2007: the turnaround vintage
We have experienced such vintages many times before. Even the great 2000 was not looking at all good until the weather suddenly changed on 10 Jul; 2001 was definitely iffy until 20 Jul, and 2002’s cool damp summer didn’t end until 10 Sep. Each time, the vine had to count on the final part of the season to catch up, yet each time we ended up making some pretty decent wines.
Rainfall (mm) Temperature (°C) Sun hours
2006/7 Avge cf average cf average
11/06 68 106 + 2.7°
12/06 49 106 – 1.6°
01/07 81 92 + 1.9°
02/07 139 82 + 2.7°
03/07 93 70 + 0.4°
04/07 35 80 + 4.4° + 12.4%
05/07 141 83 + 1.2° - 14.6%
06/07 57 63 + 1.1° - 11.3%
07/07 58 54 - 1.1° - 11.9%
08/07 84 59 – 0.7° – 1.1%
09/07 36 90 - 2.0° + 25.0%
10/07 48 94 0.0° + 25.8%
(26 in rural areas)
Total 889 979
(05/06 901)
(04/05 472)
Figures are as registered at Mérignac (on the western outskirts of the city of Bordeaux)
Important figures are in bold
In 2007, the turnaround happened on 29 Aug. Although this was two weeks ahead of the same 2002 event, this time, the situation just beforehand seemed much worse and the vintage was considered at that point just about lost – by players and spectators alike.
The unsettled months of May and June spun out the flowering with considerable coulure in the later part. Then June continued overcast and grey, and evolved into a dull, drizzly July, and, to cap it all, a cool, showery second half of August stretched the grapes’ resistance to the limit. At the start of each of these dreary months, we thought it was just about to change….but it never did. We had sniggered at the old folks who had said at Christmas that a year with 13 moons could never be good. But now? Maybe they had been right.
Then, suddenly the weather just blew itself out with a day of very heavy rain on 29 Aug, and next morning, the high pressure systems returned, with dry, cool north-easterly breezes replacing the wet depressionary westerlies of the last four months The sun shone, and would shine permanently – apart from a few showers end Sep/early Oct – right up to early Nov. This sudden and lasting Indian summer was an amazing, unexpected and totally welcome phenomenon and it was to save the fortunes of the 2007 vintage.
Looking at past such recovery vintages, it would seem that there is more to them than just the good weather of the final stages. An off summer always seems worse than it is, and even if the weather is not great, things are going on in the vine, in fact sometimes more effectively than during periods of extreme heat.
In addition, the year had got off to a good start: quite a clement winter, with two long salutary cold snaps, a rainy Feb and Mar that ensured a very early budding, a remarkably warm Apr that provoked a very early flowering.
In a year that has been reported as cool and wet, there were in fact two heat and drought records set, one at the beginning and one at the end, sandwiching the poor summer: April was the warmest of the last 100 years, whilst September was the driest since 1985. These two phenomena are clearly linked: The April heat, followed as it was by high May rainfall got the vines off to an early and vigorous start. (It also got the mildew off to an early and vigorous start and there were to be many casualties during the long damp summer). Then, at the end of the season, when the dry sunny September, with zero rot risk, had allowed everyone to put off their harvest again and again until the perfect moment, often well into October, 2007 ended up with the longest hang in history: generally 140 days from flowering to harvest rather than the normal 110. This must have had an influence: the bunches were fed by their vine for 20% longer than usual. Maybe, just as in 2001, this compensates a little bit for the 10-15% deficiency in sun hours during the summer?
The statistics for the summer months (see panel hereafter), show more deficient sun hours than excessive rainfall or cold temperatures, just like in 2002 and 1998. If you prevented mildew becoming a problem, did the correct de-leafing schedule, and ensured a proper spread of bunches by correct crop-thinning, the naturally low yield would do the rest for you and get you through the indifferent summer so that your vines were in good shape to take advantage of the long, fine Indian summer when it miraculously arrived. Then you could harvest at leisure and at optimum ripeness all through the sunny autumn days. If not, you had to pick spoiled grapes quickly in early September, a bit green and before the autumn had influenced the final ripening.
So we have ended up with red wines that are disappointing in some of the lesser properties, but clearly very good in many of the more serious estates (top end as well as bottom end). They seem to have the same discreet weight as the ‘06s but are generally softer with smoother tannins than their straight-jacketed predecessors. The dry whites are of great class, tangy, fresh and fine as in ’06 but with a bit more power, whilst the star of the show is surely Sauternes, where the botrytis took a long time concentrating, but when it did, was of great quality and could be harvested, at the same leisurely pace as the reds, right up to mid-Nov. So ended this turnaround vintage. It had got off to such a good start, had almost lost it in the middle, and then made a superb comeback at the finish.
