Click on a vintage report to read all about it.
Andrew Hedley update on Framingham 2009 harvest
Andrew reports on a tricky vintage in Marlborough…
2008 - Cold and T’Rain in Touraine
Good weather at harvest time rescues a tale of woe…
Report from the Roussillon - 2008 early impressions
Jean-Francois Nicq on a year when the sun forgot to come out…
2008 - A Good Year in Provence
Encouraging noises from Pibarnon…
Early report from Gassac - Sept 2008
Will another ‘8 be great? Promising indications in the Gassac valley…
Champagne Philipponnat 2007 - Light, Elegant, Ageworthy Wines
Another victory snatched from the jaws of defeat. A truly difficult vintage with heavily reduced yields saved by the dry and sunny period around harvest. The Philipponnat wines will generally be light and expressive with plenty of acidity, although,as with all champagnes, it is the quality of the blending that will determine the final quality…
New Zealand 2007 - Battling The Elements
2007 proved once again that New Zealand enjoys and endures a marginal climate in several of its top wine-producing regions. Adverse weather conditions can drastically affect yields, but it introduces a note of realism and discipline in the vineyards. Four of the estates that we work with are organic or biodynamic in all but name.
Americas calling - 2007 - A Difficult Vintage
2007 - A return to elegant Pinots in Oregon care of Sokol Blosser, El Nino+ La Nina = El Loco harvest (que Syrah Syrah (!) and scrumptious Carmenere for Viu Manent) and a big thumbs-up from Salentein in Argentina…
The Rain In Spain Didn’t Make A Difference
Difficult to generalise with a small sample of growers but perceived as a small but excellent vintage
Eastern France 2007 - Sun-Rain-Sun
Eastern France is a nebulous area and stretches for our purposes from the sunny vineyards of Alsace sheltered by the Vosges mountains through Luxembourg on the slopes of the Moselle with its delicate, floral, almost Germanic-style wines to the sub-Alpine regions of Jura and Savoie with their old-fashioned whites and unique reds made from such recondite grape varieties as Trousseau and Ploussard.
The consensus seems that 2007 was another vintage rescued by a good weather around harvest time. Overall, mildew seemed less of a factor here than in other parts of France. The wines from Alsace should be particularly fine and white wines in Jura and Savoie look very good indeed.
South West 2007 “Extra Shifts in the Vineyard”
The overall picture from our growers regarding the 2007 harvest seems clear: it was a very difficult vintage with unpredictable weather and a constant battle against mildew. Those who invested more time and money in their vineyards were rewarded with healthy grapes (although the yields appear to be below average). Whites generally fared better than reds, displaying good balance and excellent levels of acidity. Red wines should be pleasurably on the fruit this year with approachable tannins.