The Blatch report, Part 2 – making bordeaux 2004

Again in this second half of Bill Blatch’s annual report on the most recent vintage in Bordeaux, I have put those observations I think especially interesting in bold.

Vinification

The watchword for this vintage, as it had been for 2003, was “easy”. Just like last year, there were plenty of unwanted elements that could get extracted into the wine if you didn’t go easy. And they were pretty much the same elements as last year: the grapes had large pips and pips contain bitterness. In addition, as a result of the protracted véraison, some of...