A Testing Year
Marielle Cazaux at La Conseillante in Pomerol starts her vintage précis by saying “the job of the vigneron is to scan the skies and monitor the vines.” This was never more true than in 2024. Viticultural challenges were set from the get-go.
Whilst the winter of 2023/4 was one of the warmest in the last 20 years, it was also the wettest. This warmth encouraged early budding in mid-March with the inevitable fear of frost, and the potential risk of disease (particularly mildew) that can accompany such conditions. At Mouton Rothschild they noted that, had you missed a treatment at the beginning of April, you would have been playing catch up for the rest of the year. The best equipped and financed estates undoubtedly had a head start. With 17 tractors, the Baron Philippe de Rothschild team were able to cover all 210 hectares of their vineyards in a single day. This was the story of the year; time and again, we heard that speed was of the essence, and it is here that the wealth and know-how of the classified growths put them at an undoubted advantage.
Despite the early budding, flowering was not as early as anticipated and, with a variation of temperatures, took longer than usual, over almost 5 weeks from the end of May to almost the end of June. Damp weather conditions continued at this time and vigilance was required to keep ahead of the game.
Unquestionably, the vintage was saved in July and August by dry weather and warmth without excessive heat. The famous vignerons’ adage: Août fait le moût – August makes the must – has never rung truer. August not only determined the ripeness of the grapes but also allowed the onset of hydric stress to the vine, crucial for ripening the pip tannins and anthocyanins. It is dryness, not heat, that allows for this ripeness and the avoidance of green unripe tannins; the very best wines were noticeable for their ripe, soft tannins. If you didn’t have these, as we found in some weaker wines, there was a risk of appearing angular and lacking in charm.
upon us all, a little rain must fall
According to Juliette Couderc, L’Evangile’s brilliant young winemaker, “as September arrived, we thought we had an extraordinary vintage in the making.” However the weather gods had a different idea. Rain returned. Whilst there were not many days which were completely dry, it was more intermittent showers, rather than heavy rainfall, certainly up to early October. Always wise, Philippe Bascaules at Ch Margaux was philosophical, commenting that he would far prefer to pick in the rain than pick unripe grapes! As an aside, he quietly mentioned that it actually rained throughout the 1995 and 1996 vintages and who could argue that 1996 Margaux is not one of the classics of all time.
In Sauternes and Barsac, the later September and early October rains encouraged a fast onset of noble rot. The grapes concentrated and sweetened at a rapid rate and a vast army of pickers could be seen throughout the vineyards. They yielded an average of 10 -12 hl/ha of high-quality juice: some delicious sweet wines in the making. Laure de Lambert Compeyrot, owner of one of our favourite estates, Ch Sigalas-Rabaud, was unreserved in her excitement about the style of the 2024s: sweet without excess and brilliantly fresh.
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
After a week’s tasting from the northerly tip of the Médoc in St Estéphe down to Margaux, heading across the Gironde to Pomerol and St Emilion and south into Péssac Leognan, it was clear that climatic variations from one appellation to another were marginal. Naturally, budding, flowering and ripening varies from one bank to the other, given the differing soils and the slight temperature variations. On the Left Bank the Merlot struggled a little more and the later ripening Cabernets provided the sculpted contours of the very best wines. In contrast, on the Right Bank, the earlier-ripening Merlots formed the backbone of the finest wines from the St Emilion plateau and Pomerol, where the diversity of soils allowed all three great varieties to excel. The only weak link in 2024 was the later-ripening Petit Verdot, which, in many cases, was left out of the finished blends.
The difference between success and failure in most cases came down to human initiative and decision making from vineyard to winery. There was no room for complacency in 2024. From the minute budding started it was vital to be vigilant and a favourable location certainly helped. For example, the hilltop site of Haut Bailly with its free-flowing breezes offered a natural protection against disease. Numerous top estates, including Lafite Rothschild and Mouton were able to treat their entire surface area of vines in a single day, giving maximum protection. At Ch Ducru-Beaucaillou a team of 100 vineyard hands worked tirelessly from mid June onwards, managing the canopy to encourage a heathy air flow between rows, aiding even ripening of fruit within the bunches and excellent photosynthesis.
HOLDING OUT FOR GREATNESS
The biggest test of nerve however came at harvest time, deciding when to start picking. The excellent conditions in August had transformed the vintage’s potential, allowing the white grapes to be picked in fine conditions. However, the vagaries of the September weather were a little more challenging; the big question was stick or twist. Having tasted nearly 400 wines, our view is that the brave were rewarded. In 2024, the better option in most cases was to wait, allowing additional hangtime and fruit ripening, despite the risk of losing a proportion of the crop, rather than picking early and gathering unripe fruit. Arnaud de Laforcade at Cheval Blanc told us that by waiting, they had to reject the early ripening berries, losing 30% of the crop, but the remaining 70% was of the highest quality. Veronique Sanders at Haut Bailly heeded her grandfather’s advice: “never pick unripe Cabernet, as it never loses its greenness”.
Once safely gathered the final piece of the jigsaw was how to treat the fruit on arrival at the winery. Fruit selection was vital. The richest estates could afford to select both in the vineyard and on sorting tables back at the winery. Many also used optical sorters and densimetric sorters, the latest development in guaranteeing the very best fruit quality, so only the finest and ripest berries entered the vats.
In most cases, the days of excess and extraction are long gone. Sensitive and gentle handling of the fruit is now at the fore. I am reminded of the bright, perfumed freshness of the 1988s but with more depth and all the benefits of modern-day techniques. These too are not wines simply for easy youthful drinking; they have all the complexity to develop considerable pedigree over time.
