I'm in a car en route to the airport reading Bill Blatch's vintage report. He's the legendary man who follows each vintage raindrop by raindrop and counts the hours of sun. There isn't a weather pattern from spring to harvest that he misses and many think he can nail the quality of the vintage as good as any critic without tasting a drop. I have to admit, he's been spot on for decades.
Here's an overview of his 12 page report:
-A year of extreme weather that worked in favor of winemaking, but not for much else.
- Immediate comparisons to 2009 in terms of the quality but 2010 is the year of the drought, which gives it a markedly different character of more power.
-Despite the drought, by fall the vines held up well and looked like "las vegas golf courses - showing no signs of stress" in an otherwise dry environment.
-"...if they have all the power of the 09's, they have nothing of the opulence and thickness"
-Weather patterns were erratic but in the end worked in the wines favor. To illustrate this in 2010, the German reinsurance company, Munich Re, had to deal with 950 natural catastrophes as compared to the 30 year average of 615" but "while Bordeaux was baking, Northern Europe was under water...maybe it's just that someone up there still likes us"
There you have it. Another great year back-to-back in Bordeaux but feels like a click off 2009 which James Suckling recently called "the best vintage in history".
Let's see if his notes pan out in reality.
Also, I wonder where prices will be with respect to the 2009's in spite of this.
Keep you posted.