Is 15 the new 12?

[AlexR]

When my wife and I first came to Bordeaux in (gulp) 1978 after a couple of years in the Napa Valley, I can remember being impressed with the perfumed elegance of Bordeaux wines, but disappointed with their lack of body and what I’ll call oomph. It didn’t take long, however, before I came to prefer the style.

All those years ago, the red wines of Bordeaux were mostly 11 and 11.5% alcohol by volume. The standard level then bumped up to 12% for quite some time (including a legally allowed variation of 0.5 percent with the amount stated on the label) before creeping ever upward.

What do we have now? 2022 Haut Brion is pushing 15%. Haut Brion! I cite this château specifically because, along with Margaux, it is held up as a paragon of class and balance. And this first growth is by no means an anomaly today.

What happened?

Is it more about viticulture and winemaking, or mostly due to global warming? Should consumer preferences also be held accountable?

Whatever the causes, it would be fair to generalize that there has been a fundamental shift in the make-up of fine Bordeaux, above and beyond the “Parkerization” phenomenon of a few years ago. Is 2022 an atypical vintage that shouldn’t be taken as the way of the future? Possibly, but I think it is part of a continuing trend. The question is, have things changed for better or worse?

Having just finished a marathon session of en primeur barrel tastings, I think that a nuanced answer is called for. Let’s take the example of Haut Brion. I can honestly say that the wine is, in fact, balanced and classy. It carries its (almost) 15% with distinction.
And I encountered plenty of other wines like that during my foray into the wine country even though only a minority of wines I sampled were under 14%. One Pomerol was even 15.5% – as high as unfortified wine can go...
On the other hand, I was also pleased to see that Angélus, an estate I have long felt was somewhat heavy-handed with extraction and oak, has backpedalled and deliberately toned things down.

If you had asked me five years ago about a 15% Bordeaux, I’d have been pretty dismissive and turned up my nose. A wine for barbarians! Well, times have changed! Yes, although some 2022s are ponderous, heavy, overly rich, and even have an alcoholic burn on the finish, these are the exceptions. Bordeaux has simply adapted to a bunch of factors and achieved a new sort of balance. I had an in-depth look at this and mostly liked what I saw, or rather tasted.

There is increased talk on the Right Bank of planting more Cabernet, especially Cabernet Franc, to replace Merlot now that the former ripens more fully thanks to climate change. This would also tend to bring down sugar levels.

Simone Signouret’s memoirs were entitled “La nostaligie n’est plus ce qu’elle était”, which I think is a great name. Anyway, for those of us who regret old-style Bordeaux, I would say that our memories can be somewhat selective… A number of wines from yesteryear were thin, herbaceous, and featured not-so-welcome acidity. All was not sweetness and light.

How will today’s great wines age? Your guess is as good as mine, but I am reminded of a tasting of California wines I attended in Bordeaux. The owner of a famous château sipped a wine and exclaimed that it was truly delicious, but wasn’t it unnatural for it to taste so good just four years after the vintage? Surely something was wrong… This left me thinking well, no, nothing’s wrong at all, and that for great wine to taste so good so early on is an advantage rather than a shortcoming. Some of my English friends may disagree, but ageworthiness is not a measure of quality in my book. Balance is. And if a fine balance can be achieved earlier, I say so much the better.

Many of the 2022s are – a little – low in acidity so maybe they won’t be ones for the very long haul. But the vintage is a good one and I am not disappointed with it, nor worried about the future of Bordeaux.

Alex R.

[Nicklasss]

Very interesting post Alex, after your verifications done, tasting in the vineyards.

I completely agree that what is important in a wine is balance, complexity and definition.

The reverse question is: a Château can produce a wine like it was doing in the 80's, but today?

[greatbxfreak]

Great write-up Alex.

Totally agree.

[JCNorthway]

Alex, I appreciate you taking the time to share your observations and thoughts on this. I think you hit on something important with respect to the importance of "balance" in a wine. That may be the key to making sense out of much of this.

[JoelD]

Interesting thoughts, Alex. I was impressed with some of the 14.5% ABV 2019's that we tasted recently that did not show their alcohol. Although I'm still skeptical that all the 2019's are quite that high as I think some of that may have been artificially inflated (on the label) for tariff purposes at the time.

14.5% has generally been a hard cutoff for me in Bordeaux. But I'm more than open to changing my opinion. Any examples of non first growths that come in at 15% or over that you highly recommend? I'm curious to start putting this to the test again at some point in the near future.

[Musigny 151]

Alex,
Fascinating. Unlike you I did not have the opportunity to taste the vintage, but I suspect I would have had a very different take from you.

