Total yield: 480 mil hl Change from '02: -8%
'02 was already a small yielding vintage globally, and '03 represents the smallest total yield since '91.
Does this mean it will be a great year? Maybe not, what with late frosts, hail storms, thick skins, some late rain. We'll see, but (Bordeaux-wise I mean) I do have my hopes up! ;)
-E
Salut/Hi Emery Davis,
le/on Sun, 14 Sep 2003 15:33:50 +0200, tu disais/you said:-
As you say - a LOT of guesstimating. Rather like my local tourist office who were asking me what my September B&B figures are going to be on the
10th.
It _could_ be, if the wine makers are meticulous about removing the "cooked" grapes. But as we know only too well, there's no guarantee they will.
Late rain was very good, in that it can allow the droughted vines to finish ripening their grapes. This happened in '99 and again in 2000. The growers who waited for rain, and then picked at exactly the right moment, made very good wine (as long as they did the right things earlier too).
Bordeaux winemakers asked for and have obtained special permission both to chaptalise AND to add acidity this year. This is normally strictly forbidden by French wine making law.
I did one day of "vendange" last week, and I am in touch with quite a few winemakers here in (southern) France, and results are quite puzzling.
Somehow the enologist crowd has decided that this year will be a low acidity year, and they (you know, these guys never set foot in the vineyard, but they are fond of making decisions anyhow!) have all prescribed acidification, and many appellations are going ahead and blindly allowing this practice to happen. Some winemakers are actually bothering to check pH and noticing that their wines are actually quite OK with the acidity, but few are daring to contradict the witch doctors of the wine world. In goes the tartaric.
This fear of low acidity has prompted most wine growers to quickly go out and harvest before the acidity drops any further, despite the fact that the grapes have CLEARLY not reached phenolic ripeness. Those that had doubts, seeing their colleaugues feverishly getting those grapes into the vats, followed like lemmings. Besides, hunting season has started, and what the heck.
A few wine growers are waiting, and not believing any of the crap they read or hear. Looking at the grapes on the younger plants reveals a shocking truth: up to 30% of the grape bunches are so far BEHIND in their ripening that they have not even undergone veraison !!! It is a case of maturity being blocked by the stress caused by severe drought. The same effects are visible on other plants: fig trees are dropping their fruit before it is ripe.
Older vines seem to be doing well, and certain varieties are proving more rugged in the dry conditions of 2003. Carignan for one.
I believe that careful vitners that wait for true phenolic maturity and do manual harvesting and have sufficiently skilled vendangeurs to select only the good bunches will make great wine. IOW, as usual, good winemakers will make great wine even in this hyped overrated year.
Mike
Salut/Hi Mike Tommasi,
le/on Sun, 14 Sep 2003 18:51:29 +0200, tu disais/you said:-
[snip] [snip]Yes, I've seen that here too.
EXACTLY. And in 8 months time, we'll be reading here on the NG "Should I buy futures of the great 2003 vintage, best year since the legendary '47?" Or something like it. Cynical, me?
DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.