Bordeaux 2013: 'A vintage for terroir, and for money', says Spurrier

(Decanter) - A tough time for Merlot on Bordeaux's left bank has yielded some unusual wines from a 2013 vintage that strongly reflects a chateau's terroir and also its financial resources, according to experts.

A dearth of quality Merlot is reflected in the make-up of several grands vins from the weather-hit 2013 vintage.

'Margaux has made a 99% cabernet, Palmer has made a wine with only 5% Merlot [and] Pichon Longueville Comtesse has made a wine with no Merlot,' Decanter consultant editor Steven Spurrier said.

'That’s never happened before, so basically the whole thing is a kind of revisiting of what we used to know in a completely interesting and different way.'

Volumes are down by at least a third at many estates across Bordeaux's appellations, after bad weather book-ended the 2013 growing season and led to a race against rot during harvest.

'You would have to go back to the 1960s to find such a rapid degradation of grapes [in the vineyard],' said left bank wine consultant Eric Boissenot, who works with hundreds of chateaux, including four of the five Medoc first growths.

'The problem of this vintage is the quantity, not the quality. The volume poses an economic problem. But I think it will be a good vintage in bottle.'

Some estates have cut the proportion of their harvest used for the grand vin. At Cos d'Estournel, around half of the grape haul has gone into grand vin, compared to up to 65% normally. Latour has used around 31% of the harvest for its grand vin, versus 35% normally.

Others have taken the rare step of selling some of the 2013 vintage in the bulk wine market. At Chateau Pichon Longueville, 20% of the harvest is being sold in bulk.

'I think the 2013 vintage was summed up by Olivier Bernard of Domaine Chevallier, who said at the opening dinner at Chateau Pavie that it was the most challenging vintage he had experienced in 30 years of winemaking,' said Spurrier.