Jancis ROBINSON

The 2001 vintage will always be in the shadow of its predecessor. If I have two words of advice about Bordeaux's 2001s, they are: buy Sauternes. 
Last autumn provided Bordeaux's often unjustly overlooked producers of sweet white wines with textbook conditions for making these unique jewels in the crown of the world's largest fine wine region. Copies - fair, middling and sometimes extremely successful - of Bordeaux's red wines are made the world over but nowhere else, anywhere, can challenge the communes of Sauternes and Barsac for either quality or quantity of great, subtle and long-lived nectars made from Semillon and Sauvignon blanc grapes shrivelled by botrytis, or noble rot. 

Rain followed by fine, windy conditions in late September and October turned whole vineyards of grapes from plump golden yellow to shrivelled botrytis violet in Bordeaux's sweet wine vineyards. What with minuscule yields and intensive labour costs for successive pickings and selection, these essences are far more expensive to produce than most Bordeaux reds. Sweet white wine producers would be justified in increasing their prices this year, which is more than can be said for Bordeaux's red wine producers whose only sensible option is to reduce them considerably. 

The more one tastes 2001 red Bordeaux, the greater the 2000 vintage seems, especially on the left bank in the Medoc and Graves. The season began with a quite exceptionally wet winter, followed by a remarkably even flowering during a dry early summer - so much so that the right-bank crop was not reduced by the usual natural wastage of Merlot buds. The result is that summer crop-thinning was essential for any property with ambition, and many reds, Saint Emilion in particular, are dilute or hollow in the mid-palate - however great the attempts to hide this with over-extraction and fancy oak treatments. 

July was generally cool and wet, August hotter and drier, but there was, unlike 2000 and other recent vintages, no suggestion of drought so grapes tended to be larger than in 2000 with a lower ratio of flavour-rich skin to pulp. The ripening cycle was later than average, which became particularly critical for the late-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon planted in the Medoc and Graves, for the month of September was relatively cool. The heavy rainfall around 22 September, so beneficial for sweet wine producers, increased the threat of inconveniently mouldy red grapes in some of the less well managed vineyards. 

All in all, if it was difficult to make a bad red wine in Bordeaux in 2000, it was extremely hard to make an exceptional one in 2001 - and quality varies much, much more throughout the region and even within the same village than in 2000. Only those producers willing to work at optimising vine health and yield, to vinify the grapes according to the character of the vintage rather than any fashionable recipe, and able to make the strictest of selections, can feel satisfied. If colour, tannins and flavour could be extracted reasonably rapidly and easily from the bumptiously ripe grapes picked in 2000, extraction had to be much more gentle in 2001. 

Merlot grapes, naturally earlier-ripening, reached slightly higher sugar levels in 2001 than in 1999 and 1998, though notably lower than in 2000. On average however, Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were marked by much higher acidity than in any of the three previous vintages and very much lower sugar, and therefore natural alcohol levels, than in 2000. Nevertheless, there were producers in the Medoc, Chateau Palmer and Mouton Rothschild for example, who had clearly managed their vines so well, and delayed picking for some extra ripeness, that they avoided any excess of tartness. Cabernet in the smarter properties was not picked until well into October, much later than usual. 

In the current competitive environment, where reputations are built on scores, proprietors are increasingly prepared to put only their very best lots of wine into the main bottling, the so-called grand vin. As Paul Pontallier of Chateau Margaux remarked, it would have been unthinkable 20 years ago to select only 38 per cent of the crop, as they did, for the grand vin. 

But the result is that the quality gap between grands vins and second wines tends to be even wider in 2001 than usual, the second wines generally providing a repository for all the less-than-ripe Cabernet. 

The wines of Saint-Julien are more consistent than most. Margaux is not as exciting as in 2000. Pauillac's are relatively successful and almost all red wine appellations are far less predictable than in 2000. 

Several Pomerol producers however claim, like Denis Durantou of Eglise-Clinet, that their 2001s, free from the drought characteristics that plagued 2000, are superior. St-Emilion and its increasingly important hinterland is, as I reported last week, divided into the hardened traditionalists, the new-wave modernists and those who combine the best of both schools. Dry whites are not as exciting as the 1999s. 

Patrick Léon of Ch Mouton Rothschild summed up the two last vintages thus: '2000s were vins de climat, the 2001s were vins de terroir'. 

Jancis Robinson

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FARR VINTNERS

This vintage may prove to be a watershed between the great and positive influences that Robert Parker has had over the wines of Bordeaux and the way that they are now being made. Some of the modern generation of wine-makers have tried in 2001 to create massive wines and have over-extracted what nature provided. This is a year in which to look for the old guard with classic terroirs who have modernised and the new wave who have moderated their techniques and allowed subtlety and balance to play their part in the wine making process. These producers have made very good quality wines in 2001 and, subject to significant price reductions from 2000, we would recommend purchase to our customers. 

FARR Vintners Limited

Tom CANNAVAN

I sampled everything except the wines of Graves in a packed but delightful few days, from the Crus Bourgeois, to the best of the right and left banks, Sauternes and Barsac. It must be remembered that these wines were still grapes on the vine less than six months ago; they are very far from the finished product that will appear in the bottles in another 18 months time. For a start, the influence of oak-ageing has only started to take effect, and there are fining and filtering procedures to go through. 