Winter 2006/7
The one thing that made the autumn comeback so effective was the year’s earliness. If it had got off to a late start, no number of Indian summers would have saved it, for the fine weather would have come too late to ensure proper ripening.
A mild winter prepared the way for an early start to the season. There were two long cold snaps over Christmas and again at the end of January, two weeks for the first and a week for the second. All the frosts occurred during these two periods, totalling, for the whole winter, only 21 nights, as compared to the average 31. Outside of these, January’s mild south-westerly air currents and February’s westerlies provided long periods of warmth. The first 20 days of January were twice as warm as the average, tricking the vine into thinking spring was here, and causing the sap to rise. The end of January re-freeze put a lid on that, but when the same thing happened again during the last 20 days of February and the first part of March, there was no holding back. There was even one freak day, Sunday 4 Mar, at 25°8C. The Bordelais took to the beaches. It was not far off the March single day record of 1981.
Besides being warm, the winter was also fairly dry. Only February, with its string of rain-laden low pressure systems (which came into Europe exceptionally low this year), was wetter than usual, again providing fuel for the early budding.
Spring 2007 and the budding
The extreme warmth and continuing rainfall of early March caused swellings to occur on some warmer areas of Bordeaux, and some bud bursts were noted in Pomerol and on the whites in Pessac-Léognan as early as 14 Mar, two weeks ahead of normal, and heralding, as in 2001, a “vin de mars” (when the embryo grapes are visible before the end of Mar). Early budding is positive in that it gets the season off to an early start which, if it holds up, ensures an earlier and riper harvest (as in ’89 and ’90). The negative side to it, of course, is that it increases frost risk. But 2007, just like 2001, that other early starting and late finishing season, had a few frost alerts but no real damage. Rather, both seasons suffered a post-budding cold period which then held things up: the 2001 later, in April, and for longer, the 2007 earlier and for less time, during the very cold night-time temperatures of the rest of March. From 8 Mar right the way through to 7 Apr, the thermometer went down each night to 5, 4, 3, 2°C and even on one night (22 Mar) to 0°5. The buds that were already out stopped growing and the rest took four weeks to burst. It took until 8 Apr for the total bud-burst to be completed. Some of the Cabs were just bursting at the same time as some Merlots were already out to their fourth leaf. Here were sown the seeds of the irregular flowering, which would in turn condition the irregular véraison, and the very spun-out harvest.
Early summer 2007 and the flowering
With a mean temperature around 20 Apr of 16°C, and a series of day-time highs well over 25°C, Apr set an all-time record. With plenty of water in the soil from the high February and Mach rainfall, the vegetation grew at an alarming rate, so that by the end of the month, all the foliage was out to 40 or 50 cm and, when May continued warm and wet, the flowering started around the middle of this month, two weeks ahead of schedule, rapidly at first under the influence of the 25–29°C temperatures of 22–24May, then slower during the four stormy days of 25–28 May. This first half of the flowering was generally completed successfully. The problems arrived shortly afterwards, as first the day-time temperatures dropped back to 15 -20°C, and the night-time ones to 10–12°C, with a spike down to 8°C on the night of 1 Jun , then from 6Jun bounced back to the high 20°s, with even 30°C on 9Jun. This is the kind of yo-yo weather that the vine doesn’t like at flowering, and it quickly became apparent that the later flowering parts of the vineyard had suffered much “coulure”. The earlier parts such as Pomerol and Pessac-Léognan did better, but many of the later Merlots, a lot of the Cabernets (for once), and some Sémillons failed to set. The “sortie” (number of bunches) had not been prolific and now the crop was to be further reduced by this coulure.
The weather had exacerbated another problem by now: mildew, oidium and…..snails. The wet end of winter followed by the record-hot April, especially the very warm minimum temperatures, now followed by these wet and warm periods, had all combined to provide a perfect medium for these scourges to thrive on foliage that was still tender from its quick growth
The oidium and the snails (which eat the young shoots) had shown up very early, in April, and were generally dealt with effectively right then. But the mildew was more insidious: since this year it attacked the bunches directly rather than the leaves, it was less easy to spot. And once it had taken hold, it was almost impossible to get rid of, as one damp month succeeded the other. Only those who were up-to-date with their preventative spraying programme back in April managed to keep it in check, and many lesser estates didn’t do those sprayings because the weather was so dry and hot at that time. These people lost a lot of production. The rest kept up an infernal rhythm of sprayings right up until the harder skins of late July made it less necessary….but then they had to prevent it going to the leaves. If it was allowed to do that, photosynthesis would not happen properly and the sugar would not build up in the grapes. Many ended up doing more than 15 sprayings.
