Last week, the great and the good of the British wine trade including journalists, merchants and multitude of MWs decamped to our new Southwold-on-Thames venue to dissect the 2014s.

After the demoralising 2013s, there was a palpable sense of anticipation. We have always admired this vintage for its classical style and elegance. As is custom, we start with several flights of St Emilion. The flights seem to get longer each year and usually feature unfamiliar names that leave us pondering, ‘why?’ There was no such bafflement this year. Vignerons appear to have used a lighter touch and coupled with the natural acidity of the vintage, the wines have a real sense of cohesion and energy. Top marks went to Francois Mitjavile’s Tertre Roteboeuf, such an unmistakable wine, there’s really no need to disguise its identity… My preference was Canon, John Kolasa’s last year at the helm – this is as classical and super-refined, and a mighty impressive showing from Troplong Mondot.

Coining a vintage ‘classic’ or ‘one that will appeal to British palates’ can be laced with euphemism. But with the 2014s, it never has it been so true. We loved the style of these wines when we tasted from barrel and now that they are in bottle, they are looking more ravishing than ever.

Tasting a star-studded line-up of 2014s at BAFTA on Tuesday evening, more than confirmed that these wines press all the right buttons.

We were delighted to be joined by representatives from Château Lafleur, Château La Fleur-Petrus, Château Belair-Monanage, Château L’Eglise-Clinet, Vieux Château-Certan, L’If, Château Canon, Château Rauzan-Segla, Château Pichon-Lalande, Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Château Haut Batailley and Château Calon-Segur. With such a list of celebrity wine-makers and revered Châteaux it would be unfair and improper to hand out gongs – each wine from the humble Grand Village to the momentous Lafleur shone.

Journalists like to pigeonhole vintages. It supposedly makes life easy for consumers. Condense the wines of Bordeaux down into a brief soundbite, a paragraph that tells you all you need to know about this wonderful region. 

In 2015 it was a ‘Right Bank, Pessac and Margaux’ year. Read into this what you will – but what is not said often resonates the loudest. Most interpreted this as ‘don’t go near the northern Medoc’. The truth is rarely so simple…

Last week, our reconnaissance team spent three fascinating days tasting and re-tasting what is already being referred to as a sanctified trilogy: 2014, 2015 and 2016. Let’s start with the 2014s. This is a vintage that really appeals to our palates – a combination of modern winemaking and classic flavours, a vintage of balance and precision with more than enough power and concentration. It will of course remain in the shadow of 2015 and 2016, but these wines will make you smile and if you bought them en primeur, you should be well pleased.

There were no revelations re-tasting Bordeaux’s 2014s at the London UGC. We knew we liked the wines, but elevage hasn’t miraculously transformed them into something ‘exceptional’. 

Correct, poised, fresh, well delineated flavours, balanced and charming; the 2014s will, in general, be very enjoyable wines with a plushness that suggests they will be approachable quite soon. People who bought them en primeur will have no regrets.

Bonjour,

The 2014 vintage is providing us with so much pleasure… As we told you in the last email on 17th September, we were in a sunny disposition, and we still are. We finished the harvest with the Cabernets Franc plots from Grand Village on the 8th October in excellent conditions…

We worked hard throughout the summer to keep the grapes healthy. We must say that the weather in September and in October has been exceptional. Optimum ripeness was reached in all the different terroirs.

We have to harvest at just the right moment when the grapes are very ripe. It is a key success factor to harvest each parcel at the right time. If the harvest is done too early, phenolic maturity would not be reached, however with a late harvest the result would be too heavy, without enough freshness and precision.