WINE 2011 | 2011 VINTAGE GUIDE TO FRENCH WINES

Year, Vintage 2011

Visit 2011 vintage is a year close to your heart? Is it a birth year, a wedding year or any other symbol that makes you want to offer or drink a wine from this year? Let us decipher the vintage for you, to help you buy the bottle that best suits your needs.

> Our 2011 wines in stock

 

Vintage 2011 in BORDEAUX

The 2011 vintage hides its secrets well. Let's face it, it's not the vintage of the century, nor even on a par with 2005, 2009 or 2010, but it's possible to do some good business with this year, which is not exactly praised by the press, even though it's been very good for many Bordeaux wines. Indeed, the winter and spring of this vintage were very, very hot and dry, and hot and dry without rain equals lack of water and drought. April and May continued in the same way, and the vine cycle was 3 weeks ahead of schedule.

But the highlight of the 2011 vintage was the two historic days of high temperatures across the vineyards, reaching almost 39°, which scalded the young grapes. It's a bit like the opposite of a winter that's too cold, where frost also roasts the grapes, but both have the same end in view - the loss of part of the harvest for some winegrowers. And unfortunately, all Bordeaux vineyards will be hit, with Merlot very hard hit in the Libourne region and Cabernet Sauvignon in the Médoc. Nature being not so bad, it gave a little rain in July and August, allowing the grapes to reach phenolic and alcoholic maturity.

All's well that ends well, so why isn't this vintage as good as previous ones? Even if the most important thing is ripe grapes and healthy harvests, the character of the wines is determined from the beginning of the cycle right up to the harvest. The vine can be jostled and stressed to force it to dig deep into its roots, but the moment it encounters too many difficulties, it lacks balance and complexity.

If we had to single out two Bordeaux appellations for this fine 2011 vintage, it would be the left-bank Margaux appellation, which really struggled to produce quality juice after a short period of frost in winter and a scald in June. However, even with low yields, some châteaux did really well. To complete this first appellation, we've added a terroir that goes hand in hand with Margaux: Pessac Léognan, with a great Château Pape Clément.

On the right bank, even if the great Pomerols have succeeded in vinifying very rich, powerful grapes, Saint-Emilion fares better. Grands Crus classés such as Troplong Mondot are magnificent.
To end on a sweet note. For lovers of gourmet food, don't be afraid to taste or store Sauternes white wines, which are very complex in this vintage. The sweetness is very present, and the summer rains have added the acidity they need to age a little longer.

 

Vintage 2011 in BOURGOGNE

One year follows another, but no two are alike. And it would have taken a great, great vintage to make us forget the great vintages of 2009 and 2010. Unfortunately, this was not the case with the 2011 vintage, which, while not bad, lacks the complexity and intensity of these fine vintages. Yet the early days of the 2011 vintage were promising, perhaps even too promising. The mild winter and mild spring allowed the vegetative cycle to get ahead of schedule. That's why bud-break was almost three weeks earlier than normal. Flowering went just as well, and the weather was on the winemakers' side.

July was a little cooler, with heavier rainfall, allowing the vines to slow down their development, which was ultimately a good thing for the grapes to reach balanced ripeness. It should be noted that in some plots of Chablis and Côtes de Nuits, heavy thunderstorms precipitated the loss of a few logs of grapes. August continued with hot, dry days. Harvesting got under way in early September, generally in good conditions, except in Chablis, where the rain did not jeopardize the health of the crop.
The 2011 Chablis vintage remains a good one, with Chardonnay grapes adapting well to the whims of Mother Nature. Harvesting took place in the rain from the first week of September, with the grapes in very good health. The only downside to this vintage - and this applies to almost all of Burgundy - is its lack of pizzazz. The grapes ripened almost too quickly, and the juices are cruelly lacking in acidity. A sign of longevity.
The 2011 vintage in Côte de Nuits is a mirror image of Chablis.

