2012 Bordeaux Vintage – A Pleasant Surprise Rewarding Hard Work, Precision & Adaptation
Every April we go to Bordeaux to taste the most recent vintage, and, each year, the Bordelais and the rest of the trade give us their particular spin on what factors have influenced the outcome of the wines. By the time we arrive or shortly thereafter, the press/trade has already pigeonholed the vintage to be a certain way with twitter-esque efficiency of 140 characters or less. The reality is that over-generalization of a certain vintage is extremely misguided and quite frankly irresponsible. There are certainly varying narratives and nuances from one year to the next, but the bottom line is always the same - did you make a good wine or not, given what nature presented you? The 2012 vintage was no different. The weather, as it does in almost every vintage, creates problems for the winemaker or vineyard manager, who is forced to put out fires throughout the growing season to ensure that the material that ends up in the vat is ripe enough, clean and, hopefully, interesting, complex, and balanced. Then, the right decisions have to be made in the winery and during elevage. Some endured very well this year, and others did not.
