French Newspapers Damn 2008 Bordeaux With Faint Praise

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Nov 20th 2008 at 2:02PM

It's not looking good for the 2008 Bordeaux. Decanter reports that France's two main newspapers, Le Monde and Le Figaro have panned the 2008 vintage. They say that the recent poor weather has affected the harvest. Le Figaro said that the 2008 wine 'promised neither quality nor quantity' while Le Monde said that readers 'should not expect answers [from winemakers] when all the conditions that go in to making a great vintage do not come together.' The harvest has been very difficult all over the region running weeks behind schedule due to increased rain. The news comes at a time when conflicting Bordeaux stories are in the media. On the one hand, the 2005 Bordeaux is said to be phenomenal, but things after that aren't so rosy. Vintners are threatening to boycott producers over the cost of the 2006 vintage and the emperor of wine, Robert Parker had limited kind words for the 2007 vintage.

Tags: bordeaux, france, vintage, wine