With the first reds finishing ferment but still much picking to do [see harvest at Chateau Quintus left] there are promising signs that Bordeaux 2014 will be a potentially good red Bordeaux vintage. Excitement has risen considerably following a near perfect month in September, one of the sunniest and driest on record. Some are comparing the conditions in the past month to 1961, 1929 and even 1921. Hold your breath though. While the weather has largely held in the first week of October, allowing many properties to finish harvesting their Merlot [the harvest is already over for several leading Pomerol properties] more variable weather is on the way. This week is likely to be critical for the Cabernets and perhaps the overall quality of the vintage on the left bank especially.

Overall in 2013 Pomerol has not made wines as good as in 2011 and 2012. Perhaps the quality lies somewhere between 2007 and 2008, though the acidity seems more marked than in both those years. There are successes but also disappointments. At the Cercle Rive Droite tasting, Pomerol was outplayed by the St Emilion Grand Crus Classé shown. At the Union des Grand Crus de Bordeaux tasting the standard felt better, but if the wines were more consistent, they felt a little compact, sometimes lacking expression, strange in an appellation not usually shy in coming forward. Not even Pomerol’s natural exuberance can quite defy the gravity of the 2013 vintage it seems.

Christian Moueix is philosophical about the vagaries of the 2013 growing season, not surprising given the breadth of his experience, and pragmatic about the hard choices the vintage necessitated. Still there’s no disguising the disappointment here, both at the quality that the season offered even the most diligent of producers and the pitiful volumes produced. The Moueix Pomerols are elegant and fresh in 2013 but there is less depth here than in 2011 or 2012. Château Trotanoy and Château La Fleur-Pétrus remain excellent wines in the vintage context. At the opposite end of the price spectrum, Château Bourgneuf, looks a pretty good bet.

There is no doubt that Alexandre Thienpont at Vieux Château Certan has produced one of the purest wines in Bordeaux 2013. The wine has wonderful clarity and delicacy. There was a risk that no wine might be produced at all. The blend took time to work out and Thienpont admits to being in a fog about its composition in the early part of this year. The final blend for the grand vin represents just four barrels of wine with half a barrel reserved for topping-up.