NMI wag
Bordeaux '86 revisited
NORMALLY at this time of year attention turns to the latest vintage in Bordeaux. Nineteen eighty-seven is not that kind of vintage. It is probably not the worst vintage in recent years (reliable sources reckon it is considerably more attractive than '84, for instance), but various factors conspire to make it one of the least marketable vintages of the last decade. For a start there had just been too many good vintages in quick succession — a problem which winegrowers in some other regions, (Germany, Burgundy) might readily take on board, but which was bound in the end to catch up with the Bordelais. It could even be that 1987 has attracted more than its fair share of flak by being such an obvious and overdue fall-guy: one wine writer was prepared to come out with a sweeping condemnation of the vintage without having tasted a single wine. We will return to '87 later. In the meantime, though, a recent tasting at Christie's of more than 50 châteaux has provided a good opportunity to reassess the 1986 vintage, initially treated with a certain amount of scepticism but subsequently gaining recog- nition as one of the classics of the post-war era.
I would go along with that high assess- ment, at least as far as the best wines of the vintage are concerned. It seems to me that the most successful wines of 1986 are the most classically structured clarets since 1961. I am talking, let it be made clear, about the best wines below first growth level: the first growths are far too lofty to allow their wines to be tasted by ordinary folk at Christie's; and, of course, they are not really wines at all but more cumber- some forms of gilt-edged security.
The best '86s come from the north- central heartland of the Medoc formed by the communes of St Julien and Pauillac. These communes produce the most classi- cally clarety clarets, and so a vintage in which they excel seems itself particularly classic. Anthony Barton has made two exceptionally fine, deep-coloured, com- plex and beautifully balanced wines at Leoville and Langoa-Barton, the former, as usual, more powerful and backward, the latter graceful, lively and elegant.
In Pauillac Lynch-Bages has made an excellent, full, plummy wine, as usual the most typically cabernet sauvignon of all the classed growths (except Mouton and
Latour, perhaps). Haut-Bages-Liberal is deep-coloured with a refined, velvety tex- ture which bears out the proprietor Mille Villars's claim that it has even greater potential than its hugely successful stable- mate, Chasse-Spleen. Pauillac also brought one of 1986's two great surprise successes: Pichon Baron won my highest mark of the entire tasting, a wine of great hidden depths, concentration and heavenly length: considerably more substantial and impress- ive than the charming but rather light Pichon Lalande, which costs a good deal more. The other great surprise success of 1986 for me Was Rausan-Segla, long consi- dered, together with its neighbour Rauzan- Gassies, one of the most overrated châteaux of the 1855 classification. Apparently (I discovered after the tasting) £1.5 million has been invested in new equipment: the result is a magnificently deep-coloured wine whose rich fruit is at present masked by tannin, but which I guess will emerge as something very classy in ten years' time.
Elsewhere in Bordeaux 1986 was more variable than '85, '83 or '82. The merlot grape, diluted by the late September rain, gave excessively high yields: Christie's did not show many right-bank wines, but I was impressed by Figeac, which has a high proportion of cabernet and thus an almost Medocain structure. The '86 Graves have an unusually high-toned quality, probably resulting from a higher than usual propor- tion of cabernet, which 1 quite liked but other tasters found atypical.
And so back to 1987. The single most remarkable thing about this vintage is how far the prices have dropped: the first growths have opened at 130 francs, 30 per cent down on last year's price; other châteaux are following suit. This, com- bined with a substantial alteration in the exchange rate, to the pound's advantage, means that never-say-die Nick Davies of the Hungerford Wine Company is able to offer some '87s at 40 per cent below '86 prices. I suspect that may be a pretty fair reflection of the difference in quality. If anybody is looking for a real claret bar- gain, I would suggest combing the auction catalogues for two earlier and now some- what overlooked vintages, 1981 and 1983, the former just beginning to be ready to drink.
Harry Eyres
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