The year 2000 began with a wet though mild spring, flowering took place slightly earlier than usual, though the fruit set suggested harvest levels would be down on the large 1999 crop. June was disappointingly cloudy and humid while July was even worse. Growers had to treat the vines regularly against diseases during this period. Without an improvement, 2000 looked set to be the worst vintage since 1992.
As the summer turned on its axis, though, so did the weather. Both August and September have proved uniformly hot, sunny and dry, helping the vines to recover from the setbacks of the early summer. The dry white wines were harvested in the second week of September in a promising condition. The Merlots, in the second half of the month, were even better.
The harvest rain, which has been a feature of most recent Bordeaux vintages, so often diluting the quality of the Cabernets, has held off, and this final variety is being harvested in good condition at present. Jean-Guillaume Prats of Château Cos d’Estournel says that tannin levels and ripeness equates to 1982 and 1990; Pierre Lurton of Château Cheval Blanc has said that he expects to make “superb vins de garde, well structured, sumptuous, large scale, with very silky, velvety tannins.” Bordeaux has not had a truly great vintage since 1990. It seems possible, at this very early stage, that 2000 has finally delivered the goods.
Unlike Bordeaux, the Rhône valley has been well-treated by the elements at the very end of the twentieth century. 1998 was a glorious vintage, especially for the Grenache-based wines of the southern Rhône. 1999 was very nearly as good in the South, and perhaps even better for the Syrah-based wines of the northern Rhône. It would seem like greediness to ask for another great vintage – yet things are, once again, looking good both in the north and the south of the valley.
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After a slow start to spring and summer, August has been generally hot and sunny (though there was some rain in the middle of the month) and September superb. Those travelling in the Rhône valley during the middle of September would have seen trailer after trailer of perfect grapes arrive at the cellars. There was little work for those on the sorting tables to do, and sugar levels were high in the thick-skinned grapes.
Analyses, too, showed good tannin levels. The only complaint was that grape-pickers (for the minority who still harvest by hand) were becoming harder and harder to find. Growers stress, though, that it’s too soon to reach a hasty conclusion. Jean-Luc Colombo, who works with top producers in both the northern and the southern Rhône, pointed out that with the August rain the summer had been a wetter one than usual. A good vintage, he told me, was possible – a great one, he felt, was not.
Champagne
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