Most importantly of all, these may not be the final blends that are made by the winemakers: almost all will have vinified tanks of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec separately, and will not make a final selection and blending of these for 15 months. The samples here are prepared specifically for the shows, so human nature suggests that the blend will be the most flattering at the moment. It will also use only the very best tanks; not the wine from younger vines, not the wine from remaining patches of S04, an over-productive rootstock that was widely planted in the last few decades. These factors must all be taken into consideration when looking at my, or anyone else's notes. 

Having said all that, many visitors will be keen to know what the early impressions are. In a few weeks these wines will be offered for sale, and every fine wine merchant in Britain will be doing all they can to entice customers into buying "en primeur"; committing themselves to purchase at this stage for delivery in 2004. These notes are as honest as I can make them at this stage. All of these wines are inky purple in colour, tannic, and pretty one-dimensional - tertiary aromas and nuances have yet to develop. What I was looking for was four basic things: 1) Fruit quality and ripeness, 2) concentration (Bordeaux had a little rain immediately before harvest), 3) structure and, most importantly, 4) balance. The latter means that even given the young and tannic nature of the wines, there appears to be quality and sufficiency of fruit and acids to guarantee a positive evolution. I also searched hard for any nuances which suggested the wines had already a little complexity about them. 

In general I found this to be a very good vintage. There seems to be no lack of concentration, and the fruit quality is pure and good. Tannins are ripe and acid levels are fine. For me, the left bank is probably the star this year. The wines of Pauillac and Saint-Julien are delightful, with Margaux and Saint-Estephe not far behind. On the right bank, I was disappointed in the Saint Emilion, particularly on a stylistic basis: wines seemed over-extracted in several cases, with inky, dry, bitterness about them and very dense, impenetrable tannins. Pomerol was better and more joyful. In Sauternes the botrytis and sweetness levels varied dramatically, but there was lovely fruit and good acidity.

In all, I would say this vintage is good to very good. Whilst it may not be quite as fine as 2000, and may always be in that vintage's shadow, I would suggest 2001 will ultimately turn out to be a fine year. All that remains now is for the Chateaux and wine trade to give the customer a break, and keep already high prices pegged back.

Tom CANNAVAN

Amateur de Bordeaux 

There was an interesting article (unfortunately only in French) in the excellent wine magazine "l'Amateur de Bordeaux" of December 2001. Jean-Michel Cazes (Lynch-Bages, Ormes de Pez etc.) summarises his impressions of the potentialities concerning the 2001 vintage. A further interview of Alain Duhau (Rayne-Vigneau, Grand Puy Ducasse, Meney etc.) seems to confirm Mr Cazes' thoughts. 

Jean-Michel Cazes informs us about the stunning quality of the Merlots (again after 1998, 1999 and 2000 !). The Cabernet-Sauvignons were homogenous and also very well done. On his side, Alain Duhau stresses the fantastic richness of the Petit-Verdot, a minor but very important variety that give wines their ultimate mark of elegance.

The grapes were in good sanitary conditions showing thick skins and very little moisture thanks to dry and quite windy weather during the month of September. All kinds of varieties had high rates of sugar. The winemaking (maceration process) seems to go well at this point and the young wines are showing nice ruby nuances and fruity fragrances. At the present stage, the young wines have more acidity than those of 2000, but it doesn't seem to upset Mr Cazes as he expects this unusual acidity to fade in the next phases of the winemaking. The I.P.T index measuring the tannins started low at the early stage of the winemaking, but is in the process of catching up rapidly when compared to the I.P.T rates of more recent vintages.

Mr Cazes' prediction is that the 2001 wines might be slightly less concentrated than the exceptional 2000. Globally, the yields were 10% lower than last year. 

He mentions different conversations with other wine producers. The consensus among them indicates that the vintage will probably be a big "classical" year, rich and built for the long term thanks to "serious" tannins according to his words. He speculates that the 2001 will stand just below the 1982, 1989, 1990 and 2000, but at an equal level to the 1986, 1988 or 1998 (not bad..!). Some Chateaux could finally produce wines quite similar to the 1996 or 1985. 

On his side, Alain Duhau is very enthusiastic about the Sauternes. For him, it was a fearful year due to an unusual humid and cold summer, but everything came back beautifully during the six weeks of wonderful weather conditions from the middle of August. In his opinion, the Sauternes / Barsac wines will surpass the 1990 and 1997 in quality and will stand very close to the fantastic vintage year of 1989! Concerning the red wines, he thinks many of them will easily compare to those of 1988.

Finally, he expresses himself about the pricing in the aftermath of the September 11 events and subsequent global economic slowdown. He doubts that the prices for the best / top wines will lower significantly from last year's levels because these products are considered more and more as luxury goods. But he believes that many "second crus" / "crus bourgeois" of similar origins will have to consider lowering their prices quite substantially this time. 

A real logistical problem may occur for wine lovers regarding where to stock the hundreds of "fantastic" bottles purchased over the last years thanks to the current exceptional sequence of "great" vintages - 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999 selectively, and last of all 2000, not to mention some of the late eighties legends! What a problem!

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