02. VINTAGE REPORT

is an outlier of a vintage in that not just supremely hot, also very dry, one of the driest years on record: a remarkable 38 days saw temperatures of 32˚C plus. The graph above, produced by the brilliant Gavin Quinney of Château Bauduc, shows how stark the numbers were in 2022, with seven out of eight months seeing substantially less rain than the 30-year average, and seven out of eight months seeing temperatures well above the 30 year norm. More heat and less water led to extreme vine stress, only saved by biblical amounts of rain at the end of June – quite literally a Godsend. It was this timely deluge which proved critical, with the rainwater seeping into the underlying terroirs. Properties over clay or limestone fared extremely well, with those soils able to retain the water for use by the vines in those drought-hit months whereas gravelly & sandy soils which drain more freely were less ideal.

The chart on the opposite page shows the extreme average temperatures throughout the growing season in 2022, with most months well above the 10 & 30-year averages, and some months (in gold) the highest temperatures recorded. In the heat the vines struggled, producing fewer bunches of smaller berries with thick skins though it was the cooler night-time temperatures which thankfully remained low which gave the wines much needed respite in the evenings, helping, more than anything else, the grapes to maintain freshness.

The previous 2021 vintage which saw cooler temperatures and lots of rain ended up setting 2022 on the best possible course for growth ahead, with water reserves under the soil topped up, ready to be utilised in the hottest months. One pertinent question is why the 2022 vintage didn’t end up going the way of the overcooked 2003 and the answer is that the vines themselves had to adapt from the very start of the season, with unusually warm temperatures setting the standard. Agronomic advances in the past 19 years cannot be dismissed either, with a pivot towards sustainable and even biodynamic viticulture and a reduction in synthetic sprays making for much healthier, more mineral rich soils. As vintages have got hotter since (the triptych of 2018, 2019 and 2020 come to mind), the winemakers and farmers have adapted to solar impact, being able to judge on recent experience when is best to pick, often doing so on a precision basis, plot by plot.

Whilst 2022 is not quite a uniformly excellent vintage, given the extreme climactic events that occurred throughout 2022, vines, growers and winemakers have all excelled in acclimatising to years of extreme heat. The oldest and most experienced vines were able to both reach the deepest into deposits of water and to ration its use, ensuring optimum vine health. Growers had to be particularly mindful of canopy management and utilise other techniques to prevent the grapes from getting sunburnt, and from Pontet Canet’s biodynamic sun cream to Berliquet’s higher leaf canopies to provide more shade, most estates did sterling work in the vineyard. Finally, the teams in wineries across Bordeaux had to treat the juice with kid gloves, avoiding high fermentation temperatures and introducing cold soaking and other cooling techniques to ensure that the juice didn’t over extract colour and tannins from the grape skins, and that acidity and freshness was maintained.

The results are overwhelmingly impressive and point to the vast advances in knoweldge and technology across the region, which enabled estates to make opulent wines with tons of freshness.