What Makes an Ideal Vintage

What makes an ideal vintage? A great year is produced by a combination of factors that are all related to weather. First, it requires a warm spring, with no freezes and mild temperatures during bud-break (when the first new buds appear on the vines), then steady, moderate weather throughout the growing season (April to September in the Northern Hemisphere; October to March in the Southern Hemisphere), especially at the time of flowering (in June or December, respectively). The ideal scenario is warm days and cool nights, with a little bit of rain to keep the vines irrigated. A long, slow growing season is most desirable because the grapes not only need to ripen (make enough sugar) but they need to mature (develop all their flavor nuances). Most important, the weeks leading up to harvest must be free of rain or any other kind of weather aberration to avoid molds or other damaging elements.

Although some wineries do rent helicopters to blow the moisture off grapes after a rainstorm, we can't really do much about the weather. However, growers over the years have learned much more about how and where to plant vines to take advantage of a prevailing climate. Vineyard management techniques, such as selective pruning and crop thinning (dividing growth among a smaller number of bunches), and organic pest and disease controls also help. Careful irrigation at key times during the growing season can also amend the effects of low rainfall. Thus, to a certain degree, science has saved us from vintages that vary wildly between the sublime and the awful.

If you want to see the difference that a vintage makes, try a side-by-side comparison of the same wine from one vineyard from a range of years. This is often a very instructive exercise. You might find out that the differences between vintages, although quite discernable, are much more subtle than you had expected.