Bordeaux Climate Change through a 1995 Lens.
Climate change is real, it’s pretty obvious, and in the last 2 decades wine regions around the world are being confronted with it trying to make the best out of it. But how does a vintage ‘pre-climate change’ stack up to what we see today? And what can we expect of the future in this regard? Join us while we review a 1995 Bordeaux Rouge and put this vintage into today’s perspective.
Our Starting Point
Starting point in this journey is a 1995 Château Carbonnieux Rouge. Bordeaux is perhaps the premier region in the world when it comes down to the ageability of its wines, and this bottling of the 1995 vintage of Château Carbonnieux, after almost 30 years in bottle, once again has shown us why this is the case. Join us in examining this piece of Bordelaise history, along with reflecting on the current, progressively getting warmer, vintages of Bordeaux and how this will affect the vineyard management, winemaking, and ageability of the wines.
The Estate: Château Carbonnieux
Château Carbonnieux is one of the oldest estates in Bordeaux, with its tradition of winemaking going back to the early 13th century – over 400 years earlier than when the Médoc swamps were drained in the 17th century. At the very beginning it was just a farm owned by the Carbonnieu family, who at the end of the 13th century sold it to Benedictine monks that held onto it for over 200 years. Afterwards the monks sold the estate to Jean de Ferron, a nobleman who greatly expanded the estate and built the inner courtyard, high towers, outhouses, and croplands – and thus was known as the Lord of Carbonnieux. However, around the mid-1750s, the Ferrons ran into financial struggles and had to sell the estate to the monks of the Sainte-Croix Abbey of Bordeaux, thus restoring the religious ties of the estate.
It was these monks that greatly enhanced the reputation of Carbonnieux, with the monk Dom Galéas being one of the first in the region to blend several varieties and to bottle the wine, making it easier for the wine to be transported and kept for longer before being drunk. Furthermore, his quality-oriented approach greatly improved the quality of the wines of Carbonnieux (especially the white wine). It therefore is no surprise that during these times Château Haut-Brion was known as the best red Bordeaux wine, but Château Carbonnieux was widely regarded as the best white wine of the region. It was after Dom Galéas, that Château Carbonnieux named its prestige white wine ‘Hommage à Dom Galéas 1741’, a super-premium bottling of 100% Sémillon from a few parcels planted in 1956 – with only 1500 bottles being produced when the vintage is deemed good enough.
Unfortunately, the estate ended up being confiscated from the monks during the French Revolution in 1791 and was auctioned off to a private family. The following century and a half the estate changed hands quite a few times because of phylloxera and the two world wars, causing it to be neglected and not living up to its historical reputation. Marc Perrin (of Beaucastel fame) ended up buying the estate in 1956, right after the great frost that wiped out many vineyards in the whole of Bordeaux. He ended up renovating the Château, increasing the vineyard size, and modernizing the winemaking, resulting in Château Carbonnieux to once again live up to its esteemed reputation. As of today, Marc’s grandchildren Eric, Christine and Philibert Perrin manage the estate, producing wines that are as good as ever.
The Region: Pessac-Léognan
Château Carbonnieux is situated in the commune of Léognan, corresponding to the AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) of Pessac-Léognan. Where most of Bordeaux is rooted in old traditions and laws, this appellation is relatively young and new – the foundation of which was laid in the Graves Classification of 1959. Like many of the best estates, Château Carbonnieux was classified in the classification – being one of the few estates to both have its white and red wine classified. It was this classification that ultimately resulted in the creation of the separate appellation of Pessac-Léognan, as all 16 classified estates were in the northern part of the Graves around the villages of Pessac and Léognan. (For reference, the Graves AOC spans to over 60 kilometers south from Bordeaux, while the most southerly classified estate (La Tour-Martillac) is situated only 19 kilometers from Bordeaux.)
The reasoning for this phenomenon is that the wider Graves region has sandier, more clayey and fertile soils, resulting in less concentrated wines than in the more northern part. This split between the southern Graves having the most plantings and growers all while the northern Graves having all the prestige created tension between the two parts and made the split inevitable. Eventually in 1987 the northern Graves was given its own appellation being Pessac-Léognan, after extensive soil studies so that only the most suitable land was given the right to the appellation. The classified estates were quick to adopt the new appellation, which as of today spans over 1800 hectares with roughly a 75/25 split between black grape varieties and white grape varieties. About 40% of the appellation’s hectares are owned by classified estates – giving the appellation quite the reputation for quality.