A good vintage, with the same early vegetative cycle, which will give the wine good quality juices, greedy and supple, but lacking in acidity. It's a vintage that will be played out in the cellars, where winemakers will have to make the right decisions, such as not to over-age their wines in barrel, lest they become too loaded with tannins and therefore unbalanced. We still have a few references from the Côte de Nuits, such as this Chambolle Musigny 1er cru 2011 - Les Chatelots - Louis Latour, which is perfect to taste now. The right amount of ageing means it still has good substance, while starting its evolutionary phase with hints of undergrowth.

In this 2011 vintage, the most interesting reds are to be found a little further south, in Beaune and more specifically in the Pommard and Volnay appellations, which are naturally finer and more delicate than in the north. The Volnays are on fine terroir, like our Volnay 1er cru Les Santenots 2011 - Henri Boillot, which is just magnificent in its finesse and delicacy. To complement these fine reds, Beaune's white wines are also successful, albeit with a slight lack of acidity. The wines of Meursault, Puligny and Chassagne are very pretty to taste these days.
To finish with Burgundy, the pleasant surprise is to be found in Mâcon, which will benefit from a summer beneficial to the vines to obtain a lovely complexity and minerality.

 

Vintage 2011 in VALLEE DU RHÔNE

In the Rhône Valley, the 2011 vintage is a winegrower's vintage, and even though it's generally very good in the region, you have to be careful when choosing your wines. We could even say that it's a textbook case to explain that it's not enough to have a lot of sun to make a great vintage, and that sometimes humidity and rain can be a winemaker's friend. This was the case for the 2011 vintage, which was cruelly short of water in most appellations. December was a very mild month, even if a few nights of extreme cold hit the vineyards without too many consequences. Spring was also very mild, with plenty of sunshine and little rain. The first leaves even came out at the end of March!

April and May were also very hot, and it was then that the water shortage began to make itself felt. The onset of a hydric drought was feared. Good news for our winegrowers: July brought above-average rainfall, which helped to replenish the water tables a little, allowing the vines to calm their ardor and achieve early alcoholic maturity. Unfortunately, these rains did not make up for the lack of water in the vineyards. The harvests will follow the vine's cycle, coming early in August for some appellations. And that's where all the difficulties lie. Managing vines at such times is a tricky business.

Pruning the vines, thinning out the leaves... so many decisions to be made that may or may not be beneficial in producing a fine vintage. There were two styles of harvest for the 2011 vintage. The winemakers who succeeded in managing all the difficulties of this heat and brought in well-balanced grapes, with phenolic ripeness over and alcoholic ripeness not too high. For these winemakers, the 2011 vintage can be compared to the great Rhone Valley vintages. Unfortunately, for those who bring in grapes with too much alcohol, the result will be fruity, rich grapes, but with a hint of alcohol and a lack of freshness on the finish to enable them to stand the test of time. In the end, this description applies to the whole Rhone Valley, and the differences within the same appellation are so obvious that it's difficult to describe one AOC more than another. If you want to treat yourself to some fine wines, we suggest you start with a Châteauneuf du pape from Domaine Barroche, then finish with a cuvée from Domaine Janasse. You'll then be able to see the differences in terroir between a powerful, dense Châteauneuf-du-Pape and a softer, more gourmand Châteauneuf-du-Pape... We'll let you define them for yourself.

 

Vintage 2011 in the rest of France

Two other regions in France managed to come out on top in this difficult 2011 vintage.
First of all, Champagne, which benefited from the same climate as Burgundy, BUT with a cooler summer, which gave the grapes the lack of minerality that Burgundy lacked.
2011 will be a great vintage for vintage Champagnes.
The other region is Roussillon, which this time has to be separated from Languedoc, which won't be benefiting from a small but very important detail: the fresh Mistral wind, which will sweep away vine humidity and disease to make way for a fantastic finale.
In this magnificent vintage, the wines are powerful and robust, but - and this is the charm of great vintages - also remarkably supple and refined for "body-built" wines.

> Our 2011 wines in stock

 

The Best Wines of the 2011 vintage

We find two wines that have been described as perfect and legendary by the Parker & The Wine Advocate team:

• M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon 2011
• M. Chapoutier l'Ermite Blanc 2011

> See our Domaine M. Chapoutier wines