Tasting Report: 2011 Bordeaux Barrel Samples

I tasted 560 barrel samples from 2011 over the last two weeks in Bordeaux in blind tastings as well as various visits to châteaux and winemakers’ offices, and I can say that many very good to excellent wines exist. Some whites – both dry and sweet – are exceptional quality.

My thoughts on the vintage have not changed much since I wrote my initial blog from Bordeaux on March 30. The 2011 vintage will be remembered as a very good quality vintage, although it will never be considered in the same light as the fabulous 2009 and 2010 vintages. The top reds are racy and well-structured wines with very good fruit and bright acidities. They are very boney or lanky compared to the voluptuous 2009 and 2010.

It’s hard to make comparisons, but 2011 to me seems better than a number of recent years including 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, and 2002. I also think the quality is better than 1999 and 1996. It’s on the same quality level, or slightly less, than 2001.

I am happy with the quality of the vintage considering the difficult grape growing conditions most winemakers had to contend with. The biggest factors were the drought conditions and the hot spring. Uniform grape ripening was not easy in 2010.

“You really had to select,” said Alexandre Thienpont, the winemaker of Vieux Château Certan and Le Pin. VCC made one of my favorite reds of 2011. He said that he had to select away grapes from parcels of vineyards that were most effected by the drought. Some vines stopped growing even with the summer being less warm and sunny.

I found a couple of points for vineyards that made better wines than others. One vineyard with a high percentage of clay soils was better off than others because they maintained more moisture for the vines to grow more easily. That’s why the clay knoll of Pomerol made some excellent wines, such as VCC and Lafleur. This was the case in some of the lesser appellations as well, including Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux and Lalande-de-Pomerol.

Vineyards with a higher percentage of Cabernet Franc also seemed to make better wines. The grape variety seemed to thrive under the hot weather in the spring and fall. This is why a château such as St. Emillon’s great Ausone made such an appealing wine in 2011.

Châteaux in St. Estephe had the most difficult time in 2011. Bad storms the first few days of September impacted my vineyards in the appellation – particularly with hailstorms and torrential rain. Most wineries had to pick their grapes in early September to maintain what little quality was left. Margaux was also a disappointing appellation with inconsistent quality.

Overall, I found 14 wines that I thought were fantastic quality, or 95 points or more. Nine of them were whites. About half of the wines I tasted could be outstanding quality, but the notes below are only tentative scores, which is why they are in two-point ranges. Still, the tasting proves that the Bordelais really do know how to get the most out of their grapes, even in a challenging year such as 2011.

Click to download a PDF list of all wines by score, or a list of all wines by name.