Growing excitement for 2009 harvest

Nov 13 2009 by Helen Savage, The Journal

THIS year looks as if it may justify much of the pre-harvest excitement; but it is not a total success in France.

Few vintages ever are. Most wines have finished fermenting and although the finest red wines, including top Bordeaux and Burgundy, will not be ready until they have been aged in casks for up to two years, the new Beaujolais will be released for sale on Thursday.

I visited my friends Arnaud and Florence de la Filolie in the last week of October at their vineyard, Château Laniote, one of the leading estates in Saint Emilion.

Florence, a distinguished wine scientist, is not normally prepared to declare a vintage a success or not until the wine is ready to be bottled, but she was clearly thrilled to bits.

Château Laniote is a blend of (mostly) Merlot with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The young Cabernets, vinified together, were delicious, already showing intense fruity flavours, a bit like concentrated raspberry jam, underpinned by silky tannins. The Merlot too was deeply fruity, and very spicy. Alcohol levels are high – over 14% – and acidity is quite low.

The wine will soon undergo a second fermentation when the harsh, appley malic acid will be transformed to softer, creamier lactic acid. It will then seem even softer, but unlike in the hot year of 2003, the fruit this year seems far fresher and less baked.

When I drove up, Arnaud and his eldest son Guillaume were hard at work pressing the skins left after the new wine had been drained from the fermentation tanks. The more tannic ‘press wine’ will be kept separately and only added to the final blend if Florence feels that the wine needs a bit more structure.

A happy Arnaud told me that advance orders for the 2009 “are going crazy”. Florence thinks it may rival the highly praised 2005s in quality, but will be softer, richer and fruitier. Once bottled, in a couple of years’ time, it will probably be good to drink at a much earlier stage in its development.

Later, I dropped in on François Gérardin, the new president of the Bergerac wine producers. He is also very pleased with his 2009 crop.

“My dry white looks very good, the rosé is good too and the reds are generally very good.”

But he was quick to add a note of caution. “Many 2009s are too strong and I think there’ll be some wines from round here that will taste as if they’ve come from the Rhône Valley or even Spain.”

He also expressed worries about the ability of some growers to handle fermentations with high sugar levels and low acidity (many came unstuck in 2003). But the local sweet wines look magnificent. That same afternoon I dipped a finger into a still-fermenting barrel of Saussignac made by another friend, Pierre Carle. It had a potential alcohol of around 27%, half of which will remain as luscious sweetness. Nectar.

Jean-Luc Mardon, one of the leading growers in the Touraine region of the Loire Valley agreed that 2009 has posed problems. He grows a wide range of different grape varieties including both Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Cabernet Sauvignon fared well this year, but the unusually low acidity of the Cabernet Franc brought the very real danger of infection with a wild yeast culture, Brettanomyces, which, if unchecked, makes the wine smell a bit like Elastoplast mixed with cloves.

‘Bret’ is usually more of a headache for wine growers in hot climes, but it’s a sign of the times that it now leaves winemakers as far north as the Touraine with sleepless nights.

The bulk of Jean-Luc’s production is dry white Sauvignon Blanc, much of which is exported to the UK. It should be good, but Jean-Luc is still not sure how perfumed it will be. The fruit in 09 was riper than normal and less typically green and grassy. Yeasty fermentation aromas still dominate the new wine at the moment.

His Pinot Noir, however, looks fantastic, he said, “absolutely exceptional”. His spies in Burgundy, where Pinot Noir is king, are thrilled with the prospects for their 2009s.

Gamay, the second red grape of Burgundy, but the sole ingredient in Beaujolais also looks very good. Light, fruity Nouveau will be just a foretaste of greater glories to come, but we’ll have to wait until later next year for the wine from the 10 best villages, sold under their own names to be released (Fleurie is, perhaps, the most famous).

But some growers in western France can’t play the wait- and-see game. Their crop was wiped out by hailstorms before the grapes had swollen on the vine. Maybe 2010 will be their vintage of the century.

WINE OF THE WEEK

Ravenswood Vintner’s Blend Zinfandel 2006 £7.99 Tesco, Waitrose and Spar

Deep, plummy satisfying red, full of rich, chewy, raisiny, plummy and figgy fruit.

A delicious winter warmer; perfect with a rich, meaty stew.

WINE EXTRAS

Villa Maria is not only one of the largest producers of New Zealand wine, but also one of the most consistently good.

Their Private Bin Pinot Noir 2008 (£9.99 at Sainsbury and Tesco) is a very light red, with bitter cherry fruit and, to my surprise, seems crisper than when I first tasted it 10 months ago.

If you can afford it, the Cellar Selection Pinot Noir 2008 (£12.99 at Threshers and Majestic) is much richer and spicier, altogether softer and with more concentrated red fruit flavours.

But I strongly recommend seeking out the Hawkes Bay Private Bin Syrah 2005 (£11.99 at Threshers, also with three bottles for the price of two).

It’s a lovely aromatic wine, with peppery, spicy cherry fruit, a whiff of leather, real freshness in the mouth and length, with fine, silky tannins.

I shared it with a French friend who thought it was superb. So do I.