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Wine Description
The Story
Despite his training and success as a cooper, Henri Martin's heart was not in barrelmaking. So, starting in 1939, he left to become a winegrower. His lifelong ambition was to create a new estate, Château Gloria - a monumental undertaking! Plot by plot, vine row after vine row, he patiently and systematically purchased vineyard land from his friends and neighbours in the commune of Saint-Julien to form Château Gloria.
This included many vines from classified growth estates. Indeed, this was quite a feat considering that Saint-Julien has only 900 hectares of vines, consisting almost entirely of land belonging to the appellation's eleven great growths. Henri Martin's new estate was created in the 1970s, attaining an area of 50 hectares. Château Gloria is therefore the story of one man's passion for vines and wine. Although the history of famous châteaux of Bordeaux generally goes back hundreds of years, Gloria is an exception. Its existence is due to the determination of one man in the late 20th century, and it has already established a sterling reputation.
Once the grapes have been picked by hand, the harvest is vinified in the traditional way in heat-regulated stainless steel vats, in order to produce truly exceptional wines which can be laid down for a long time. The wine then spends 14 months being aged in casks, with an average of 40% of them being replaced every year.
Vintage 1990
Early, uniform flowering, a hot but unspectacular summer and an exceptionally hot period at the end of August 1990 and the first half of September. It was this heat that allowed the record harvest not only to fully ripen, but also to concentrate the fruit. Harvesting began on September 14 and was completed before the start of heavy rains on October 2. Another reason for the success of the vintage was that most châteaux had invested in their cellars and were able to work with such a large and hot harvest. It was now possible to control fermentation temperatures better than in previous warm vintages, such as 1947. The grapes produced wines with such a high level of natural alcohol that chaptalization became unnecessary. They showed deep color, high and unusually sweet tannin levels and better acidity than expected, as well as great concentration of fruit. The hype was great, particularly thanks to the advent of new wine magazines - this was the vintage that cemented Robert Parker's reputation. Prices rose quickly and haven't looked back since. I remember that all Premiers Crus (including Pétrus) were offered to end consumers for around 50 euros en primeur in 1983.
The scene of the arrival of the 1990 vintage was quite different. There was a surplus of very good to great wine on the market – for the first time, there was talk of three great vintages in succession. This led most châteaux to drop their prices by around 20% from their 1989 prices, even though the quality was exceptional. There had been a steady increase in prices during the 1980s, but they had now more or less returned to the opening prices of the 1982s. This was again a record harvest, but as most châteaux had already introduced a "second wine" and were more selective regarding quality, there was actually less wine bottled under the name "Grand Vin" than in 1982.
We have been following these two vintages since they were young, as they were both precocious and easy to drink from the start. The best wines from both vintages are spectacular, but the overall quality is much higher in 1990. Here, the wines have been equally successful on both sides of the river, and even the small châteaux have produced something special. We always found most Right Bank 1982s to be overly alcoholic and lacking in structure; Indeed, many age quickly.
