2009

Bordeaux 2009 par Armin Diel / Pekka Nuikki

Bordeaux – mid-March

The spring sun begins to break through the dark clouds that cover Bordeaux. We are heading towards the Château Lafite estate. The traffic is calm and there are few traffic jams in the parking lots of the vineyards we pass. The same goes for Lafite. The apparent peace and tranquility is only on the surface, however, because underneath there is only turmoil. This is due to th...

Much like 1947, 1961 and 2005, 2009 is a year of almost overly (for Bordeaux) flamboyant and opulent wines with high maturity and low acidity. The tannins are exceptionally ripe, while the wines are quite voluptuous in style. The Left Bank recorded more hours of sunshine than legendary vintages such as 1947 and 1982, and the grapes had higher sugar concentrations than in 2003 and 2005. The key was significant diurnal temperature variations that allowed the grapes to withstand hot daytime temperatures. An exceptional vintage on all levels.

A warm spring with some hail in the northern part of the Côte de Nuits. After an even flowering and a warm June, the summer arrived with variable July weather. Fortunately August was fine with a period of hot weather in the second week. September started with some rain, then became fine and warm again. A harvest of healthy, ripe grapes followed. The 2009s have all the structure packed in with rich, luscious fruit. Comparable to the 2005s. Great wines.

This warm year started with a cold winter and mild spring temperatures. Early summer was variable but August and September provided ample sunshine and warmth contributing to fine grape health. Pinot Noir especially excelled. Grape harvest, of generally high sugar content yet soft acidity, started on September 8th. 2009 is a year of generous wines that showed well early. An apt example of a vintage of the recent era, in which retaining freshness poses more problems than attaining ripeness. Good grape health contributed to the overall quality, and despite the richness of the wines, heaviness did not end up being an issue. There is quite some heterogenity amongst the year's produce but the best seem truly age-worthy. The vintage's finest include Louis Roederer Cristal and Cristal Rosé, Dom Pérignon and Philipponnat Clos des Goisses.

Napa 2009 Vintage Report   “We consider the vintage 2009 was the start of a three year cooling cycle (2009, 2010, 2011) that ended with the 2012 vintage.  If We look at the big picture of the decade We see warming each year from 2006, 2007 and then 2008.  2009 then started a cooling cycle where the vintages were progressively cooler and wetter. Out of these vintages the 2011 was the coolest and wettest. We are pleased to see the vintage 2012 is breaking this cycle.”

The 2009 vintage of Domaine de La Romanée-Conti

In exceptionally sunny years, it often happens that the sun continues to accompany the grapes, which it has taken so much care to ripen, from the end of fermentation to the birth of the wine. That's the case this year - a year ending in "9" which once again connects this number to the star of life. Indian summer sets in at the end of the harvest, and the radiant vines, freed of their fruit, change their “diurnal dress”, becoming more and more golden every day. It is as if their nostalgia for summer days is expressed in the golden hue that adorns the leaves before they fall to the ground, abandoning themselves to the soil which is, in turn, nourished by them.

The vineyards buzz with activity along the village streets stretching out into the sun. The winemakers smile as they inhale the scents emanating from the fermentation vats, reminding them at every moment what a blessing from the gods a beautiful vintage in Burgundy is.

Not that it was all easy. On the contrary, in the annual struggle of the Burgundian winegrower against the irregular and unpredictable weather – without the whims of which he will not make great wines – victory often appears very late in the season, as in 2008, when it was necessary to wait until mid -September so that the window of good weather opens, allowing the vintage to be successful. At other, rarer times, such as in 1999, 2005 or this year 2009, victory is won much earlier, even at the beginning of August. But of course we didn't know it at that time, we were so concerned about protecting the vines from the brutal attacks of powdery mildew, downy mildew in particular, and even botrytis throughout the spring until the end of July.