Where the region’s red wines (often containing equal parts Cabernet and Merlot) are known to be excellent (as evidenced by Haut-Brion and many others), perhaps the most notable wines from Pessac-Léognan are the white wines – widely seen as the very best white wines in Bordeaux. Chateaux Haut-Brion, La Mission Haut-Brion, Smith Haut Lafitte, Pape Clément, Carbonnieux and Domaine de Chevalier consistently make some of the very best, and highest rated, dry white wines of Bordeaux. The classic explanation for this is the diversity of soils in Pessac-Léognan, with the appellation having both the classic gravel outcrops of the Médoc alongside deep clays over the same limestone as found in Saint-Émilion. Furthermore, the soils tend to be a bit sandier than in other parts of Bordeaux – often said to yield a bit more elegance and aromatic intensity in the wines.
Classically, the black grapes (roughly equal amounts of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon) are planted on the gravel outcrops, while the white grapes (roughly 80% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Sémillon) are planted on the clayey limestone soils – the latter of which tending to yield white wines with both refinement and power.
The climate in Pessac-Léognan is a bit warmer than the rest of Bordeaux, with the Landes Forest to the south and west protecting from Atlantic influences, and the city of Bordeaux to the north yielding slightly warmer temperatures to nearby estates. This results in the earliest harvests in all of Bordeaux, which is especially an asset in times of threatening harvests rains. All in all, due to the climate and the soils the wines of Pessac-Léognan are commonly cited to possess a bit more freshness and earthiness relative to the Médoc, with a focus on elegance and complexity over the more powerful wines found in communes such as Pauillac and Saint-Julien – also resulting in wines that tend to be approachable when younger.
Vintages and Global Warming
The 1995 vintage is described by Jane Anson as a very good vintage with a hot summer, resembling the famous 1990 vintage, with harmonious, high-quality red wines. The hot summer and the associated strong sunshine in general causes black grape varieties to accumulate more anthocyanins, which when combined with the grape’s natural tannins yield stable colour compounds, increasing the wine’s capability of aging for a long time. Thus, sunnier and warmer vintages tend to yield wines that age better, retaining their ruby colour and associated fresher fruit characteristics. Of the 90s, 1990, 1995, 1996 and 1998 are known as such vintages, tending to produce more concentrated and longer-lived wines than from cooler vintages such as 1992.
Vintages are especially important in Bordeaux, as due to the proximity to the Atlantic Ocean (resulting in a moderate maritime climate), the weather during summer can be quite variable due to the various weather systems coming from the Atlantic. More inland, continental regions such as California’s Central Valley suffer less from this variability and tend to produce more consistent wines each year. Whereas for more commercial wines this variability is discouraged, for premium wines such as those coming from the best spots in Bordeaux variability in vintages is encouraged and seen as part of the enjoyment of the wine. Examples of this line of thought are also found when comparing regular, more commercial Ruby Port with Vintage Port, and when comparing a producer’s entry-level, non-vintage Champagne to its more premium vintage bottling.
With global warming, the summers in Bordeaux are gradually becoming warmer. Apart from resulting in long-lived wines, this also results in increasing alcohol levels due to higher sugar ripeness of the grapes. As an example, the 1995 vintage of Château Carbonnieux tasted for this article has an alcohol level of 12.5%, while the 2018 (known as a very warm and solar vintage) has an alcohol level of 14.5%. This is especially a concern for the right bank of Bordeaux, as its signature variety Merlot naturally already tends to produce quite a bit of sugar (and thus alcohol after fermentation) of its own. This results in the risk of producing wines with excessive alcohol levels – as perhaps evidenced by recent Pomerol bottlings pushing alcohol levels of 15.5%.
These levels of alcohol are also seen in wines from other warm regions such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Priorat, Valpolicella’s Amarone, and American Zinfandel. However, these regions either have very old vines (and thus very intense fruit flavours, balancing high alcohol levels) or other ways to reach more concentration of fruit in the wine, like drying the grapes via the passimento method in the case of Amarone della Valpolicella. Bordeaux on the other hand does not have a particular reputation for very old vines and does not use other methods to increase the intensity of its wines (apart from long aging in new oak), so care must be taken here to keep the balance in these wines in the face of rising alcohol levels. This is especially the case for the more commercial wines, as the best wines of the regions usually do have enough concentration to be able to handle the higher alcohol levels.
