Vintage 2012 - Different but the Same

Posted by on 19 June 2012 | 0 Comments

There has long been a tradition in New Zealand’s wine regions to “talk up” vintages, which I suspect happens in wine regions everywhere.  My view is that this is driven largely by concern amongst winegrowers that if punters understood that the grapes harvested in a particular vintage were in less than perfect condition and not optimally ripe, they might be less inclined to buy the wines when they are released.

Maybe there is some truth in this, but in order for it to have a major impact on wine sales, a large proportion of all wine buyers would have to follow assiduously the progress and outcome of winegrowing seasons at the time, and retain for several years this awareness when making wine buying decisions. The slim impact such knowledge will have on subsequent wine sales is made even slimmer by the fact that every season there is variation from one grape variety to another and one region to another. So we can really expect only the most dedicated wine aficionados to retain and act on this sort of awareness.

2012 was one of those less-than-perfect vintages, almost right throughout New Zealand. It started back in spring when we must have had a fair bit of cool, moist and windy weather during flowering, because fruit set for most grape varieties was less successful than usual, meaning that 2012 was always going to be a relatively small vintage.

Then we had summer. Yes, believe it or not, we had a summer. The lower than average heat and sunlight from January to March meant that ripeness in some (but by no means all) grape varieties was delayed. Fortunately April came to the rescue with plenty of settled and sunny weather, so by harvest time we were getting close to where we wanted to be with the fruit.

It is too early to be definitive but we can say that like most seasons, there will be a range of quality, and maybe a slightly different mix from usual in the wines eventually produced from 2012. I would predict for example that we may see more rose than usual. The slightly lower levels of ripeness which some red varieties experienced this year makes them ideal candidates for scrumptious, satisfying rose wines.

Most of us in the Matakana region have been in the business for long enough now to know that variation in weather from one vintage to another is not necessarily paralleled in variation in the quality of the wines produced. And we know that in the process of grape juice becoming wine, grapes picked in less-than-optimal condition can mysteriously be redeemed. This is a nice little quirk of nature which makes winegrowing sometimes unpredictable and challenging but also a fascinating and satisfying endeavour. Every year different but in so many ways the same.