Welcome back to our Weekly blast of news from around the wine world! Each Thursday we will be bringing you a load of information regarding wine!
Winemakers in Chablis have joined a chorus of those predicting a very good vintage across France in 2015, despite some producers being hit with a hailstorm on the eve of harvest. The Chablis 2015 vintage started off well and it was soon apparent that an early 2015 wine harvest was on the cards after the vines flowered in early June, followed by a long, hot and dry July and August. But, dreams of a good vintage were jeopardised by a hailstorm that hit several producers Chablis on the 1st September, just before the Chablis harvest.
The storm, passing along a narrow corridor from Irancy, through Chitry and Courgis and right up to the Colline des Grands Crus, affected more than 300 of the 5,400 hectares of the Chablis winegrowing region. The Climats of Les Clos, Blanchot and Montée de Tonnerre were worst hit. The remaining fruit on the damaged plots was bought in quickly and, despite a few estates being hard hit, producers said losses were kept to a minimum, according to a vintage report from Burgundy wine council, the BIVB.
Jacques Lesimple, oenology advisor in Chablis, said that 2015 would be a very good vintage.
A single bottle of Château Lafite Rothschild 1895 vintage has been sold for $17,000 at a retailer in Dubai. Retailer Le Clos, based in Dubai International Airport, did not reveal the name of the Lafite Rothschild 1895 buyer, other than to say he or she was an international fine wine collector. It is rare for 19th Century Bordeaux wine to be offered for sale. Christie’s sold a Lafite 1895 at auction in 2011 for £6,670 – then equivalent to $10,592 – versus a pre-sale high estimate of £2,500.
Lafite Rothschild 1895 was unlikely to have been bottled within the first growth château’s grounds. According to Michael Broadbent, retired Decanter columnist and ex-Christie’s wine director, Lafite Rothschild did not bottle its own wine at the château between 1885 and 1906. Instead, wine was sent in barriques for bottling by merchants. This was due to the phylloxera vine disease playing havoc with France’s wine industry at the time.
In his book, Pocket Vintage Wine Companion: Over 50 years of tasting over Three Centuries of Wine, Broadbent said many of the late 19th Century Bordeaux vintages were hamstrung by phylloxera and also powdery mildew. But, he listed Bordeaux 1895 among a string of ‘very good’ vintages, on a scale of good to outstanding. Of the 1880s and 1890s, only 1899 made the ‘outstanding’ list.
Hong Kong entrepreneur Peter Kwok has bought 12.6 hectare (ha) grand cru estate Château Tourans in the St Emilion commune of Saint Etienne de Lisse from Dutch businessman Petrus Wolter. Financial details were not disclosed. Kwok plans to combine the new property with his existing Château Tour Saint Christophe, to bring the vineyard surface for the estate’s first wine up to 20 hectares, all from the limestone plateau.
Director Jean-Christophe Meyrou told Decanter.com that the purchase was the result of a two year search for the right terroir. ‘We bought Tourans because it has similar terroir to Tour Saint Christophe. Currently we have 8ha in production and 11ha potential – with 9ha entirely on the limestone plateau.
‘The rest is clay limestone that we use for the second wine, but this size does not give us enough scope to build a significant distribution through Bordeaux négociants. The new purchase will bring our limestone terroir up to around 20 hectares, from vines in excellent condition and well maintained.’