After early budburst, as has been the case for most in recent years, these diseases were in fact facilitated during the months of April, May, June and even July by recurring rain storms which did not cause any respite for the winegrower. Even though the sun did not stop activating the metabolism in the vines, the heat brought storms almost every week. Fortunately these were not too violent, except where there was hail, like in Gevrey-Chambertin, for example, but each time the storms forced us to renew our organic treatments to save the vines. .

On the other hand, it is precisely these spring rains which allowed the vines to build up sufficient water reserves to overcome without excessive stress the drought that we experienced throughout the month of August – with the exception of one rain storm on August 15 – until the start of the harvest. This hydrated balance allowed the canopy of leaves to fully fulfill its role as “candy” and the grapes reached exceptional maturity.

The near-natural perfection of this harvest was totally respected by our harvest team, thanks to their now consummate experience in selective picking. In addition, we left aside the vines that were overloaded or too young for a second pass, in order to maintain the beautiful quality that we were looking for.

As a result, the grapes that passed the sorting table were some of the finest we have ever seen. As we saw in 1999 and 2005, there were many small clusters, many “Millerandages”, or “mixed” berries, and as a sign of a great year, the old vines, which are generally not very productive. , gave this year a generous harvest of small berries, sumptuous examples of the best Pinot Noir.

We also observed a phenomenon typical of great vintages: the berries most exposed to the sun had roasted and contained an almost concentrated sugar which was only released at the end of fermentation. Following this event, the wine experienced a real enrichment, natural and progressive, ending with an even higher richness in degrees than those we had observed at the start of fermentation.

Regarding the quantity, it is also satisfactory. Due to the generous flowering, in addition to the magnificent frame of clusters which was the same on all the fruits this year, the size of the harvest was of the order of those we had seen in 1999 and 2005.

The vines were harvested in the following order in 2009:

Corton: September 10 (The maturity of Corton was well ahead of Vosne-Romanée.)
Richebourg: September 13
Romanée-Conti: September 14 La Tâche: September 14 and 15 (Grapes from young 8-year-old vines
The Tâche were so ripe and fine that we decided to include them in the grand cuvée.)
Romanée-St.-Vivant: September 15-16
Grands Échézeaux: September 17-18 Échézeaux: 18-19
september
Montrachet: September 15 (During the year, the evolution of the Pinots Noirs and Chardonnays was curious and very different from the normal maturation process. The flowering of the Chardonnay took place at least a week later than that of the Pinots However, there was such an extreme reactive response from the Chardonnays in the final hot weeks of summer that the delay in maturity we first noticed with flowering – which persisted throughout the season of growth – was almost canceled. We harvested the Montrachet vineyard on September 15, before having finished harvesting the reds. We have high hopes of producing one of our most exceptional Montrachet vintages, the fruit was so glorious, golden, ultra-ripe, in a word, sumptuous, and at the same time, a beauty defying description).

At the time of writing, October 7, 2009, fermentations are slow, regular and naturally reach high temperatures. The quality of the grapes and the richness of the material allow us to aspire to long “vattings”, or “fermentations in vats or vats”. The colors are garnet red, almost black. This is a vintage of high lineage, reflecting the high standard of the magnificent grapes we harvested, which seem to come to life in the vats.

Domaine Moillard Evaluation Report: The winter of 2008-2009 was very cold and dry. Spring arrived slowly with a yo-yoing thermometer. Summer started with glorious sunshine and summer temperatures lasted until September. The vintage is characterized by exceptional sunshine, particularly in January, May and August.
The harvest began the second week of September. The yield was high; The grapes were rich and concentrated. The white wines are lip-smacking, with excellent alcohol/acidity balance; For the reds, the tannins are concentrated with a lot of flesh. This magnificent vintage shows that quantity rhymes with quality!

