Château de Fieuzal, the Pessac-Léognan cru classé château owned by the Irish Quinn family, has announced that it won’t release any wine from the Bordeaux 2017 harvest because severe frost damaged too much of its crop.
Château de Fieuzal does not plan to release any wine from the Bordeaux 2017 vintage, including Fieuzal ‘grand vin’ and Abeille de Fieuzal in both red and white.
Severe frost on 27 April affected almost the entirety of its 75 hectare vineyard.
Fieuzal’s move shows how frost has hit yields, particularly south of Bordeaux and on the Right Bank.
Fieuzal said, ‘The climatic conditions of last spring had a significant impact on our vineyard and the size of the crop.
‘And whilst we made every effort to minimize the impact… we have decided we are unable to achieve the level of quality that we have come to expect.’
The final decision was only reached after vinification of the remaining crop, after initially believing there was enough to make 10-20% of the usual production.
The estate had announced an expected 500 barrels of white wine from 2017 back in September.
In the end, Fieuzal has produced a few barrels of each wine that will be used for the estate’s wine library and inventory, but not for sale. No wine has been sold off in bulk either, Decanter.com understands.
This is the second year when frost affected the quantity of red wine production from Fieuzal.
Winemaker Stephen Carrier told Decanter.com, ‘I believe this a respectable decision from our owners and as a winemaker I’m glad of it.’
How Bordeaux 2017 is shaping up in the vats: read Jane Anson’s in-depth report
