You probably already know that a wine vintage is the year the grapes were harvested.
What you might not know about wine vintages is the best ones come from unpredictable climates, such as Europe’s northern winegrowing regions.
So which vintages will be trending in 2018? We asked Tim Kilcullen, Breakthru Beverage Pennsylvania’s Vice President of Luxury Wines, for his take on which vintages you should tell your customers to open next year.
The Northern Rhone experienced nearly perfect conditions in 2015. Consistently warm and dry months were splashed with rejuvenating showers in August, followed by a warm and dry harvest period. Some vintners believe that this could turn out to be a legendary vintage in Cote Rotie, Hermitage and the rest of the Northern Rhone. The St. Joseph wines show the classic rich and ripe Syrah plum flavors, braced with a balancing acidic edge and extremely well-woven tannic structure. A relatively large harvest should result in these wines being reasonably priced and accessible.
The Southern Rhone produced quality wines in 2015. Usually, a hot and dry growing season in the Southern Rhone will result in many over-ripe and soft fruit bombs. However, there were no dramatic heat spikes to interfere with gradual ripening and a much-needed burst of rain in August provided just the right balance to the late-ripening Grenache and Mourvedre vines that dominate these blends. 2015 Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines are gushing with red fruit ripeness while being balance by refreshing acidity. Savvy buyers will also look for 2015 Gigondas for value.
This seems like an odd choice, since the 2014 vintage in Piemonte was very difficult. Violent hail storms in the beginning of the season caused considerable damage to Dolcetto, Barbera and most white grapes, particularly Moscato. Even some heralded vineyards in Barolo suffered damage to their Nebbiolo vines. Diluting rains followed later in the season, making this a challenging vintage throughout most of the region. Most of the Nebbiolo vineyards in Barbaresco were spared the hail storms and the later ripening grape overcame the rains in a nice Indian summer. 2014 Barbaresco feature intense dark fruit characteristics, intoxicating floral aromas, and nervy acidic structure that is surprisingly classic.
The 2014 vintage in Oregon was almost uniformly perfect. In the Willamette Valley, an early start with months of warm, dry and consistent weather led to an early harvest of perfectly ripe grapes. The resultant wines are powerhouses of red fruit intensity balanced by good acidity. Since the conditions were so excellent, this is a large harvest and wines should be readily available. It is not often that high quality and high yields occur in the same vintage, so take advantage of this bounty.