Anyone who says he or she lost nothing to mildew is lying, but generally it was the better-managed and more financially able estates that did best, and the lesser generic estates that sometimes lost entire hectares of production. And we have to spare a thought for the tribulations of the brave biodynamic growers in all of this. It was at this time that the prospect of a short crop sent the prices of bulk bordeaux up on the market-place.
July and August
All that was needed now was for the high pressure systems to return for the summer and all would be fine, as it had been in 2000. But as July wore on, grey, dull, cool and drizzly, followed by the heavy showers of August, the mood gradually changed, as these systems either stuck around in mid-Atlantic or moved into Central Europe, leaving a tangle of loose little fronts to stagnate over Western Europe. People were dying from the heat in Macedonia and Greece while Gloucestershire was under water and, in Bordeaux, we had the windscreen wipers on half-speed all the time. The cause of all this seems to have been this year’s more southerly dip in the jet-stream, originating from a La Niña-associated anomaly over the Pacific, and certainly linked to the warmer-than-usual sea surface temperature of the Atlantic. (a tiger shark was caught off La Rochelle in Jul).
Despite appearances, in the end, Juyl was not very rainy: The final rainfall figure was not higher than the norm (53.6mm; cf the average of 54.5mm). It was just dull and drizzly, and the same for the whole region. And August’s rainfall came in five or six big showers, all in the second half. It was also less evenly spread. Mérignac registered just 83mm, the right bank about the same, yet the Médoc well over 110mm (The norm is 59.5mm).
Meanwhile the véraison (grapes’ change of colour) was happening. It started about 18 Jul and, like the flowering, or rather, because of the flowering, got spun out well into August. There were three nice sunny periods 25-27 Jul, 1-5 and 9-12 Aug, with a spike of 36.4°C heat on 5Aug when it worked efficiently. But most estates had a very irregular véraison, which would translate into an irregular and difficult-to-manage harvest later. Each estate was now in possession of its mid-véraison date, and could count the standard 45 days to harvest, and make plans for a Monday 10, 17 or 24 Sep start to the vintage.
The véraison is traditionally the time to snip out any laggard bunches (“vendange en vert”) and this was performed now. In most estates, a crop-thinning (“éclaircissage”) had already been performed back in Jul in order to even out the crop, and this year to cut off any bunches that had dried up from the mildew. Having spent a fortune saving their bunches from mildew, they now spent the same amount again cutting some of them off! And as usual, many generic growers were darned if they were going to do it.
By mid-August, the vineyards were just about under control for the mildew, but now a new problem presented itself: the grapes had expanded and were becoming prone to early rot. Of course, there are sprays to deal with the rot, but they are not very effective when used just before rain, and it was just at this time that the 20-29 Aug showery period arrived, with two major downpours on “Black Monday” 20 Aug and again on “Black Wednesday” 29 Aug. At the time, this was considered to be the final straw, just one problem too far. With some grapes starting to split, growers abandoned their usual optimism. One more day of such conditions, and they were saying we could forget the 2007 vintage.
Then, the following day, the miracle happened. 30 Aug dawned bright and clear and, as in 2002, with the high pressure system settling over Europe, the sun would stay out virtually for the next two months. The most remarkable thing was that the rot disappeared overnight never to be heard of again, and any split grapes quickly scarred under the healing influence of the dry north-easterly breezes. There was no real explanation for this most welcome phenomenon other than the progressive Setemberp drought. It was a bad year for cèpes mushrooms too.
Going into September, the vineyard was still a week or 10 days ahead of schedule, so there must have been some benefits in the summer. July and August had seemed cold and wet, but the temperature was in fact only about 1°C short of the average and only the August rainfall had been above average. Apart from the big final showers, it had just been damp and overcast all the time, as attested by the figures of sun-hours, 10-15% under the average for each of the months of June, July and August, and by the number of days in July and August over 25°C: 11 this year, against an average of 28.
Sep–Oct and the harvest
Some of the very early white wine estates started a small picking late August, but generally the Pessac-Léognan whites started the week of 3 Sep, continuing for two or three days at a time, at a very leisurely pace, as each parcel got to perfect ripeness, right up to 25Sep. Most of the Entre Deux Mers growers picked during the slightly hotter week of 10 Sep. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky for the whole white wine harvest and everything came in perfectly healthy.
