1994 vintage notes
Llast year is likely to prove a good vintage year in Portugal, though quantities are small. This applies to the table wine regions and the Douro Valley where Port is produced. Port shippers are optimistic about quality, though yield was down after a poor start to the growing season. Christian Seely of Quinta do Noval is delighted with the 1994 vintage. "It was a small harvest, but quality was excellent, with no disease, a good degree of sugar and well-balanced acidity.
lIn Burgundy, as in Champagne, what looked like being a good year was spoilt by the onset of heavy rain. Fortunately the skills of wine-makers nowadays make it possible, in the words of the Pol Roger newsletter, to turn "what might have been an exceptional year" into at least a good one.
lAs usual, it is difficult to predict the quality of the 1994 Bordeaux. Preliminary reports do not suggest a vintage of the century or even of the decade. And rain again intervened in the harvesting of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
lIn Catalonia, in eastern Spain, Torres reported yields 20-30% lower than the previous year, yet an "exceptional" quality for its red wines, which Miguel Torres says has an "intensity and depth of colour more striking" than he has seen for years.
lReports from Tuscany are equally optimistic. Ludovico Antinori's Bolgheri estate, Tenuta dell'Ornellaia, boasts that its wines are already showing great promise: "The wines are supple, with a structure that promises longevity."