Mitigating Climate Change
There are several ways the Châteaux can mitigate the effects of global warming. One example of this is adjusting the orientation of the vine rows by planting along north-east exposures instead of the more classical south-west exposure (which maximized sun and ripeness) – something Château Margaux is slowly implementing as of the 2023 vintage. Other examples include delayed winter pruning, which in turn postponed budbreak and makes it so the growing season starts off later, and trimming less leaves from the vine, protecting the grapes from sunlight (and sunburn), and lowering the accumulation of sugars (and thus alcohol) in the grapes. Lastly, as of 2021, Bordeaux has begun allowing minor plantings of grape varieties which are more traditionally planted in warmer regions, such as Portugal’s Touriga Nacional and Languedoc’s Marselan. While these varieties can only make up a maximum of 10% of the wine blend (starting from the 2024 vintage), switching authorized grape varieties in the traditional French system of AOC’s can almost be seen as a mini revolution.
Winemaking
Back to the wine. For the red wine, roughly one-third new oak is used for 16 to 18 months, with the remainder being mostly second-use and third-use barrels – the mix and length depending on the vintage. The grape blend usually consists of mainly Cabernet Sauvignon with a good amount of Merlot, and a touch of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. For the 1995 vintage, the blend was 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and 5% of each Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Production is roughly split 50:50 between the grand vin and the second wine of the estate, La Croix de Carbonnieux, introduced in 2004 from the estate’s younger vines and made in both red and white colours.
The winemaking emphasis a relatively lighter, elegant, red-fruited style compared to other estates in the region, with the usage of slow and gentle extraction. Château Carbonnieux once faced a critical note to this philosophy that stated that the red wines in poorer vintages could be a bit inconsistent – with the tannins being cited as a bit too weak or rough. However, in recent years focus has heavily been on improving both the texture and density of the tannins, boosting quality and consistency even across cooler vintages like 2021.
Tasting Note: 1995 Château Carbonnieux Rouge
On to the actual tasting note. The wine, after aging gracefully in bottle for almost 30 years, shows smooth and ripe tannins, fully integrated but still present, giving structure and balance. Hauntingly perfumed, with nuanced aromas ranging from dried red fruits to ripe blueberry, and from dried flowers to cigar box and nutmeg. Cassis, menthol, vanilla (from the roughly one-third new oak) and dried bramble are also present. Constantly evolving in the glass, making you want to keep smelling it. Not the most powerful wine, but very delicate and complex, attributes acquired after patiently aging in the bottle for a long time – in line with its religious tradition and background. The wines of Château Carbonnieux never get the highest ratings while young during, en-primeur week, but they truly live up to their classification after a few years in bottle.
There is enough acidity and freshness to perfectly balance the wine, and to make it outright delicious. Very long and complex finish. Velvety texture, still with a good amount of body left after all these years. Probably on its peak now with a great balance between its primary fruit and tertiary notes of earth and leather. Perfect representation of what aged Bordeaux has to offer, and why this region is considered the benchmark when it comes down to aged wines. We cannot wait to try the white version.
We reward this wine with a 92-point DWA score. Drink 2024-2027.
Conclusion
To conclude, we look back on tasting a beautiful example of a classic Pessac-Léognan wine from a warmer vintage. While the vintage at that time was described as record-breaking warm, this bottling displayed beautiful elegant, refined notes and was still drinking wonderfully after almost 30 years in bottle. With the climate getting warmer in Bordeaux producers have to be wary of alcohol levels getting too high, but luckily experimentation is underway, with the first results looking promising. All in all, Bordeaux is looking towards the (warmer) future.
This article is written by our own Martin Bronkhorst. Château Carbonnieux is imported in the Netherlands by Colaris, among others, and sold through various retailers, amongst which Best Bottles, from who we purchased this aged bottling.
Picture credits: Château Carbonnieux.
Price: €57,50
Taste date: July 2024
Score: 92/100 DWA Score
Website: Château Carbonnieux
