Revisiting the most recent Napa vintages Wine observers agree: 212, 213 and 214 are extraordinary Napa vintages. Much has already been written on the first two vintages. The 214 vintage is now starting to come under closer wine critics scrutiny. Every vintage has its own character, but compared to the colder vintages of 21 and 211, Napa has been blessed with close to perfect growing conditions during the three most recent draught years. Napa Valley s extraordinary dedication to excellence and the quality of grapes grown in each of these years create the perfect combination for what should become exceptional Californian vintages. However, within this context, each vintage is exhibiting subtle differences which could become significant over the longer term. The weather pattern were exceptional three years in a row, however each with slightly different variations. These variations lead in turn to slightly different harvest characteristics. Ultimately these could explain why wine critics each have their slightly differing views on different vintages. Marginally different weather patterns For California, 212 started a new cycle of drought years. After 21 and 211, characterized by colder and rainy weather in Napa valley, 212 was the first of three abundant vintages, each characterized by glorious Californian weather. A more careful analysis of Napa s growing seasons weather pattern, provides additional insight on each of these vintages. Two weather graphs summarize some similarities as well as a few differences. 14 12 1 8 6 4 2 Monthly Average Rainfall Jan Feb March Apr May June Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec avg 214 213 212 Graph 1: average monthly rainfall measured at the Oakville weather station
9 85 8 75 7 65 6 55 5 Monthly Average Maximum Temperatures Jan Feb March Apr May June Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec avg 214 213 212 Graph 2: average monthly maximum temperatures measured at the Oakville weather station These graphs highlight many commonalities: 1. Above average temperatures particularly during the spring and summer months 2. Despite the Californian drought, slightly above average precipitations for Napa Valley 3. No heat spike in any of 212, 213 nor 214 growing seasons They highlight also at least three significant differences: 1. 213 was marginally dryer than both 212 and 214 2. Both 212 and 214 had significant rainfalls close to bud break, the first stage in the berries lifecycle (blue highlighted area in first graph) 3. Ignoring the first month of the year, 213 was marginally warmer than both 212 and 214 These commonalities provide the backdrop to exceptional wine seasons. Napa is familiar with temperatures which can spike up significantly above 1 degrees F for a number of days in a row. Heat spikes have a tendency to stress the grapes, creating dehydration risk and leading the grapes to raisin. Dehydration in turn leads to risk to higher sugar concentration and potentially alcohol imbalance. During all three growing seasons the absence of heat spikes provided ideal growing conditions for the grapes to reach perfect maturity, balancing sugar, tannins, acidity and flavor ripeness. However the differences are also important. The 212 vintage was harvested later than the 213 vintage potentially as a result the temperature difference highlighted in point 3. As a result it benefitted from two more weeks on the vine and a few more rainfalls at the beginning as well as at the end of the growing season. The 212 growing season produced slightly larger grapes, often associated with the more classic, stronger personality Californian wines.
In line with points 1 and 3, 213 has produced the darker more concentrated wines of the three vintages. A warmer dryer season helped produce smaller more concentrated grapes with a lower juice to skin ratio. An earlier harvest could contribute to explain the more subtle nature of the 213 vintage. Even though comparable in terms of alcohol and flavor contents, the 212 and 213 Napa vintage illustrate perfectly that a different balance in acidity, sugar and alcohol can lead to very different wines. In a later piece we will use these graphs to compare the 214 vintage to the 212 and 213 vintages. Early wine critics reviews The 212 and 213 Napa vintages provide to the wine dilettantes we are the first real opportunity to compare the views of two truly exceptional Napa valley wine experts. Antonio Galloni s and Robert Parker s have both spent extensive time tasting these two vintages and their first analysis provide very educational insights. Both critics describe the 213 vintage as an historical vintage. However Robert Parker comparison of both vintages stands somewhat in contrast to Antonio Galloni s comparison. In Robert Parker s words, the 212 vintage is a gloriously ostentatious, charming, rich, well-balanced vintage that will drink well young yet, certainly in the best cases, have 2-3 years of longevity ahead of it. In many stylistic respects, 212 does indeed resemble 22 when the 213s come across as more European in style with crisper acidity and delineation, and more restrained, less exuberant an boisterous personalities. For Antonio Galloni it is conceivable that 213 might one day be regarded as one the all-time great vintages of Napa Valley. However when describing the 212 vintage, Antonio Galloni finds that with a few exceptions, these are not opulent wines, full throttle Cabernet like the 22s or 27s, but distinctly more mid-weight wines. Overall quality, while good, and perhaps excellent at the top addresses, certainly does not live up to the original hype that surrounded the vintage. Antonio Galloni s analysis provides fascinating insight into the post-harvest life of Napa s wines and risks related to more abundant harvests. We recommend his article on Vinous media. Without wanting to overstate their importance, ratings are also relevant for the analysis. In this case, they do not reflect strong differences. Both Robert Parker and Antonio Galloni have reviewed a little more than one thousand 212 Napa wines and a little more than three hundred 213 wines. Many ratings are still preliminary. In order to look at comparable numbers we have retained the maximum possible rating for each wine (for the 212 vintage ratings are more often final than for the 213 vintage). In order to keep the comparison simple we have limited the graphic representation to each critic s top five ratings.
Robert Parker # of wines with rating higher than 2 15 1 5 1 99 98 97 96 212 213 Antonio Galloni # of wines with rating higher than 16 14 12 1 8 6 4 2 1 99 98 97 96 212 213 At first glance and at this early stage, numbers reflect a marginal preference for the 212 Napa vintage tasted by both Antonio Galloni and Robert Parker. This preference looks slightly more pronounced for Robert Parker. The main difference noticeable from this over-simplistic number based comparison is Robert Parker s greater enthusiasm for both vintages.
Both 212 and 213 promise to be often passionately talked about vintages over the years to come. With many years of maturing ahead of them, even highly recognized expert views will undoubtedly evolve as the vintages themselves will mature.