Il affirme en effet que seuls les vins blancs sauveront ce millésime, dont il n'achètera pas beaucoup de rouges :
I plan to buy some 2013 Bordeaux as soon as the wines come on the market - whites. I doubt I will buy many 2013 reds.
What has to be the toughest vintage in Bordeaux for two decades produced some super quality dry and sweet wines including such great Sauternes as Yquem, Rieussec and Suduiraut as well as Pessac-Léognan whites such as Haut-Brion, Domaine de Chevalier and Pape-Clement. These and other top whites in 2013 show fabulous richness and structure with fresh acidity and complexity.
En rouge il compare 2013 à 1992, à la nuance près que les domaines ont fait d'énormes progrès et qu'ils ont désormais les moyens financiers d'opérer une sélection drastique permettant de sortir, malgré tout, des vins de qualité à défaut d'être exceptionnels :
"I would hate to think what 2013 would have been like 20 years ago," admitted Jean-Philippe Delmas, the technical director of Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion. He made a superb Haut-Brion red in 2013, one of the best reds of my tasting. Production of the first wine was only 45 percent of the total and it was almost entirely cabernet sauvignon. "We did everything we could to make the best wines. It was very costly."
They certainly did pay the price in Bordeaux in 2013 to make outstanding wines. I remember what the 2013 would have been like 20 or 30 years ago. I tasted them! They were vintages like 1992, 1987, and 1984. They made mean and green wines. I remember how many of the reds showed extremely herbal, grassy flavors and hard, metallic tannins.
Dans les millésimes récents il préfère même les 2012, en particulier sur la Rive Droite :
Of recent vintages compared to 2013, I still prefer 2012 reds, especially on the Right Bank. The wines have more fruit and ripeness. The 2011s are also better as they lose some of their hard tannins and become delicious to drink. Everything else prior to 2013 in recent memory is better quality with the exception of 2002.
