The UnCorker

2006 Union des Grand Crus de Bordeaux- A Vintage Report

March 28, 2009 | In DIRT | No Comments

Every year, the Chateau owners of Bordeaux travel the United States, touring five or six major cities for the Union des Grand Crus de Bordeaux, giving a preview of the new vintage to be released. For those in the trade, this is a big event- in New York, it takes place in the Waldorf-Astoria’s Ballroom, a grand room, which gives one the decided sense of being absolutely nowhere and anywhere. The 2005 event was mad, the wine magic; who’d be crazy enough to spit that 2005 Chateau….whichever, the wines were extraordinary- 2006 brought us all back down to earth, the wines from this vintage, being described as “classic” by the Bordelaise. Your UnCorker correspondant was cynical about the description, though reflecting on it now, it seems to be the case. Unlike last years celebration of the 2005 vintage, where the wines were drinking fabulously already, the 2006’s were tannic and closed, barely giving a whisper of what their future holds(with the exception of some of the St. Emilion’s, notably the Chateau Angelus, and some beautiful Blancs from Graves and Pessac-Leognan.

The First Growths; Lafite, Latour, Margaux, Mouton, and Haut-Brion, as well as Yquem and Petrus tend to not go tour as their production is snapped as futures no matter what the vintage is like, nor how astronomical their prices. Lots of other classified Chateau show up, despite their predictable high volume sales, whether they show up or not, certainly Angelus, Canon, the Barton’s , and Pavie could skip the whole dog and pony show and still sell every drop. Bordeaux however, is so much more then a wine region, a wine, or a simple identity- Bordeaux is a marketing behemouth, and a wine region in trouble.

2006 was a good vintage for Bordeaux, but not a great vintage- what does that mean? Chateau that did everything right in the cellar and in the vineyard made very good wine, those blessed with the best sights, the oldest vines, the deepest pockets(yep, those big household name chateaus) make excellent wines- And following some superlative vintages where the prices shot up to unprecedented heights, those chateau have no incentive to reign in those prices, even though 2006 can’t compare to 2005. What this means for the little guy, the cru bourgois, the houses in Moulis, the Entre duex Mer, the Cotes de Bourg and Blaye is that the entire region is viewed as a place of luxury wines; not for everyday drinking, but for collecting, laying down, or for shunning in favor of New World wines, perceived as less snobbish and more fun. The vast preponderance of Bordeaux is simple, quaffable wine. With 700 million bottles, produced by 10,000 estates, Bordeaux is in the midst of an identity crisis; speaking with one vintner, there was a refusal to recognize that their wines were often bought as investments- commodities that change hands perhaps dozens of times before ultimately being drunk in China, the U.S. or wherever. The producer is totally remote from their ultimate consumers- thats the problem for the vast production of Bordeaux; if Bordeaux’s identity is as a luxury product, essentially about labels rather then enjoyment or good living, in essence what oenophiles are really all about, where does that consign affordable Bordeaux, by definition an inferior product. And the more the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux presents their wine as the ultimate luxury good, with prices to match, the more they leave everyone else behind.

As the wine drinking public gets younger, less stuck on tradition and more willing to seek out wines from upcoming or previously obscure regions, the image of the grand Chateau holds less appeal- most young wine drinkers have never had the opportunity or money to taste a mature cru classe Bordeaux, it is simply not in their lexicon- for the vintners of Bordeaux, this is going to present a larger challenge every year- even the french can now go to the Carrefour and buy a Chilean Cabernet(without fear of stigma even).

The 2006 vintage produced some fines wines- though most were marked by an abundance of oak, there was plenty of concentration and though undrinkable now, plenty of promise. The Barsac and Sauternes are always this correspondants favorite part of this event, and though these wines lacked the towering acidity and depth of fruit of the 2005’s, there was no lack of pleasure to be had from these approachable sweet wines, Chateaus Doisy Daene, Doisy-Vedrines, and Guiraud shone like beacons, rushing me through the reds to drink these beauties-