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2005
Harvest / Vintage Notes
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The
2005 Harvest saw generally good but mixed results based
mostly on geography. Here are some brief early notes on several
of the primary production areas of higher quality wines.
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Oregon
- Drought, cooler autumn weather and harvest rains brought real
challenges to the winemakers. There will be some nicely balanced
wines in a more classic european style but this is not a banner
year for Oregon. Overall quantities are just a little higher than
2004. In general, the wines will be lower in alcohol and will
have less pronounced fruit than in recent years.
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California
- A long cool growing season brought a large and pretty good
vintage. There was some concern that the large crop would not
mature before winter rains set in but the weather warmed going
into the harvest and the rains held off in most areas. This could
be a good year for more concentrated wines, higher tannins and
better aging. The harvest is 10 to 15% larger than last year's.
It is likely to be the second largest in state history. The largest
harvest was in 2000.
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France
- A summer of nice days and cool nights has yielded healthy
fruit with excellent flavors. Rain affected most areas at the
beginning of September but went away for most of the harvest.
In general, France had a very successful vintage in 2005. This
is especially true in Bordeaux and Burgundy where ripe grapes
have unusually high acid levels. That may signal some very long-lived
wines.
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Spain
- Very dry and hot weather brought about an early harvest
in most parts of Spain. Lack of rainfall in some areas brought
lower grape yields but flavors are concentrated. Wines will be
marked by high alcohol, full flavor and dense color.
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Italy
- This was a difficult harvest in many regions of Italy. Heavy
rains were especially worrisome. While the wines can be good,
they will rarely be great from Italy in 2005.
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New
Zealand - Cool, uneven weather in the early part of the growing
season got things off to a rocky start but the weather turned
nice and the Indian Summer was especially favorable. The result
is a very nice and quite large vintage. It is the second largest
in New Zealand's history, supassed only by the gargantuan harvest
experienced last year. The 2005 harvest is about 10% smaller than
last year's. Quality is quite good. Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc
had better results than other grapes in terms of quantity produced.
Both Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir saw yeilds fall by 25%
or more.
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