Napa 2009 vintage report by Tb

“Budding occurred almost 15 days later than previous warmer vintages. The summer was generally cool with only two heat peaks above 100 degrees, one in June and one in July. The fruits ripened slowly and relatively evenly, with wonderful purity. This is one of the reasons why the Dana Estates Cabernets of the 2009 vintage demonstrate such finesse and accessibility from a very young age. However, the near-perfect growing season ended suddenly with unusually heavy rains in early October. With rare exceptions, fruit that arrived after rain was downgraded. Fortunately, the fruit that arrived before this rain was of the highest quality. » Cameron Vawter, winemaker – Dana Estates

May-Britt & Denis Malbec, procurers of Notre Vin and consultants for Blankiet, Kapscandy

“The growing season, from bud burst in mid-March to early May, was extremely dry. This pattern changed in early May with rain that ended up putting more than three inches on Howell Mountain. This late rain gave the vines enough humidity to allow very good growth with minimal inputs from us. The preset cluster numbers looked very good as flowering approached. The flowering period was cool and prolonged, resulting in limited set in many Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards. Veraison was also expected to be prolonged due to the flowering experience, but surprisingly the color change was actually compact, which will create a very uniform ripening, as the Cabernet Sauvignon moved remarkably fast during this period, especially on the mountain. With little to no frost, very few heat spikes, and nice moderate temperatures during the summer, this seemed like the perfect scenario for harvest. Late August through early September saw the largest heat peak with the lowest humidity of the season. Sugars have increased significantly during this period, going from two to four Brix. Throughout September, very short, mild heat spikes occurred approximately every seven to ten days and humidity levels fell below 20% a few times, further increasing the risk of berry dehydration . Irrigation management before and after these peaks was essential to avoid dehydration. October started with mild high temperatures and, more importantly, low temperatures dropping into the mid 30s. A significant rain event occurred on October 13 with approximately three inches of rain. Another lighter rain occurred on October 19. The effect of this rain could be measured in the absorption of moisture by the plants, which caused some swelling of the berries and, in many cases, contributed to limiting the Brix readings. The appearance of rot, Penicillium spp. and perhaps Aspergillus. Fortunately, this rot was only seen on sunburned berries, usually on the afternoon side of the vine and was fairly limited on Howell Mountain, so a quick pass to remove these infected berries before harvest prevented rot from being delivered to wineries. In general, the harvest was on average a week later than normal. Overall, a relatively quiet growing season until harvest time.

Cory Empting, winemaker – Harlan & Bond Estates:

“It was a vintage that produced wines with great layers and nuances thanks to an extended harvest period. The fruity material was very ripe, but also showed a lot of freshness and lively acidity. To me it's reminiscent of the 2005 but with a greater degree of concentration. »

“We saw below average precipitation and the growing season was long with very consistent temperatures for most of the year. After the first week of September, the weather cooled significantly, resulting in moderate to long periods between veraison and harvest for all of our properties. Yields were slightly high as we had excellent fruit set due to good weather during flowering. We did a green harvest at veraison reducing the fruit by 15-25%. When harvesting, the differences in rootstock, topography and exposure were exaggerated, so we had to make many passes and separate a little more in some properties. Fortunately, we had almost a solid month to harvest without pressure. We were able to harvest 94% of the vineyards before the heavy rains – almost 5 inches – on October 12. After the rain, we let the remaining blocks dry a bit, then went to harvest almost a week later. It's worth mentioning that many of these wines turned out much better than expected.

Nick Gislason, winemaker – Screaming Eagle:

“The year 2009 reminds me especially of 1997, where we also had a beautiful dry spring with less vigorous vines on the vines, a moderate summer with few heat peaks and a good harvest which allowed a long hanging time during the mild autumn. The vintage was almost perfect in the vineyard for our signature fresh wine style.

