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2005 Primum Familiae Vini Vintage Reports,

France

Château Mouton Rothschild – Pauillac (Bordeaux)
Weather conditions for the 2005 vintage were unusual. The vegetation period from April to September was particularly dry and only 313 mm of rainfall were recorded between the start of the year and the harvest, compared with an average of 602 mm.

The weather was also colder by 0.3°C than the average for the last forty years, mainly due to cooler than normal nights.

However, this exceptional situation did not affect the usual pace of the vegetation cycle. Flowering occurred for all three varieties around 5 June and veraison took place a few days earlier than the average, between 1 and 8 August. The grapes were harvested between 21 September and 6 October in conditions that may be described as ideal.

Although the dry weather meant that yields were relatively low, the wines before assemblage, Merlot as well as Cabernet Sauvignon, show rich, powerful and stylish tannins. The colours are deep and the overall potential could well surprise.

The weather pattern for the 2005 vintage is rather reminiscent of 1961, 1982 and 1995…

Pol Roger – Epernay (Champagne)
After the scare of early September brought on by the chaotic weather conditions, the harvest which did eventually take place confirmed, in the last, the optimistic forecasts from the end of August which predicted a yield which would be both generous and of good quality.

Beginning on the 9th September in the most precocious vineyards, the picking took place under sunny skies in fresh and dry conditions. Moreover, the coolness of the nights put a halt to the occasional outbreaks of botrytis spotted here and there, affecting the Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes, as well as aiding the build up of natural sugars in the berries.

The bunches weighed in above the average and possessed a lovely richness indicating a potential alcohol in the region of 10%. The authorized maximum yield, pegged at 13,000 kg/ha – of which 1,500 kg were set aside for reserves – was met almost throughout the region apart from in certain parcels which had been affected by significant attacks of mildew in August, the worst affected of which were in the Côte des Bar.

This abundant and good quality harvest will permit the replenishment of the reserve stocks which have been seriously depleted following the tremendous deficit of the 2003 harvest.

The Chardonnay musts seem particularly exceptional this year, whilst the Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier musts show promise. Although one needs to wait until the tasting of the vins clairs in the spring to get a fuller picture of the 2005 vintage, the oenologists are already pronouncing the wines to be subtle and aromatic.

For Pol Roger the 2005 vintage yielded an average potential alcohol of 9.8° and an average acidity of 6.9 g/l which is not especially elevated but it won’t be until after the end of the malolactic fermentation that a clearer idea of the final acidity will reveal itself. The quality of Pol Roger’s Pinot Meunier is considerably above the average due to the implementation of a cool second decanting. And lastly, as part of our exacting desire to cater for demand with the same high quality wine we have negotiated a small number of new supply contracts which will permit a slightly greater quantity of production from this vintage.

Joseph Drouhin – Beaune (Burgundy)
Burgundy is about to produce one of its best vintages. The climate was ideal all along. The flowering took place in good conditions throughout Burgundy and the vines grew quickly owing to a very warm weather.

August was very dry and the grapes matured perfectly everywhere. Just before the harvest, they were uniformly ripe and in excellent health. Delicious flavors were found in both white and red grapes.

The fermentation went through without any problem. The white wines should have good balance and aromas. The reds have great color. They are fleshy and fruity, with a pretty tannic structure.

The 2005 vintage could very well be similar to…1961!

Paul Jaboulet Ainé – Tain l’Hermitage (Rhone Valley)
The flowering passed very well and, we then had a long period of very dry weather interspersed with periods of rainfall during July and, two days of heavier rainfall on August, 11th (30 mm) and August 27th (10 mm), which, consequently, helped to develop the maturity of the grapes.

The harvest took place between 12th and 30th of September, without rain. The crop was small (35 Hl/ha). The grapes were small with thick skins, but all were in perfect condition.

The colour of the red wines is deeper than usual with an alcohol degree of 13° for Crozes Hermitage and between 13°5 and 15° for Hermitage.

The white wines have an even smaller crop (28.5 Hl for Hermitage), with alcoholic degrees between 13° and 14°5.

For the white wines, the acidity is very good with a PH of 3.3. We have an exceptional PH for the red wines between 3.3/3.4 which will enable them to have a longer maceration and give them a dark purple colour and very good balance.

It will be a vintage of very high quality.

Hugel & fils – Riquewihr (Alsace)
The quality of this vintage progessively emerged as the harvest unfolded.

Throughout the season the vines have been in superb condition. Picking began in Alsace on Thursday 22 September for the still wines. Rainfall during the night of 3 to 4 October caused some worry, but arrival of the "Indian Summer" enabled us to pick our best vineyards under optimum conditions.

Everything indicates that 2005 will be a great vintage. Grapes were healthy and ripe, balanced by excellent acidity. Initial tastings of newly-fermented wines confirm our optimism, showing great aromatic purity and class on a par with the finest vintages.

For the cherry on the cake we will have to wait for the very last days of harvest. We succeeded in producing some Vendange Tardive in all 3 main grape varities and even a small quantity of Selection de Grains Nobles in Gewurztraminer controlled by the INAO at 23° of potential alcohol

Germany

Egon Muller Scharzhof –Saar
The summer of 2005 was perceived as rather unremarkable. The flowering started late but went through very quickly and evenly. The grapes developed well and even a cool August with intermittent showers could not slow the ripening process.

