How are the wines of the 1973 vintage? Wine Guide

 Is 1973 a vintage close to your heart? Is it a year of birth, a year of marriage or any other symbol that makes you want to offer or drink a wine from this year? Let us decipher this vintage for you, to help you buy the bottle that best suits your needs. 

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The 1973 vintage for BORDEAUX wines

Nature can sometimes be cruel, and this was the case for Bordeaux winemakers with the 1973 vintage. All the climatic conditions were in place until September to produce a great wine, but then everything fell apart in a matter of days. It has to be said that the start of the season had done things rather well. Flowering was perfect and veraison took place in the best possible conditions. 

The hot, dry summer helped the vines to develop properly, and the Merlot and Cabernets performed extremely well. The sun even came out for a few extra weeks in September to finish off the work of concentration. But then, the God of the vine decided otherwise, and heavy rain fell on the vineyard a few days before the harvest, swelling the grapes that were just crying out for sunshine to finish ripening.

So it was in the rain that our winegrowers brought their grapes into the cellars. Admittedly, many Bordeaux wines will be disappointing after a few years, but some winemakers will manage to pull out all the stops and produce quality reds, as well as high-flying sweet whites. 

We'll start with Château Yquem 1973The sweet white, one of the greatest successes of the 1973 vintage. Just behind Pétrus in the ranking of the finest Bordeaux wines of 1973, the delicate, fine and highly complex sweet wine. It has to be said that for the 1973 vintage, only 12% of the estate's grapes were harvested. A sign of the quest for concentration and complexity. The same applies to the Château Climens 1973 which produces a honeyed, opulent and very dense juice. Two fine white success stories.   

For red wines, many owners decided to carry out very drastic sorting, to harvest only the best logs of grapes. So yes, there's the famous Pétrus, which is surely the emblem of this 1973 vintage, but it's very hard to find, and above all at a relatively high price. So we've got the best value for your money. 

In Saint-Julien, the Château Léoville Las Cases was perfect for its time. Complex, fine and fruity.

Nowadays, the wine is more light and evolutionary, but can be interesting to taste. 

Vintage 1973 in BOURGOGNE

The 1973 vintage was not a great year for Burgundy wines. The region was coming off two rather interesting years (even if 1972 was very good for reds and average for whites), and this 1973 vintage was vinified under the sign of abundance. The vegetative cycle was well underway, offering winegrowers homogeneous development throughout the vineyard. The months of May and June were just as good. Unfortunately, heavy rain spoiled the party and dashed any hopes of producing a great wine that year. 1973 was a record year in terms of volume of wine produced. Only 1970 produced a larger harvest. It must be said that the rain didn't stop flowing between midsummer and the harvest. The grapes swelled and clearly lacked balance. For red wines, acidity, the backbone of the wines, will be absent. Wines will be finer, more delicate and lighter. 

As far as the whites are concerned, the Chardonnay grapes will be affected by the same weather conditions. Rain during the harvest will swell the grapes. In this case, Chardonnay is more flattering and fruitier, but lacks freshness, making it difficult to drink these wines ten years later. However, a few fine houses will succeed in producing remarkable wines with more structured whites. 

 

Vintage 1973 in the VALLÉE DU RHÔNE

It's a real shame, that's what the thousands of winegrowers in the Rhone Valley must be thinking, as heavy rain fell on their vines just when everything was in place to produce a great vintage. 

In the end, the 1973 harvest in the Rhône Valley was like that of Bordeaux. Promising, dreamy, but diluted in the end. Finally, this year produced wines with an enormous amount of fruit. Light, gourmet wines that will keep for a few years, but are difficult to drink today. 

 

Vintage 1973 in the REST OF FRANCE

It's hard to find any great successes in this 1973 vintage, as the rains diluted the wines and produced abundant juice. However, two regions fared well. 

La Champagne will benefit from milder weather. Round, fruity and well-balanced, the 1973 vintage followed a very mediocre 1972 and found itself on a pedestal. Complex and mineral, it was one of Pol Roger's finest vintages.  

In Alsace The rains soaked the grapes and produced abundant harvests. 1973 was to be one of the most abundant harvests ever achieved in Alsace, but the well-situated Gewurztraminers were particularly at their best. Great discoveries. 

Finally, things weren't all rosy everywhere. In the Loire region, large harvests will have a negative impact on the quality of red wines. The whites are of good quality, but have not been drinkable for some time.

 

The best French wine of 1973

? Here are the greatest successes of the 1973 vintage. Not an easy year for winegrowers, but some estates produced masterful vintages of remarkable quality. Lucky are those who manage to find them! (and taste them).

• Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru 1973: 98/100 Parker
• Bollinger R. D. 1973: 97/100 Parker
• Domaine Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru 1973: 97/100 Parker

 

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