“Spring started with very few frosts (unlike 2008 which had many) and warm conditions, which led to healthy and balanced crop loads. Then, as spring progressed, conditions continued to be warm and dry, which helped to naturally down-regulate the vigor of the vine cover and bring the vineyard into excellent balance. between leaf and fruit development, requiring very little additional shoot training. As summer arrived and into fall, we had warm conditions with far fewer high heat spikes (100+F) than in 2008, which led to a lot of cool retention in the fruit, and floral, spicy and vibrant flavors very characteristic of a classic Screaming Eagle vintage. We harvested the Merlot from September 9 to 17, the Cabernet Sauvignon from September 18 to October 10 and the Cabernet Franc on October 1. The total production quantity was 750 cases. »

Allison Tauziet, Winemaker – Colgin Cellars:

“Our wines from this vintage are inky in color, fresh in flavor and have incredibly silky and approachable tannins. The quality of the fruit was uncompromising, and the wines reflect this purity of the fruit and the elegance of the tannin. »

“The 2009 vintage was a vintage characterized by balance. Bud break began as planned in mid-March. Although we only received about two-thirds of our normal rainfall over the winter, we were fortunate to have some minor rains in April and May that helped the vines last until beginning of summer. Summer proved to be a classic with its weather conditions. We only experienced a few days of 100+ degree heat, followed by our traditional fog pattern coming off the bay. The fog continued through much of August, which lengthened the early ripening stage of the fruit, giving ample time for the vines to create fruit that was deep in pigment and complex in flavor. Several small episodes of heat in September completed the development of flavor and tannin, allowing us to begin picking Merlot and Syrah. The magnificent mild weather of the first week of October provided perfect conditions for the ripening of the Cabernet, which we picked regularly until the middle of the month. We finished the harvest just before the cold, wet weather hit the vines on October 13th.

Germany Vintage report by Wilhelm Weil: Vintage report 2009 / The winter of 2008/2009 was the coldest in over a decade. Particularly in the first weeks of January, thermometer readings rarely rose above freezing and temperatures dropped as low as -15°C/5°F. The weather remained cold even into March, and included a late snowfall on the 25th of the month – which foreshadowed a late burst of buds.

However, April exceeded all expectations. Almost without exception, the weather was as warm and sunny as could be expected in early summer, and it was the second warmest April on record since 1884, when weather results were first documented at the Geisenheim/Rheingau research institute. This has led to explosive growth. By the end of the month, vegetation was about two weeks ahead of schedule and generally proceeded under relatively balanced weather conditions thereafter. Unfortunately, a cold spell during flowering led to damage from coulure and poor fruit set, leaving very loose clusters and a slight reduction in yield, which however also paved the way for clusters capable of remaining for a long time on the vine.

August 12 marked the start of the maturation phase of development, approximately two weeks ahead of schedule. Ideal weather conditions allowed must weights to increase steadily. At the beginning of October, must weights of at least 90° Oechsle were measured at all sites, associated with an extraordinarily healthy harvest of optimal physiological maturity. You could definitely say that the grapes looked very tempting and tasted just as good. The harvest of our Domaine Rieslings began on October 5. Because flowering was relatively early, the grapes had been on the vine for at least 115 days at that point. We have high expectations for these wines, thanks to the exceptionally high quality of the harvest. The next phase of the harvest was dedicated to bringing in a golden yellow, fully ripe and healthy harvest with must weights of around 100° Oechsle – intended for the production of our best dry wines from the sites of 'Erste Lage (Premier Cru) Klosterberg, Turmberg and Grosse Lage (Grand Cru) Gräfenberg.

The weather in October was somewhat variable, but the harvest remained healthy, thanks to reduced cluster density and cool temperatures. Thus, we were also able to harvest grapes well suited to the production of grandiose wines with naturally ripe sweetness in the Prädikat Spätlese category. In the later stages of the harvest, a very nice “noble rot” (Botrytis) set in which allowed us to harvest grapes suitable for all other levels of Prädikat, from Auslese to Trockenbeerenauslese. By selling selectively, we were able to pick grapes with must weights of up to 241° Oechsle. As such, we remain in the remarkable position of being able to produce wines of all quality categories, up to and including Trockenbeerenauslese, for the 21st consecutive year.

2009 vintage: Our steep sites, Kiedricher Kosterberg, Kiedrich Turmberg and Kiedrich Gräfenberg, and their extraordinarily physiologically ripe grapes yielded real harvests that promise wines of great extract (substance) and perceptible mineral tones that reflect their appellations of origin. We can thank Mother Nature for that.