Champagne Vintages Flashcards
Study
2012 Vintage
Low yield dude to spring frost, hail, mildew, summer heat and ideal harvest conditions resulted in ripe fruit, concentrated fruit.
Wines are ageworthy and rich with balanced acidity.
2008
Cool growing season, warmth ripened grapes at right time, cool nights retained acidity. Wines are energetic and concentrated.
2006
Warm season with cool August.
Wines are ripe and expressive with balanced acidity, many declared the vintage.
2004
High yields, cool and rainy August, heat returned in time for good ripening.
Elegant wines with savory flavors and finesse.
2002
Warm and dry growing season, rainy August.
Powerful, focused, ageworthy wines. Many declared the vintage.
1996
A vintage of outstanding quality that produced outstanding wines.
Weather Conditions
A dry summer with long bursts of sunshine produced a very high quality harvest of slightly above average size.
As in Burgundy to the south, the grapes combine high levels of ripeness with high levels of acidity. Some cellar masters at major houses are perplexed that the young wines seem to developing quite rapidly, despite their high acidity. Others believe it will be a classic vintage. Only time will tell.
1988
Weather Conditions
The spring was mild and flowering was completed without problems. July was cloudy but better conditions followed, although there was some heavy rain in mid-September.
Nonetheless quality proved excellent, and almost all producers released vintage wines. These are classic wines, characterised by their backbone and slight austerity. They will take longer to mature than the more opulent 1989s.
2000
Weather Conditions
Spring began well with excellent growth showing by the end of April beginning of May and flowering in early June. Rainfall in July was four times higher than average and a hailstorm hit, destroying many vines but August was sunny and dry.
The wet weather though meant vines were slow to and acidity was low by end of August but good weather throughout September helped ripen the fruit more fully and the sugar and acid levels were registering about 9.5° and 10°, and 7.5 and 8 respectively, so things looked up.
The vintage started in mid-September and the sun shone for the duration of the picking which lasted two weeks, and the harvest remained of remarkable quality from beginning to end
2015
Some remarkable vintage Champagne was produced after the harvest of 2015. The fruit of this growing season was smaller and healthier due to uniform ripening during the dry summer.
2018
2018 (Drink or Store): This vintage year saw the warmest summer after 2003, leading to a generous early harvest. The crop was acclaimed by many producers as ‘vintage of the century.’
Other notable Champagne vintages
1995, 1996, 1988, 1985, 1982, 1973, 1971, 1964, 1961.
