2009 vintage of the century...........again

JT wrote on Wed, 4 Nov 2009 10:54:46 -0000:

Could well be great but there's a lot of the century left and it's unlikely that anyone who proclaims 2009 to be the "vintage of the century" is going to be around to be proved wrong in 2099.

To be fair.. I think they have good reason to be excited. Normally sober and sensible winemakers, not given to hyerbole have said to me (to whom they are usually pretty honest) that they have never seen a year like it. Long summer that was hot but not too hot, and dry but without drought. Long autumn with good temeprature variations, giving great aromatic complexity.In Saussignac, for example a VERY late onset of Botrytis (due to dry autumn) might have led to disasater were it not for the perfect maturing conditions right up to early November. So as long as nothing goes too wrong in the cellar, I think they might find that 2009 tops 2000, 2002 AND 2005. Pretty damn good decade, to be honest.

As the saying goes. "It's an ill wind as blows nobody any good", and this may be a side effect of changes in weather patterns that is beneficial for the moment.

-- All the best Fatty from Forges

Global Warming?

Kent