Rain for Bordeaux – but did they need it?
Much-needed rain arrived in Bordeaux this week, although winemakers have played down its importance to the 2010 harvest.
With reports of rainfall from 6 to 25mm, some winemakers including Philippe Dhalluin at Chateau Mouton Rothschild, have said that they have not been concerned over the lack of water.
Decanter report that Oenologist Denis Dubourdieu was equally unconvinced by the need for rain.
“Happily, the rain that fell this week has not changed the vintage. I am not of the opinion that rain is necessary – classic vintages in Bordeaux have always been dry.
“The problem in 2003 was the heat, and the humidity, which is utterly unlike the usual Bordeaux season. But show me a dry year, with reasonable heat, that has not been of very good quality.’
He compared the whites to a 1998, and the reds so far to 2005 or 2009.
“We can make an educated guess about the quality of the reds, but the whites are already in the tank, and we know how good they are.”
Consultant Eric Boissenot felt it was not only the rain, but its quality that was important. ‘We had no hail, or any violent rainstorms. It was not enough for dilution, but plentiful enough to sink into the very dry ground.
“At this stage, when tasting the berries, they seem easily of the quality of 2009, and the forecast for the next week is good.”
Use of cork is “anti-green”
AN AUSTRALIAN wine maker has told Decanter that the use of natural cork in bottling wines is “unacceptable”, adding that the “screw cap wins every time”.
The MD at Cullen Wines, Vanya Cullen, has thrown her two cents into the ring regarding the ongoing debate as to whether to use the natural, traditional option of cork or move with the more modern new world method that has adopted the screwcap. However, with the the geographical map of traditional methods having been thrown out the window, producers from both the new and old world are using a mix of cork and screwcap.
Cullen’s comments came as she tasted 30 years of chardonnay history at her vineyard recently and noted that, with five or six exceptions, the majority of the wines under cork “had descended into the grave”.
She blames oxidation and cork taint. She adds that the use of cork is antithetical to the principles of organic wine making and that it is also anti green. She says that the all the energy used to make the wine, noting carbon footprint, is lost to cork taint when it is wasted.
