wet winter with water reserves that would prove important. A grey, cool March held bud break back. The first buds appeared on April 9, and the ISVV reference plots recorded bud break on April 15 for Merlot and April 19 for Cabernet Sauvignon, 10 days later than the ten-year average. April then ranked among the three or four warmest since 1950, with rainfall 63 percent below normal, and the delay quickly disappeared. First flowers appeared at the end of May. June was the hottest in Aquitaine in more than a century apart from 2005, 2003 and 1976, and the sunniest in 25 years. Mid-flowering came on June 5, and fruit set was noted on June 10. Gavin Quinney called the flowering in late May and early June the foundation of the vintage. July stayed hot: the average maximum was 29.1 C, 2 degrees above normal, with 12 days over 30 C and a record 40.8 C at Parempuyre in the southern Medoc. With only 35 mm of rain across four days, July was the fifth straight month in water deficit, and water stress became critical on some soils, gravels especially. There were six weeks without rain across the second half of June and July. Rain on August 7 relaunched a slow veraison almost at once, and every ISVV reference plot had gone through veraison by August 17. August was the only month of the year wetter than average, and the ISVV wrote that the August rains saved the vintage. That rain was uneven: Saint-Emilion was wettest early in the month, while the northern Medoc had the highest total, with substantial rain after August 21. September was dry apart from Saint-Estephe, which took 118 mm, and no day in September or October topped 30 C. Showers came in the week of September 12 to 19 as fallout from the distant Tropical Storm Henri, wetter in the northern Medoc than in Margaux, followed by dry, sunny weather from September 20 to October 3 apart from rain on September 22. Despite the summer heat, the harvest was not especially early and was completed in a normal timeframe. Dry whites started in Graves and Pessac-Leognan in the very last days of August, Merlot in the last third of September, and Cabernet and Petit Verdot ran a little past mid-October. Crop size was near normal and red yields were generally good, though younger vines on drier soils suffered in the July drought and heat.

• Bud break April 15 for Merlot and April 19 for Cabernet Sauvignon, 10 days behind the ten-year average; mid-flowering June 5
• June was the hottest in Aquitaine in over a century after 2005, 2003 and 1976; July hit a record 40.8 C at Parempuyre
• August was the only month wetter than average, relaunching veraison; the northern Medoc took the most rain
• Dry whites picked from the last days of August, Merlot from the last third of September, Cabernet a little past mid-October

Quinney's one sure thing about the reds was that there was no rot: he saw virtually no botrytis and called the crop "as clean as a whistle." The weather was likewise unfavorable to grey rot, except in parts of the northern Gironde where early-September rain forced some early picking. Disease risk was real but contained. There was a significant downy mildew risk at the start of May, black rot early on and oidium in August, all generally kept at bay. Picking dates were spread wide. At Chateau Cheval Blanc, young-vine Merlot came in on September 4, while the last Merlot block at Vieux Chateau Certan in Pomerol was picked a full four weeks later. Some famous Medoc estates finished their Cabernet Sauvignon by Friday October 2, others carried on for one or two more weeks, and the last Cabernets in Saint-Emilion came in during the penultimate week of October. Jean-Charles Cazes told Wine Spectator that at his family's Chateau Lynch Bages in Pauillac they picked 150 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon from October 2 through 8. In the grapes, low acidity was a defining trait, with malic acid the lowest since 2009 apart from 2011 and high pH, while sugars ran above previous vintages. The berries were small with thick skins.

• Virtually no rot on the reds; Quinney called it the cleanest vintage he had seen for dry whites too
• Cheval Blanc picked young-vine Merlot on September 4; Vieux Chateau Certan's last Merlot came four weeks later
• Malic acid was the lowest since 2009 apart from 2011, with high pH and sugars above previous vintages
• Red yields generally good with small berries and thick skins; dry white yields relatively low

Quinney wrote that the Bordeaux Rule of Five held: every vintage ending in five or zero since 1985 has been excellent, and 2015 carried on the sequence. He stopped short of calling it the vintage of the century for reds, but judged it an excellent year, with depth, color, flavor, complexity and freshness, supple tannins, and many of the better reds destined to be approachable sooner. He also found it not as full or as warmly generous as 2009. Wine Spectator's harvest report said 2015 should easily be the best vintage since 2010, with reports from Margaux, Pessac and the Right Bank particularly promising, while Semillon for dry whites had a tougher time with the August rains. The ISVV report closed on the wines of every color: dry whites fruity, dense and rounder than 2014, sweet wines sumptuous, clean and pure, and reds with the charm and grace of great Bordeaux. In Sauternes and Barsac, noble rot came early, more than two thirds of the crop was in before the end of September, and the harvest was over by mid-October.

• Quinney: the Rule of Five holds, an excellent year though not the vintage of the century for reds
• Wine Spectator: likely the best vintage since 2010, with Margaux, Pessac and the Right Bank promising
• ISVV: dry whites rounder than 2014, sweet wines sumptuous and pure, reds charming
• Sauternes and Barsac: early noble rot, with the harvest over by mid-October