Grapevine: The 2015 Wine Harvest: Early Reports From Around the World
Last week’s column focused on the threat of climate change on wine harvests. Regardless of which side of the argument one espouses – the reality vs. the perception of global warming – it is clear that recent harvests have been impacted by warming weather patterns in most of the grape-growing regions.
Over the past decade, growing seasons have generally lengthened, providing longer hang-times for grapes once they reach maturity. The end result is bountiful harvests and riper fruit.
My empirical mind has attempted to deal with the effects of recent weather patterns. My aesthetic mind has dealt with the comparative quality of recent wine vintages. My conclusions? Let’s peek into the 2015 harvest across the major wine regions of the world to assess the impact of weather on this vintage. There is talk that 2015 will be a classic wine year.
In the United States, the focus at harvest-time is invariably California. Accounting for over 90 percent of domestic production, it is understandable that, as the California season goes, so goes the entire domestic wine industry.
In spite of a warm season, the yields in California’s vineyards have decreased from previous years. That other factor in climate change, available water for irrigation of crops, has loomed large. However, this appears to be a boon for this year’s vintage. Yields are estimated to be a whopping 30 percent lower than in each of the last three years. As water became scarcer during the growing season, grapevines struggled to produce fruit. Counterintuitively, the resulting smaller crop is more concentrated in flavor and taste. Why? The energy of each grapevine has been focused on the small crop this year, which is expected to result in a stellar vintage.
As for the other 10 percent of wine produced in the United States, harvests in two of the larger wine producing regions, Washington and Oregon, look promising.
In Washington, yields and quality of its signature grape, Cabernet Sauvignon, are at historic peaks. A warm late summer allowed grapes to be harvested a full month earlier in some cases, escaping the annual threat of overnight frosts at harvest time that can wreak havoc on grape yields.
In Oregon, 58 percent of vineyard plantings are Pinot Noir, a notoriously fickle and weather-sensitive grape. The hottest year on record in 2015 resulted in earlier-ripening grapes, with high yields and historically high concentrations of fruit and tannin. If you’re a Pinot Noir fan, get ready to enjoy world-class wine from this vintage.
Closer to home, a warm, sunny summer with very few rainy days has made for pleasant vacationing on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley – and the potential for one of the bet harvests in recent history.
In Europe, the 2015 vintage has the potential to be one of the best vintages of the past 50 years, perhaps matching the much-heralded 1990 and 1982 vintages.
After a disastrous 2014, Italian winemakers are reveling in high yields and excellent quality due to a warm summer and ideal levels of rainfall. Prosecco sales are at all-time highs in the United States, severely straining available supplies and causing winemakers to tap the mandatory “Harvest Reserves” from prior years.
France is experiencing mixed results. Mother Nature has wielded a double-edge sword. The weather has been generally favorable, but the Burgundy and Champagne regions have been punished with summer hailstorms at the peak growing periods, destroying significant portions of maturing crops.
Bountiful yields and high quality are the hallmarks for many wine regions in 2015. Is this the result of several favorable years of excellent weather or the portent of wines exceedingly high in fruit, but unimpressive complexity and structure? Stay tuned as we build a trend line over a 20-year continuum.
Nick Antonaccio is a 40-year Pleasantville resident. For over 20 years he has conducted numerous wine tastings and lectures. He also offers personalized wine tastings and wine travel services. Nick’s credo: continuous experimenting results in instinctive behavior. You can reach him at nantonaccio@theexaminernews.com or on Twitter @sharingwine.
