Yesterday, the Bordeaux savior, Mr. Parker, released an unexpectedly positive report on 2008 Bordeaux, saying that Pomerol is effectively better this year overall than any vintage in recent memory save maybe 1998. Yes, better than 2005, 2001, and 2000. That's high praise. St. Emilion did reportedly well, too, and of course the left bank seems to have delivered a very good performance as well, although apparently not at the heights of Pomerol.
What I found interesting about the report were the following points.
1) As you know, I don't really trust RPs tasting notes and scores because he typically prefers bigger, fatter, and sweeter wines than I do. That said, his notes and scores seem to correlate closely to Neal Martin's, although Martin scored much more conservatively.
2) Parker mentioned that 2008 is a year with higher acids than in recent vintages. That means that I am far more likely to like 2008 Bordeaux than I thought. The higher acidity should help the wines have a reasonable shot at being long-lived and not tun out as fat fruit bombs.
3) Another interesting comment was that of very long time from flowering of the vines to harvest. A month ago, that would not have meant much to me, but my recent encounter with Clive Coates changed that. Clive said that what makes Burgundy so special is the extremely long time between flowering and harvest, giving the wine more complexity. If I apply Clive's logic to 2008 Bordeaux, then I would have to believe that the long time from flowering to harvest will potentially make the 2008s more complex at maturity than their counterparts from 2005 and other excellent vintages.
4) RP said it was cooler and sunnier than usual during the growing season, which gets me excited because cooler weather makes it less likely that the wines will turn out overly alcoholic and hot. Not to say that some chateaux did not push the ripeness envelope...you know some will...but overall, it would have been more difficult in 2008 to overcook the wines. That's a good thing.
Of course, now with lofty scores bestowed on a number of wines, I can only reiterate what I've said a few days ago. If you're a collector and drinker of Bordeaux, this is the time to lock in prices, especially for Pomerol and St. Emilion wines as they are produced in such small quantities. I know everyone says that the economy is bad and that one can pick the wines up for less in 2 years when they arrive on shelves. I don't believe that. Between scores, exchange rates, and the posssible recovery of the stock market (not necessarily the economy), I can't see prices for these wines going down. On the left bank with large production, I don't see the need to jump on anything but the very most sought after wines.
As far as merchants are concerned, I have decided after doing my homework, that I will buy all my futures (and I'm not a big buyer by any means) from K&L and the Wine Exchange. Although any merchant can go belly-up in the next two years, I believe that brick and mortar operations that do a significant amount of business in-store, and that have most of their inventory in-stock are the best choice for these times. Do your own research and make your own decision, but this is mine.
I'll be reporting my list of buys for this vintage shortly. I still think there are lots of terrific deals out there to be had, although the new releases from here on out are likely not going to be nearly as attractive, but we will see.
If you have any questions, please feel free to post a comment or email me.
