HOW ARE THE WINES OF THE 2013 VINTAGE? THE GUIDE

Visit vintage 2013 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?

We'll take a closer look at this vintage to help you buy the bottle that best suits your needs.

> Our 2013 wines in stock!

 

• The 2013 vintage in BORDEAUX

L'year 2013 will not go down in history as a great vintage for French winegrowing. But don't underestimate it, as it could surprise us in a few years' time. 

So 2013 is a difficult year in many ways. First of all, the weather. The very bad spring, with lots of rainfall over much of the vineyard, is going to cause damage everywhere. The rain and lack of sunshine will delay the start of flowering, which will also be heterogeneous and in very small quantities. 

When the vine lacks sun at this time of year, it adapts and develops only small berries. These will yield a smaller quantity of juice. Unfortunately, disease makes its appearance, stressing the Cabernets on the left bank and the Merlots on the right. For part of the vineyard, the summer was hot and dry, allowing the grapes to reach good ripeness. But be careful when sorting, as the very different quality of the grapes from one plot to another will mean that the winegrowers will have to be extremely vigilant to ensure the best possible ripeness. In Entre-deux-Mers, we'll remember the summer of 2013, more specifically the beginning of August, when violent storms hit the vineyards, causing the loss of almost 45% of grapes. Now that the harvest is done, the winemakers will have their work cut out for them if they are to succeed in producing balanced juices. The best plots on the left bank will have succeeded in producing ripe Cabernets that will give powerful wines. Left bank winemakers, meanwhile, will have to juggle with the run-off from the Merlot to produce beautiful wines. If there's one appellation to highlight in this 2013 vintage, it's Pessac Léognan and Graves, especially the whites, which have done really well. The wines are fuller and richer than those of their counterparts. Also noteworthy is the success of sweet wines, the SauternesLoupiac and Barsac, which will succeed in obtaining good-quality, uniform botrytis throughout the vineyard. 

If you would like to taste Bordeaux wines from the 2013 vintage, we still have several references. About Sauternes, Château Rieussec 2013 comes out on top with a 95/100 rating from Parker. 

Then, for lovers of more velvety wines, we recommend tasting the Château Pavie Macquin 2013. Opulent, round, with black fruit flavors. Then, lovers of more powerful wines will delight in a Château Haut Bages Liberal 2013. Spices and ripe fruit combine to offer a beautiful intensity on the palate. 

• How is the 2013 vintage in BOURGOGNE?

For once, Burgundy's winegrowers will not be spared by the weather, which is set to take its toll on the vineyards for the second year running.

2013 is a very complicated vintage to work with in Burgundy, both in the vineyards and in the cellars. 

The Chablis region has certainly fared best in avoiding periods of frost and hail, but has not fared any better in the first tastings. 

Spring was very bad, cold and wet, delaying flowering by almost three weeks in some plots. Summer was no better, with periods of rain and heat, which deposited a lot of humidity in the vines. And it was at this precise moment that everything became complicated for the winegrowers. Where there's humidity, there's disease, in this case botrytis (vine rot). This botrytis was arriving slowly in the vineyard, while the vines were taking a long time to reach maturity due to lack of sunshine. Sorting in the vineyard was drastic, and harvests in October suffered heavy losses. If you'd like to taste a wine from Chablis 2013, we still have a few bottles left from one of the appellation's finest winemakers, domaine Dauvissat. 

The task was more difficult for the Côte de Beaune winegrowers. The region suffered from the same meteorological problems as Chablis, with a late spring, complicated flowering and highly heterogeneous flowering depending on the appellation. The highlights of the 2013 vintage were the frost and hail that hit a large part of the region. Appellations such as Pommard, Volnay and Meursault lost up to 70% of their production in July. And, as if that wasn't bad enough for our winegrowers, September was catastrophic, with rain and heat resulting in the appearance, as on ChablisBotrytis in some plots. In other words, between poor flowering, hail and botrytis, some poorly located plots recorded losses of up to -90%. The only good news to come out of all these disasters is that the grapes that slipped through the net were of excellent quality. For lovers of fine, delicate Pinot Noir, we're lucky enough to still have a few pins of Volnay 1er Cru Clos de la Bousse d'Or. A very pretty premier cru, quite delicate, which today gives notes of humus and undergrowth.

We haven't yet mentioned the Côte de Nuits, which is actually doing rather well in this 2013 vintage. Even if the winegrowers will encounter a few difficulties during flowering (once again), as well as in obtaining the necessary ripeness for their grapes. They had better nights than their southern counterparts. This time, we're lucky enough to have bottles from the domaine Jacques Prieuron its Clos de Vougeot 2013. A pure marvel, combining the power of Pinot Noir, silky tannins and a very long finish. 

 

• Rhône wines in 2013 they successful? 

Stressful and difficult, the vineyards of the Rhône Valley will not be spared the complications of capricious weather and a two-speed vine cycle. But even with all this, the wines of the RhôneWhether from the north or the south, the vines fared well overall. After a complicated and very cold winter, which put the brakes on an even start to budburst in the vineyards, April and May once again saw low temperatures and heavy rainfall. Although water is welcome in the Rhône to replenish the aquifers, which can then be released during the summer heatwaves, the cool temperatures slowed vine development. And it's almost 3 weeks later than usual that the flowering starts, and in a very distinct way in the vineyards. In this humid climate, the vines unfortunately developed a few runs, which reduced the quantity of wine present on the vine. The summer was fairly hot, and although the Rhône Valley also experienced thunderstorms, these were less devastating than in the rest of the country. The heat of August and the presence of water in the soil were all that was needed to help the grapes reach maturity, even if for some appellations this took longer than for others. We still have a few wines from the 2013 vintage to offer you for tasting. For those who prefer roundness and suppleness, we have Crozes-Hermitage by Domaine Thalabertvinified by Paul Aîné Jaboulet. The Syrah is delicate, with aromas of red fruit and pepper. On the other hand, for tasters with a taste for power and structure, we still have some Châteauneuf du Pape by Lucile Avrilfrom domaine Durieu. A real bomb of liquorice and red fruit, with tannins still present. A true red wine for a meal.

 

• 2013 REST OF FRANCE

In LOIRE, the vintage was very complicated. The very cold, wet winter prevented any vegetative work, and it was not until July that flowering began. 

What followed was much the same, with little sunshine and heavy rain. Harvesting in the rain won't help matters. Nevertheless, winemakers who have made a drastic selection will be able to offer tastings of "classic" Loire wines.

CHAMPAGNE will be no exception in the 2013 vintage, with a very difficult and long winter. As in other regions, the vine cycle started almost two weeks late.

Fortunately, the summer was fantastic, allowing the grapes to gain in concentration and ripeness. In September, a light rain swelled the grapes, just enough to keep them healthy. Finally, the harvest took place in good conditions. The result was a mixed bag, with heterogeneous ripeness, but good quality for the best of them. 

 

> The best wines of 2013 in stock on the site