En primeur blog: Nick Stephens

Nick Stephens, of UK fine wine merchant Interest In Wine and the Bordeaux-Undiscovered blog talks to top chateaux and keeps us up to date with the latest at en primeur week


The 2010 vintage, like previous vintages, has some potential giants among its wines, and these are wines of great magnitude that have impressive structure, complexity and  balance. 


Balance is the key word in this vintage. 


The year has produced grapes with high tannins, high levels of alcohol and high acidity - those wine makers that have got the balance between them right have made some superb wines.  Those who have got the balance wrong have wines which have harsh tannins, astringent acidity and too much alcohol in the mouth.  Some chateaux have recorded their highest ever alcohol and tannin levels this year and some reds (and whites) are as high as 15.5%.  With the best wines you don't even notice it.


Philippe Dhaullin, director general of Chateau Mouton Rothschild told me: "The 2010 vintage is an extraordinary vintage with built in structure offering power and richness. The percentage of alcohol is high for Bordeaux but thanks to the perfect weather conditions the acidity perfectly balances the wine."


As to whether 2010 is a better vintage than 2009. I don't think that it is any better than 2009. I would say that it is a different vintage with a different style.


Véronique Sanders, general manager of Chateau Haut Bailly, explained it succinctly: "2010 has the power of 2005 and the charm of 2009 with the precision of 2008 (i.e. being small in yield, which needed very precise harvesting dates to reach perfect ripeness)."


Jonathan Malthus, owner of Chateau Teyssier also likened this vintage to 2008, saying: "As wine producers we shouldn't be surprised that this vintage has such freshness due to the acidity levels and the Indian Summer we had, creating fatness in the wines."


The wines have certainly been difficult to assess due to tasting them at this stage in their evolution and some wines will be decades developing.  Others will be approachable much sooner. 


It is impossible to say if this is a Right Bank or a Left Bank year as Bordeaux has produced a mixed offering with some wines standing out amongst their peers on both banks. There are a number of moderately priced wines from less well known chateaux that are really  good and will undoubtedly offer good value for money.  There are wines of real quality amongst the Bordeaux Superiéurs appellation, as well as Fronsac, Canon Fronsac and Lalande de Pomerol.


I think that 2010 is a vintage that we will be talking about for the next year - and tasting for much longer.


Nick also blogs at http://bordeaux-undiscovered.blogspot.com/

• Harpers Says...