In September, summer finally arrived. 30 mm of rainfall on September 10 and a subsequent warm and humid period created ideal conditions for Botrytis. We started harvesting on October 4th, because it was possible to pick great Auslese but also because the level of noble rot had put as at a substantial risk and some rainfall on October 2nd had demonstrated that the danger was real: bunches whose stems had been infected fell off the vines. Had the bad weather prevailed we could have lost much of our harvest in a short time. We were lucky, however. From October 3rd to October 20th, not a drop of rain fell and every single day was sunny. The sugar levels soared and very quickly relatively casual selection yielded must weights of Beerenauslese level. We intensified our efforts and challenged ourselves to surpass the 2003 results. We still intensified the selection and harvested a small quantity of a rare nectar. Between 21st and 23rd October we had to break several times because of showers but it became dry again and we finished our harvest on the 26th.

Apparently 2005 is a vintage like we never had one before. While there are many parallels with 1976, it will probably be on a different level: The Botrytis was of a purity and beauty that defines the term “noble rot”. The sugar levels are much higher and the cool August has preserved very good acidity levels as well. The yields are the lowest we ever had, with the possible exception of truly catastrophic frost years. We can’t wait to taste the wines.

Italy

Antinori – Firenze (Tuscany)
Autumn and winter were very rainy with temperatures rather low and with snow which caused a delay in the regrowth of vegetation by 12 - 15 days compared to last year.

Almost to compensate this delay the advantageous weather conditions of the spring months favoured an early development of the grapevine of 10 days.

The following months of June, July and August were much cooler, characterized by average temperatures of 24 °C and abundant rains during the month of August. Even if these situations caused several problems throughout the ripening and after harvest, grapes were healthy, completely ripened, of a good quality, up to the recent harvests and with a good potential.

Sassicaia – Tenuta San Guido (Bolgheri)
Vintage 2005 was characterized by warm temperatures in the spring, that produced a regular flowering.

The summer was fresh with some rain, which resulted in a good vegetative development. Although maturation was quite anticipated, picking of the grapes only started in the first week of September.

The production was pretty contained in the standards of our disciplinary (regulation of the Sassicaia DOC).

The last part of maturation was partly influenced by some rain which imposed a particular attention during the different phases of the picking, in order to obtain grapes with optimal organoleptic requirements.

Portugal

The Symington Family Port Companies – Vila Nova de Gaia (Oporto and Douro)
The 2005 agricultural year will best be remembered for the extreme drought that prevailed throughout the summer months. After an already unusually dry winter, a successful flowering produced a surprisingly large potential crop.

Quite remarkably, despite the vines starting by early July to show signs of hydric stress, some eventually losing up to half of their leaves, the crop managed to survive the drought largely unharmed. Some much needed rain between 6th and 9th September (24 mm at Bomfim) was extremely beneficial for the later maturing varietals, and clear conditions prevailed throughout the remainder of the harvest.

Our picking having stopped temporarily due to this rainfall, it resumed under ideal conditions with three weeks of very warm days and cool nights, finishing at the end of September somewhat earlier than usual.

The overall crop seems to have been slightly higher than in 2004. At this stage both our ports and dry wines made in 2005 appear to have plenty of colour and aroma, and are showing considerable early promise.

Spain

Torres – Spain, Vilafranca del Penedes (Catalunya)
Up to 6 September, the harvest was characterised by excellent health owing to an absence of rain during the summer. During these last few months, the weather had been clear and sunny; drought was the dominant note (from January to September rainfall totalled only 159 l when the average of the last 10 years is 300 l). For this reason, in some vineyards, yield will be between 30% and 40% below that of a normal year.

Harvesting began on 19 August, with the Moscatel Petit Grain grapes.

Quality was widely forecast to be extraordinary, although it remained to be seen whether the grapes would ripen adequately and evenly through the entire cluster.

On 7 and 8 September it rained intensely, with a rainfall of over 50 l/m2; fortunately the extreme dryness of the soils totally absorbed the moisture, avoiding the apparition of the feared botrytis.

After this the weather was excellent, with mild temperatures, cold nights and a total absence of rain. The crops were able to develop in magnificent conditions and a phenolic maturity was achieved that was looking difficult at the beginning of September.

Overall then, an excellent harvest although low in quantity. Prices have remained stable or shown slight increases.

Vega Sicilia – Valbuena de Duero (Castilla y Leon)
The most important factor in this vintage 2005 it has been the climate, an extremely dry period, probably one of the driest in the last 45 years. All began in winter when the rainfall was 70 mm, during the vegetative cycle it did not increase 30-40 mm, in both cases not enough.

Once it was clear the terrible situation we were facing, we decided to irrigate the vineyards before flowering to assure a certain water reserve level for the vines to survive. At Vega Sicilia this practice is not new, the winter of 1992 we had the same situation after a drought at the beginning of the 90’s.

As a consequence we can say the vineyard’s behaviour was very dependent on the type of soil and its water retention capability. The so used term terroir is very significant in this type of harvests. The following up of the vineyards unusually started at the end of October, some irregularities and differences among the different terroirs were obvious. The ripeness was, under our criteria, too accelerated in summer. Finally we were lucky enough to see a light rain on the 8-10th September, not as important because of the rainfall but the consequent lower temperatures that slowed down the ripeness process. The was no more significant production of sugar so the vine could concentrate on the phenological maturity (tannins and antocians).

Harvest started on the 21st September with dry weather and without any important problem. We consider it a good vintage for terroirs and concrete actions in vineyards.



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