I have never considered high alcohol can be balanced out by the other parts. The wine in order to try and find some kind of balance from the alcohol is irrevocably changed and not for the better. I cannot recall any 15% alcohol bottle that has shown any sign of age worthiness. The tannins may soften, but the wine ends up a pretty gloopy mess. Case in point Fleur Cardinale 2010 which I believe is not showing well after 13 years.

[dstgolf]

Musigny,

Your comment on 13 years may or may not be an issue for FC. A lot of fine Bordeaux at 13 years in my opinion have seemed awkward and I believe this has been discussed in the past on BWE that one should avoid drinking 13 year olds at the cost of disappointment. May be fact or fiction but I've personally experienced this multiple times and I'm avoiding my 2010s for another few years because of this possibility. I don't however believe for a second that the FC will blossom from this stage however!

[Chateau Vin]

Nice cogent writeup, Alex...

Many years ago in my certified sommelier class, the one thing that was stressed upon in assessing or savoring a red wine on the palate is the “Balance”. That too balance, with the four parts— Acid, Weight (or body provided primarily by alcohol), Tannins and Fruit (more challenging to assess than the other three).

Ever since, I always assess the wines for their balance provided by these four elements. Young wines can be off-balanced early on and also ofcourse, depending on the food pairing, a slightly off-balanced one can even be preferred to complement the food.

But the rub is, assessing a wine how it will turn out in the future, twenty or thirty or forty years down the road, when the tannins and fruit change, and how it might affect that balance...That’s the holy grail of assessing/rating a particular wine looking decades down the road to form an opinion about how these four elements would fare, and which element contributes to what slice of the whole “Balance” pie...

Moreover, the alcohol issue is the thorn for some— as some believe it will change and others believe it won’t— further contributing to the difference of opinions regarding assessing a wine.

[Nicklasss]

All interesting. But i'm coming back with my question: why no Châteaux are making wine <13 % alcohol anymore?

Example:
1982 Magdelaine 12.8 %
1989 Magdelaine 12.5 %
2008 Magdelaine 13 %
2010 Magdelaine 14 %

[JimHow]

One Pomerol was even 15.5% – as high as unfortified wine can go...

Is that true Alex? My memory says the 2010 Troplong Mondot said 16% on the bottle but I could be misremembering that.

[StBlGT]

Jim, I believe you are correct with 16%. I can even one-up you with another wine...a 2014 Anderson's Conn Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon came in at 16.2% on the label. I couldn't believe it, but the alcohol was not at all noticeably...a very decent wine actually.

[Musigny 151]

One Pomerol was even 15.5% – as high as unfortified wine can go...

Is that true Alex? My memory says the 2010 Troplong Mondot said 16% on the bottle but I could be misremembering that.

No you are not misremembering. It tipped the scale at 16.2%. A truly terrifying wine.

[JimHow]

Lol... It was wonderfully crazy when Jacques and Jill brought it to my house a couple summers ago.
It was indeed, um, "volatile," though, I had a couple sips later in the evening after they left and it was indeed "port like."

[jal]

It is very difficult for me to generalize, I have hated a lot of 13%-14% wines from Bordeaux that are syropy, unbalanced and manipulated and yet that 2010 Troplong Mondot at 16% was balanced and exuberant with good acidity and without being overly sweet.

[Harry C.]

Alex, perhaps most of us have become barbarians? I have never been a "numbers guy" with regard to wine and abv. I have seen people drink wine, declare it great, then move on. I have also seen the same people fine a wine disjointed, pick up the bottle and note the abv. Aha! they declared, it's too high in the alcohol. But it was also a disjointed wine, not coming together from many fronts. If it's balanced, it's balanced. The wine has to come from mature grapes with good tannins, etc. With climate change, the grapes are producing bigger wines.

[AKR]

I thought I read/heard somewhere that the old Martinelli 'Jackass Hill' Zins were able to hit 17% abv naturally, although not sure what kind of yeasts can keep working at that concentration. I've only tried it once, but they were crazy potent/full throttle/powerful.

[jal]

I thought I read/heard somewhere that the old Martinelli 'Jackass Hill' Zins were able to hit 17% abv naturally, although not sure what kind of yeasts can keep working at that concentration. I've only tried it once, but they were crazy potent/full throttle/powerful.

I also tried that Martinelli once, a friend came over with this much coveted bottle , I remember a massive headache and needing two Advils that evening.

[robert goulet]

15%?...I'm out

[AKR]

By pure coincidence, I had a couple glasses of the 2013 Provenance CS [Rutherford] last night. Beckstoffer Georges III grapes, super ripe/full throttle Napa that hit 15.2% abv. Somewhat newer producer with management that came from Duckhorn I think, and owned by a private family. It didn't taste hot or unbalanced to me, but there is still a hint of the wood. I suspect current incarnations are not the same same vineyard sources since they are AVA badged differently.

I thought it was a super wine and am looking forward to the rest of the bottle.