ADVERTISING: Advertorial — Speaking of vintages, a different take

Sommelier, winemaker, brother-in-law and friend John Lancaster was in town for a visit this past week, and as we often do, we talked a lot about wine, drank some great wine and also discussed the business of wine. There was one conversation that was certainly memorable and for me column worthy. It centered on vintages, and more specifically discussing the really great years in our collective memory.

While the great winemakers of the world always figure out how to make great wine even in the challenging years, for all of the wine world the conditions even in the greats vintages are vitally important to what ends up in the bottle. All aspects of weather from bud break through harvest have big impacts. There are no rules when it comes to what growing conditions can do to a crop. Even years versus odd years can all be good or all be bad. It is complete happenstance if a good year follows a bad year or the opposite. We can’t tell you how many times we have seen multiple good or bad years in succession. Also unpredictable is the difference between here and the old-world wine regions of Europe, a good year here does not mean a bad year there. There have been plenty of years that were both good in the U.S. and Europe and other years where both regions have experienced bad grape growing weather.

It always has and always will come down to what nature delivers as far as weather and what grape growers and winemakers do to adapt. The best ones always adapt.

The really good years though are memorable, for wine consumers and industry professionals alike you remember multiple bottles you enjoyed from those years with great fondness. Here are the years that John and I felt were among the best of the best, just leaving the more challenging years completely out of the conversation.

For both John and I it is nearly impossible to think of better back-to-back years for the Western U.S. and especially Northern California than 2018 and 2019. Both years were truly exceptional and among the best ever. 2019 Was a smaller crop but still a great year. The great part for wine consumers is that we are currently in the “sweet spot” for the release of red wines from these ideal years. The wines are readily available and in short, should not be missed

While Europe overall had a string of very good years from 2015 through 2020, 2018 like here at home was one of the truly remarkable vintages within a great run. It was a warm and consistent year across “the continent” making for wines that are not only delicious but ready to drink by the American model.

In 2015 the wine world enjoyed another great year across appellations of the Northern Hemisphere. From California, Washington and Oregon through Spain, France and Italy the growing conditions were nearly perfect. In forcing a decision though both John and I game down on the side of 2018 wining the battle for the better of those two vintages.

In Europe 2010 and 2011 were wonderful back-to-back years but both were very different. Great wines can be enjoyed from both vintages but 2011 was the more classic year by old world standards, the year was cooler producing more age worthy wines with high acid and low alcohol, more what we are used to for European wines.

Here at home 2012 was another one for the history books in its quality. It was truly a great year, and as 2019 followed 2018 ‘12 was followed up by another great year in 2013. Similar too was the size of the crop in ’13 versus ’12, great quality but smaller. In another repeat of the “vote” John and I again agreed that 2018 was still the winner over 2012!

For both John and I, we would have to go all the way back to 1997 to find a year comparable in quality to 2018 and even having said that, we would likely still come down on the side of 2018 by a narrow margin. Every wine consumer will find wines that they love regardless of vintage and when you do you should drink them. It is also great news though that we are in the perfect time to be acquiring the wines from the 2018 vintage given that is one of the very best ever on the books. Enjoy them while they are here and readily available, you will be able to talk about them for many years to come.

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George Balling is co-owner with his wife, Mary Lancaster, of The Dinner Party, a wine and gift shop in Coeur d’Alene by Costco. The Dinner Party has won the award for best wine shop in North Idaho twice, including for 2018.

George is also published in several other publications around the country. After working in wineries in California and judging many wine competitions, he moved to Coeur d’Alene with Mary more than 10 years ago to open the shop.

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