Rhone Vintage

Question 1

Rhône: 1971

Answer 1

Solid vintage in the Northern Rhone, very robust.

Wines from the south are light and faded early.

Question 2

Rhône: 1973 -1975

Answer 2

Rainy and dilute; terrible vintages in North and South.

Question 3

Rhône: 1977

Answer 3

Cool summer, rain at harvest. Disaster throughout.

Question 4

Rhône: 1978

Answer 4

Cool summer, but warm fall and late harvest with perfect weather. Best vintage of the decade in both regions, and one of the top vintages of the century for the North.

Question 5

Rhône: 1979

Answer 5

Excellent in both regions; softer, more fragrant wines than 1978.

Question 6

Rhône: Great vintages of the 1970’s

Answer 6

1978

1979

Question 7

Rhône: Disaster vintages of the 1970’s

Answer 7

1973-1975

1977

Question 8

Rhône: 1981

Answer 8

Northern Rhone troubled by rain at harvest; the wines are thin.
Southern Rhone had a warm, dry summer with excellent quality.

Question 9

Rhône: 1982

Answer 9

Dry year, with heat spikes, early harvest. Heat in September caused troubles in fermentation.
Northern Rhone produced some great wines.
Southern Rhones are jammy and overripe, not ageworthy.

Question 10

Rhône: 1983

Answer 10

Excellent in the Northern Rhone - best since 1978.

South is erratic and unpredictable.

Question 11

Rhône: 1984

Answer 11

Very poor. Wines are light and underripe in both regions (South slightly better, but not good).

Question 12

Rhône: 1985

Answer 12

A very successful vintage - opulent and soft.

Question 13

Rhône: 1986

Answer 13

Firm, tannic, and joyless across the board.

Question 14

Rhône: 1987

Answer 14

Cold, rainy, and snowy - poor and dilute. Some good wines from Cote-Rotie - everything else suffered.

Question 15

Rhône: 1988

Answer 15

Very good, slow-maturing wines - “classic.” Unfairly overshadowed by 1989 and 1990.

Question 16

Rhône: 1989

Answer 16

Outstanding, highly concentrated.

Question 17

Rhône: Great vintages of the 1980’s

Answer 17

1981 (South only)
1982 (North only)
1983 (North only)
1985
1988
1989

Question 18

Rhône: Disaster vintages of the 1980’s

Answer 18

1981 (north only)
1983 (south only)
1984
1987

Question 19

Rhône: 1990

Answer 19

Sumptuous and powerful, huge critical scores across the valley. Fleshier than 1989, with lower acidity in the south.

Question 20

Rhône: 1991

Answer 20

Very good and rich in the North.

Torrential rain at harvest in the south - total disaster.

Question 21

Rhône: 1992

Answer 21

Serious rain at harvest devastated the crop in both regions.

Question 22

Rhône: 1993

Answer 22

Again, rain at harvest produced thin, dilute wines.

Question 23

Rhône: 1994

Answer 23

Better than the three preceding vintages, but still rather variable and inconsistent.

Question 24

Rhône: 1995

Answer 24

Outstanding and full-bodied in both regions. Firm tannic backbone, very ageworthy.

Question 25

Rhône: 1996

Answer 25

Cool and damp, high acidity. Fair.

Question 26

Rhône: 1997

Answer 26

Unsettled weather in the north (hot v. rainy); overripeness and rasination in the south. Variable.

Question 27

Rhône: 1998

Answer 27

Some heat stress in the north, but by and large a successful vintage.
Southern Rhone’s second great vintage of the 1990’s (after 1990 itself).

Question 28

Rhône: 1999

Answer 28

Exceptional in the North, and larger quantity than 1998.

Rather more variable in the south - rain at harvest created some rot issues.

Question 29

Rhône: Great vintages of the 1990’s

Answer 29

1990
1991 (North only)
1998
1999

Question 30

Rhône: Disaster vintages of the 1990’s

Answer 30

1991 (South only)
1992
1993

Question 31

Rhône: 2000

Answer 31

Good but not exceptional in the Northern Rhone.

Southern Rhone is lush, soft, and silky; highly regarded.

Question 32

Rhône: 2001

Answer 32

Excellent in both regions; higher tannins and fimer structure in both North and South than 2000.

Question 33

Rhône: 2002

Answer 33

Massive rains diluted and destroyed the harvest. Worst vintage of the 2000’s.

Question 34

Rhône: 2003

Answer 34

Heat Wave vintage - massive, concentrated.

After the rains of 2002, the water table was high, so clay-planted wines in the south are most successful.

Question 35

Rhône: 2004

Answer 35

Near perfect weather, but the results are good but not great.

Question 36

Rhône: 2005

Answer 36

As with the rest of France. Yields down slightly.

Question 37

Rhône: 2006

Answer 37

Good vintage with some rain on and off at harvest. Wines are more charming than powerful.

Question 38

Rhône: 2007

Answer 38

Northern Rhone is similar to Burgundy - patchy summer with warmth at harvest. Difficult but good. Severe hail in Cote-Rotie.
Southern Rhone had an exceptional, silky, lush vintage.

Question 39

Rhône: 2008

Answer 39

Rainy and difficult. Light and somewhat dilute.

Question 40

Rhône: 2009

Answer 40

As with the rest of France. Some southern wines are overly alcoholic.

Question 41

Rhône: Great vintages of the 2000’s

Answer 41

2000 (South)
2001
2005
2007 (South)
2009
2010

Question 42

Rhône: Poor vintages of the 2000’s

Answer 42

2002

2008

Question 43

Rhône: 2010

Answer 43

As with the rest of France.

Question 44

Rhône: 2011

Answer 44

More lightly styled than the preceeding vintages; cool summer and some rain at harvest. North is more successful than the south.

Question 45

Rhône: 2012

Answer 45

Difficult vintage; smaller crop than usual (rain at flowering). Lowered acidity, high tannin. The Rhone overall was more successful than most across Europe.

Question 46

Rhône: 2013

Answer 46

Serious coulure in the Grenache plagued the Southern Rhone. Late start, short growing season.

Question 47

Rhône: 2014

Answer 47

Very rainy summer; serious Suzukii Fruit Fly issues in the North, particularly Cote-Rotie. Lighter in style, early drinking.

Question 48

Rhône: 2015

Answer 48

Easy, warm growing season. Very promising - best vintage since 2010, at least.

Question 49

Exceptional early 20th century vintages in the Rhone

Answer 49

1928
1929
1934
1945
1947
1949
1955
1959
1961
1966
1967