The Big Picture

 

As has become tradition, when I return from my annual South Australian May Trip, to put things in perspective, the first thing I produced is a “vintage update”. The information provided is based on input from a number of respected winemakers who are not the type of people who are into making claims that every vintage is the best ever. In fact, most of them are brutally honest in their vintage assessment.

 

Before I get to 2005 in South Australia, its worth taking time out and spending a few moments taking a macro view of the vintage conditions over the last few years. It provides an interesting ‘big picture’ perspective. When asking winemakers for their opinion on the current vintage, I also ask them to compare it to last few vintages so the information provides an update of the past few years as well as putting the current vintage in perspective. It is this information, as well as my impressions after tasting many wines (and barrel samples) that provides the basis of this report.

 

Two years ago, in the vintage update, I said, “Everyone knows that 1998 was regarded as a ripper of a vintage but there seems to be bit of concern that some of the big, blockbuster fruit-forward wines may not last as long as predicted. If you have any of these in your cellar, a bit of caution may be warranted and some selective sampling may be a good idea.”  Everything I have heard from winemakers still confirms this opinion. That does not mean all the 98’s in your cellar will fall over, but it does mean many will not improve and may have been best-consumed young when their fruit was rich and ripe.

 

Although not regarded as highly as 1998 at the time, a number of wineries have looked back at the development of their 1999 wines and are very happy with their progress. This vintage may be a bit of a sleeper. It was overshadowed by 1998, much like the 1990 vintage overshadowed 1991, but as we now know, 1991 turned out to be a great vintage in its own right. I am not saying 1999 was a great vintage, but there was some great wine produced.

 

Everyone agrees that 2000 was a dog of a vintage in South Australia but Coonawarra had a reasonable time, and there are a few gems to be found from the other areas, so do not completely dismiss it.

 

After the bad 2000 vintage, there was a lot of hype building over the 2001 vintage because the industry needed a boost. The year was very hot and harvests were the earliest on record in many vineyards. My continual advice has to be very cautious about 2001 wines from Barossa and McLaren Vale. The more I try these wines, in general, the less I like them. A large number of the wines I tried from this vintage have been in the ultra-ripe category or are hot and alcoholic. Many of these wines will not cellar for long periods. In my opinion, this vintage is one where picking carefully and hitting the peak drinking windows are critical as if you leave them too long many will go hard and leathery. Do not get me wrong, there are some very good wines; you just need to be careful. Coonawarra is looking very good, but once again, we are dealing with very ripe fruit - just not as ripe as some other areas.

 

Three years ago, after my trip to South Australia last year, I made a very big, early call and said that 2002 will produce some of the best wines from McLaren Vale this country has seen. Based on what I have tasted since, it looks like that prediction is on track and many of the wines from the Barossa from that year are shaping up well too. Initially I thought that Coonawarra in 2002 may be a different story but after tasting a number of them on this trip, there are some very credible wines; many of the Shiraz wines from this vintage are far better than their Cabernet counterparts and are looking very good. Coonawarra Shiraz from 02 will wind up being overlooked but the smart money will get onto them.

 

The weather played havoc with 2003 and to make matters worse, drought didn’t help, so as you would expect, it was a very difficult vintage. Yields were way down in many areas, but almost without exception every producer I spoke to two years ago said, “We are happy with the quality of the grapes picked.”

 

Two year later, many winemakers were not very enthusiastic about the wines produced. Many of the 2003’s I tried, both from finished wines and barrel samples, seemed hard or had loads of sappy characters. The results are unusual as there are a few very good wines and a load of very ordinary wines with not much in between. The exception is Coonawarra, where the 2003’s I tasted were generally very good wines. The volume of 2003 Coonawarra wines are microscopic but the quality of many of them are right up there.

 

The 2004 vintage in was certainly prolific in terms of quantity in all areas of SA. In many ways it was similar to 2002 but there were a few bumps in the road along the way to vintage. January was about the coolest on record. Two weeks of record heat in February followed and then things cooled down again to a long, slow ripening period. Interestingly enough one winery in McLaren Vale did their last crush on 12 May. That must be close to a record late completion date for vintage in that area. The late ripening was not restricted to McLaren Vale either.

 

In McLaren Vale, many of the producers are very happy with the fruit they picked and feel the quality of fruit is close to that of 2002. However, there are a number of very unhappy growers out there. The growers that overcropped were caught with their trousers down - big time. Some of the fruit produced was very ordinary which will result in ordinary wine.

 

In the Barossa, it is a similar story but with a twist. Here we have some very credible producers who are saying it is the best vintage since 1996. At the other extreme, there are comments from producers who are just as credible, expressing very serious concerns. Moreover, there was a range of comments with just about every possible variation in between those extremes. My feeling is that there will be some Barossa stunners from this vintage but a few ugly canines too.

 

Clare’s producers were happy with the quality of Shiraz and whilst it is not as good as 2002, it was still a very good vintage. Cabernet Sauvignon in Clare can be variable but most producers expressed very positive reactions to this variety.

 

Now the part you have all been waiting for, 2005. Vintage conditions provided some challenges. First and foremost was an unexpected huge drenching in November when many vineyards were just about flooded. This created some minor problems but the vineyards that had well managed viticulture did not suffer and were able to control the extra vine vigour. One winery told us their solution was leaf plucking which worked a treat and another told us they leaf plucked but it made no difference. From there, much of the season was cooler than expected and the grapes were slow to ripen. The biggest problem facing growers was sugar ripeness went up but flavour ripeness was very slow. The potential alcohol levels were climbing but the flavour profiles were not keeping pace.

 

Then there was a hot spell and it all happened at once, and when I say “it all”, I mean all! Flavour ripeness rocketed and there was a rush to pick. Many wineries were saying their reds and whites all came off the vines at the same time, something that is very unusual! There was congestion in many wineries as they were flooded with grapes and had to work out ways of getting them processed. The stories in Barossa, Coonawarra and McLaren Vale were all similar variations on this theme. In many areas, vintage was also over a month earlier than normal.

 

As to how good the vintage it will be, that is not an easy question to answer. Some wineries were very positive about it, you know the story, great wines will be produced – blah, blah, blah. When asked how it compared to say 01, 02 and 04, the story was a little different and in many cases this is where the truth came out. A fair number of producers I spoke to were seemingly cautious about predictions on this vintage saying it is still too early to tell; something that is a little unusual in itself. Reading between the lines and putting all the reports together I have come up with my own conclusions.

 

Growing conditions hold the key to the equation. The problems caused by the initial rain will have been overcome by most growers without to much impact on the crop but the weather pattern in the first few months of 2005 hold the real key to the story. Cool slow ripening, like 2002 produces terrific wine but when it is too cool, it can be a problem because the grapes don’t ripen properly. That is exactly what started to happen; the alcohol levels were heading north slowly but the flavour ripeness was not there; and suddenly, with a burst of extremely hot weather, the ripeness caught up incredibly quickly. As a result, alcohol levels are generally high and whilst the wines may look good when they are young, they may fail to live as long as many of the better vintages like say 1996.

 

There will be loads of enjoyable wine produced in 2005 but will they have the structure to last into the longer term? As a generality, I doubt it. A good vintage overall, but I doubt it will be a great one.

 

Next week, (hopefully) the first Chapter of the May 2005 South Australian Tour Diary should be ready for your enjoyment.

 

Copyright © Ric Einstein 2005