It was now time for the red harvest. Some of the generic producers and lesser estates which had not done the proper sprayings or evened out the crop over the summer were now obliged to pick towards the end of the week of 10Sep, before the grapes were totally ripe. It is hard to criticise growers whose finances don’t allow them to do all the necessary things to ensure quality, but every year, the same ones manage to under-perform and then blame the CIVB when their wines don’t sell.
But, amongst all the producers of quality wines, there was now an amazing collective reluctance to pick. Having run the risk of losing everything at the end of August, one would have thought they would be anxious to get it in as quickly as possible. But no, they were now prepared to risk it again in order to wait for the best possible date, taking advantage of the increasing drought conditions of September. The 45 days from véraison rule went out of the window as the 17Sep start became 24 and 24Sep became 1 Oct, even during the unsettled conditions of the final days of Sep.
Some folks had always said that the combination of the full moon on 26Sep with a record perigee on 28Sep (closeness of the moon to the earth) would create unstable conditions. It is uncertain how all this could be the real cause of the disturbance, which was clearly occasioned by a temporary weakness in the high pressure over Europe and a jumble of small fronts forming in SW France. Or maybe there is something in all this moon stuff… Anyhow, the effect was not very serious, certainly not as serious as other September disturbances we have lived through (247mm of rain in ’93 for example) and, apart from the 10mm on 22 Sep, there were only a few little showers here and there of 1 or 2mm during this period from 21 Sep to 10 Oct. The two larger showers of 25 Sep and 5 Oct added 32mm to the statistics because they fell on Mérignac and the town of Bordeaux, but almost no rain fell elsewhere. So these little showers had no effect on the harvest, which continued at a very easy pace, little by little, as each parcel got to optimum ripeness. The three week disparity between the parcels that we had seen at the flowering and at the véraison was also part of this very spun-out harvest. At the end of August, plans had been made for a quick panic harvest to beat the rot and the bad weather; and now here we were taking all the time in the world.
By the weekend of 6 October, most of the Merlots were in, all except the traditionally very late pickers (the St-Emilion garagistes, those whose vineyard was in such good shape that they could afford to hang on, and terroirs that always ripen much later than the others).
September had been an exceptional month: only 3mm of rainfall over the first 20 days and 255 sun hours for the month (25% more than normal), with a dominant fresh north-easterly breeze keeping everything dry and cool, especially at night. October, on the other hand, started completely differently: 5°C warmer and also with a few showers, but the days were generally clear and fine and the north east breeze continued to have its drying effect for the ongoing harvest.
As the Merlots finished, so the Cabernets began, most of them during the week of 8 October. They had fully benefited from the September conditions and were generally more concentrated than the Merlots. As the high pressure weather returned around 11 October, this exceptional warmth was replaced by just as much daytime sunshine but much cooler nights, which all had a remarkable drying effect, rather like 21 years previously for the ’86 Cabs. But this time, it came just a little later, after most of the Cabs had been harvested, causing some of the remaining ones to wrinkle in such drying conditions and these were often not the best of the crop.
Down in Sauternes, on the other hand, such conditions were ideal. The dry September had stopped the botrytis in its tracks, but the warmer damper conditions of early October had brought it on strong, and when it got concentrated by the dry week of 15 October, that week accounted for the major part of this beautifully concentrated botrytis harvest, which continued on well into November in ideal conditions (see Sauternes later).
In such an irregular vintage, there is always a bit of everything and some yields have been remarkably high. But, as a general rule, it was a short vintage, naturally short at the “sortie”, losing a lot in the later part of the flowering to coulure, losing some, and sometimes a lot, along the way to mildew…and don’t forget the snails…and then to the deliberate crop-thinning procedures, and in the later October picks, to concentration on the vine.
The right bank, with its earlier, more efficient flowering this year, has produced more (typically 45–50 hl/ha) than the left bank (often at 35–45 ho/ha), whilst in the basic Bordeaux appellations, it is more like 45–55* hl/ha, unless the mildew got to it, in which case it could be…0 hl/ha. Yields in the top estates of Sauternes were not too bad: between 10 and 18 hl/ha (the maximum for the AC is 25), with not much to be declassified into second wine.
* This is the first year for growers to be given the option of a traditional single appellation approval tasting or of a vat-by-vat tasting. The former wins them the traditional 50 hl/ha maximum yield; the latter 55 hl/ha
Next, the wines.