I shall be publishing an overview of the exceptional 2005 vintage on New Year's Eve in fine wine news but Victor de la Serna, Madrid-based wine writer and owner of Finca Sandoval kindly sent me such a detailed report on the extraordinary 2005 season in Spain that I thought you might like to see it in full.
2005 has been the driest year on record in Spain since comprehensive rainfall records were first kept in 1947. All of southeastern Spain endured Sahara-like conditions with as little as two or three inches of rain for the first nine months of the year, before harvest. Except...