2014 Bordeaux Vintage
Weather Conditions
The 2014 growing season had a beautiful weather, particularly in September, which actually changed everything for this vintage. It allowed fruits to ripen properly and reach complete maturity. Indeed, after a temperate and humid summer, a dry and warm weather helped the grapes concentrate and low temperatures at night allowed the elegance of the tannin. Maturity has reached new records in all grape varieties and yields were satisfactory. This fresh season followed by an Indian summer contributed to the great fruit, color, concentration and freshness of this great 2014 vintage!
“It is well known that vintages can never be identical, but harvest-time inevitably brings back to us memories of previous experiences which quite naturally evoke com¬parisons to other recent vintages. Back in September, the 2014’s combination of power and freshness at first made members think of 2001, similarly the result of an indifferent summer and a magnificent, if cooler, autumn. But, as the harvest continued, and especially now that we can assess the superb Cabernets more clearly, these 2014s generally have considerably more power and riper tannins than that. Some, especially in the more dominant Cabernet-Sauvignon areas, and on certain later-harvested Right Bank Merlots, mention 1996, 2006, 2000, and in some cases even 2005, because of their more solidly integrated tannins. Occasionally, there is even just a little something of 2010 in this vintage when the depth of power combines with such freshness.”
Olivier Bernard, President of the Unions des Grands Crus de Bordeaux and President of Domaine de Chevalier