any one of those ingredients is truly exceptional, the wine is likely to be pretty exceptional too.
This explains the intense interest currently brewing in the produce of the 2003 vintage in Europe where, last summer, all records for heat, dust and drought were broken.
The thought goes that all that sunshine must have produced some incredibly ripe grapes which have surely been translated into some fabulous wines.
The Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, for example, whose office in Bordeaux tries to co-ordinate the en primeur tastings of each year's new vintage in the spring following the harvest, is particularly overworked this year. So far they expect 3,500 trade and media visitors. That is 500 more than came to taste the 2000 vintage which was blessed by both near-perfect weather conditions and the magic conveyed by its three noughts.
Despite the strength of the euro, especially against the dollar, Bordeaux merchants are already able to swap stories about customers who have volunteered six-figure lump sums to be spent, however advised, on the 2003s.
German wine producers, at long last receiving attention from
international buyers inspired by rave reviews of their 2001 vintage, are cock a hoop. They have been blessed by the most extraordinary run of vintage luck in recent years but no recent harvest has offered up such a high proportion of grapes so ripe that they can be made into rich, usually-rare and always-expensive wines labelled Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese. In fact there is a shortage of 2003s at more modest Kabinett and Spaetlese levels of ripeness – the ingredients needed for the dry wines that are so
fashionable in Germany nowadays (and which the German wine
authorities have been trumpeting at such high volume).
Sceptical long-term observers of the German wine industry point out that the last time the German grape harvest reached such high sugar levels was in 1976 – a vintage which aged far from gracefully. It is true that in 2003, as in 1976, the tally of acidity, the component that confers longevity on white wines, was lower than average. Those who, unlike me, have tasted the 2003s in Germany admit that they are unusually forward and charming even at this early stage. Vintners are hoping that the high proportion of tartaric acid in the total mix of acidities will preserve the rich German wines of 2003
for as long a life as they deserve.
But not all wine producers who, with their vines, sweltered through the long, hot summer of 2003 are blowing their trumpets so loudly. In Burgundy, the harvest was shrunk by 30 to 40 per cent by the drought which resulted in much smaller-than-usual grapes. Despite this selling point, vignerons tend to concentrate on the quality of its predecessor 2002 rather than boast about their 2003s which, with Pinot Noir in particular being such a fragile grape, are unlikely to be the most balanced red burgundies ever. Tannin levels are reported
to be notably low and, whereas 2002 burgundies (as reported
here already) tend to express the vineyard that produced them,
the 2003s are expected to express the dryness and heat of the
vintage most loudly and clearly.
The problem with many a 2003 burgundy as the harvest approached was that, while sugar levels were at record levels, the phenolic compounds that determine tannins, colour and flavour were at a dangerously early stage of development. Some producers had sufficient nerve to hang on but many others, particularly those with young vines that were severely stressed by the drought, with grapes starting to shrivel and even sometimes being burnt by the strong sunshine, were panicked into picking too early to make seriously interesting wines.
But even within Bordeaux, those expecting uniform success from the 2003 vintage are certain to be disappointed. All early reports remark on the dramatic variation between different vineyards, particularly as far as their access to water is concerned.
Le Pin, for example, for long the most expensive bordeaux of all thanks to wild enthusiasm for it in the Far East, will not be made at all in 2003. Its owners admit that the exceptionally good drainage of the vineyard, which stands it in such good stead in rainy years, was its undoing. According to Jacques Thienpont, "by the end of August we had berries that were wrinkled due to the sun, berries that were not completely ripe and even when we tasted the remaining
decent-looking grapes, they tasted like prunes. Even the leaves were falling off the vines on their own, further exposing the grapes to the sun."
In Italy as in France the harvest was exceptionally early and sugar levels exceptionally high (many Barberas have ended up almost 15 per cent alcohol) but practically no-one is claiming it as exceptional in terms of sheer quality. The determining Nebbiolo grape of Piedmont is as shy of heat as the Pinot Noir of Burgundy, and 'difficult' is the most often-used adjective for the 2003 vintage in Tuscany – and in most of the significant Spanish wine regions.
So 2003 may well yield some gems. I shall be trying to identify Bordeaux's in a month's time. But sheer heat is not enough to guarantee top quality.
In the meantime, here are some particularly good 2003s already on shelves in the UK for drinking already. It is hardly surprising that they are mainly white, southern hemisphere and made for drinking young.
SOME TOOTHSOME 2003S
WHITES
Excelsior Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2003 South Africa
£4.99 Sainsbury
A good drink – really racy if very slightly sweet.
Tesco Finest Reserve South African Chenin 2003 South Africa
£4.99 Tesco
From Ken Forrester, the Cape's king of Chenin – slightly
honeyed with lots of bracing fruit.
Vergelegen Sauvignon Blanc 2003 South Africa
£7.49 Waitrose
Meaty, substantial and dry, from the Cape's most consistent
prize-winner.
Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc 2003 New Zealand
£7.99 widely available
Good value alternative to Cloudy Bay.
Pewsey Vale Riesling 2003 South Australia
£8.99 Oddbins
Delicate Eden Valley fruit from Yalumba. A 1997 counterpart
costs just one pound more at Sainsbury's top stores.
Shaw & Smith Sauvignon Blanc 2003 South Australia
£9.99 Waitrose
Now firmly established as Australia's best shot at Sauvignon.
Akarua Pinot Gris 2003 New Zealand
£12.63 O W Loeb of London SE1
A fine example of this perfumed, full-bodied grape from
Central Otago.
REDS
San Pedro 35 South Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 Chile
£4.79 Asda, Safeway, Sainsbury
Not complex but this baby is already bumptiously delicious.
Echevarria Carmenère 2003 Chile
About £70 a dozen from www.everywine.co.uk
Lots of personality from an admired winemaker.