Summary of the Vintage
A surprisingly good vintage much richer in style with fuller tannins than the 2007. Despite some weather conditions being similar to 2007 all stages of the vines development and the maturation of the grape throughout the year was much slower, concentrating the fruit flavours. There was also frost in April that killed the early buds which reduced the size of the vintage but this helped concentrate the remaining bunches. They were saved at almost the 12th hour for the second year running. When I was in Bordeaux in early September the risk of rot was very high yet the grapes were still lacking in ripeness. It looked like many producers would be forced to pick early to avoid losing the entire crops to rot. But this all changed on the 13th September when they were blessed with fine, dry weather that lasted until the 27th October. Some Chateau even picked into November.
Vintage comparison
This is best summed up by Bill Blatch in his vintage report “Certainly 08, with its miraculously fine autumn, has nothing to do with the rainy autumn vintages 71-72-73-74-76-79-80-87-91-92-93-94-99-06. Nor of course does it have anything in common with the all-through hot, sunny conditions of 70, 75, 82, 85, 86, 89, 90, 95, 96, 00, 03 and 05. Comparison has to be with other good vintages when a dull summer gave way to a dry autumn like 78, 83, 01, 02 and 07 and with other very late harvests like 78, 88, 98 and 04.
Of these, the wines seem to bear little resemblance to the grassier 78s, to the harder 02s, to the lighter 07s, to the greener Cabernets of 88 and 98 or to the stricter 04s. The closer matches seem to be, both meteorologically and wine-wise to 83 and 01, but both of these made tighter-styled and leaner wines than 08, 83 presumably because the warm June-July of that year arrived on grapes that were less well advanced than 08, with the result that the similarly cool showery August and dry autumn did not have time to finish the ripening so effectively as in 08, and 01 because, for some reason, the drab June-July of that year never really got caught up by the hot August and the cool dry autumn. The best of the 08s will certainly have a darkness of colour, a concentration of middle-weight and a strength of ripe tannin that these vintages don't have, whilst retaining that fundamental slightly sharper character of all the late-harvest vintages.”
Price
Price and value is the biggest factor if you should buy the 2008's. In a very cautious market where everyone wants there money to go further and exchange rates against sterling it is going to be difficult. Angelus released last week at 40% down on 2007 so it looks like the Bordelais are listening but only time will tell if they will go far enough.
Releases to date
During the En Primeur Campaign all order request need to go through James Goodhart. Please call 01325 776446 or email james@bcfw.co.uk
Armailhac 2008 £235 – Good but Clerc Milon is a better buy.
Beychevelle 2008 £265
Clerc Milon 2008 £259
Du Tertre 2008 £195
Duhart Milon 2008 £265
Forts de Latour 2008 £550 – Refused allocation, too expensive.
Giscours 2008 £259
Gruaud Larose 2008 £280
Lafite 2008 £1590
Latour, Pauillac 2008 £1600 – Sorry no stock.
L'Evangile 2008 £695
Leoville Barton 2008 £328
Leoville Poyferre 2008 £325
Lynch Bages 2008 £360
Margaux 2008 £1590
Mouton Rothschild 2008 £1490 – SOLD OUT.
Ormes de Pez 2008 £165 - We think this is too expensive but can get stock if required.
Pavillion Rouge 2008 £315
Pichon Lalande 2008 £465
Please note: En Primeur prices exclude VAT, Duty, Delivery From UK Bond and Under Bond Transfers. All wines go into our bonded warehouse account. Payment is due on confirmation of order and receipt of invoice. An additional charge of 2.5% will be incurred for credit card payments. Cheques and bank transfers will not incur any additional charges. Please contact us for In Bond and Duty Paid storage details.
