|
A wine’s vintage, or the year that the grapes were
harvested, is a critical clue in determining if a
wine will meet your expectations or not. The vintage
year is one of the key pieces of information that
you’ll find on the wine label. You can have the same
producer, the same grapes sourced from the same
vineyards, the same winemaker and the only piece of
the vinification equation that is changed is the
year and ...boom… this year’s wine offers a
completely different experience than it did the year
before. Why? The vintage variable plays a major role
in determining what kind of wine will be bottled.
The
Weather and Wine
Most consumers don’t pay attention to vintage
reports from year to year, they know that they like
“wine X” and they continue to scout for it year in
and year out, they may notice that it doesn’t taste
quite like the last bottle and maybe even that the
year has changed on the label, but beyond those
details they press on and stick with the particular
wine.
When in reality, the wine could be dramatically
different from year to year depending on the weather
patterns hitting the vineyards, the harvest time and
how a unique micro-climate was affected by both
obvious and subtle nuances in the weather. Was it
unusually hot this year, but last year they battled
an ongoing soggy season? Were there any unusual
early or late frosts this year?
Grapes varietals are affected by weather in various
ways. The Riesling grape, for example, thrives under
cooler growing conditions, and that’s precisely why
Germany and Oregon have much of the market cornered
on stellar Rieslings. However, if you have a
particularly warm, dry growing season, the Riesling
vintage could suffer that year and the same producer
that offered the Riesling you fell in love with the
year before, might not meet prior expectations this
vintage and you could be left waiting to see what
the next year’s weather will bring to a region and
ultimately a vintage.
The Miraculous Winemaker
After a rough weather season you might think all is
lost and you’ll just need to stretch your favorite
bottles until the next vintage, but that’s where
skilled winemakers can really work their magic. If
poor weather patterns prevail for a given region, an
experienced winemaker can salvage the vintage by
employing various interventions and techniques
during the vinification process. Whether, the
vintner brings the wine around via blending,
utilizing different fermentation processes or
considers additives – it takes a knowledgeable
winemaker to “save” a potentially sour vintage and
keep reasonable consistency in a specific wine
between vintages.
What about “Non-vintage” Wines?
Most sparkling wines and are classified as
“non-vintage” wines, because they are typically a
blend of various vintages. This blending practice is
utilized to try to get a very consistent style of
wine from year to year. In exceptional years, a
vintage Champagne or vintage Port will debut due to
ideal growing conditions and you can expect that
these particular vintage wines will garner a pretty
penny.
When you think of vintage, consider a region’s
weather pattern for the specific year and you’ll be
on the right track in determining what odds were for
or against the wine right from the start. You can
access a region’s vintage report for individual
years either online or through resources like Wine
Spectator.
|
