I’ve finally got an update for my vintage chart, including the 2014 vintage for the first time – amazing what you can get done when the harvest is a little later – though I know that I’ll pay for it when I’m supposed to be visiting producers, but haven’t yet finished sorting grapes 😉
My initial rating of the 2014 vintage for whites, reflects that it is easily the greatest vintage I’ve seen for consistency – and that includes the Mâconnais and Chablis too! That almost goes for the reds too – whilst there won’t be the same level of attainment for the greatest wines as previous vintages, like the whites this is also a very consistent vintage at the mid and lower ranges – actually similar to 2005 and 2009 – if you can find good pricing, then you’ll certainly get a thumbs-up from my direction.
There are relatively few changes to other vintages – mainly the 2011 vintage – and in both colours too. First I’ve reduced the score by 1 point for the worst from the 2013 reds – some wines really do show their acidity more than others – even I can wince here. I’ve also met some very green 2011 reds that I didn’t like at all, so I’ve reduced the ‘worst’ score by a point to reflect that – the vintage is still much better than 2004 though! One the other hand, I’ve been very impressed by the development of the same vintage’s whites – I’ve seen green whites, but they are pretty rare – so in this case I’ve added points to both the average and best levels. After some disappointments that were nothing to do with greens. I’ve reduced the average score for 2010 whites by a point too.
Lastly, you may note an increase in the number of white vintage indexes that are now in red colour. This reflects the addition of vintages 2005, 2009 and 2010 to my p.ox watch…