Diluvian rain in the Rhône valley....

..... yesterday all the way from Lyon to the sea. In some places several months normal precipitation was recorded in 24 hours and it was sometimes mixed with hail. Lovers of Rhône wines should keep their fingers crossed for the 2010 grape harvest, which has already started in some places for white grapes.

[David M. Bueker]

Shades of 2002?

Shades of 2002?

.....when RMP was nearly drowned in his hire car .

[David M. Bueker]

Shades of 2002?

.....when RMP was nearly drowned in his hire car .

Per a recent post on his stie, he was already back in the USA. In more seriousness, I was curious if there was flooding, etc. I took a look on some of the weather service sites, but could not get prior period data.

I've spoken with a few producers in the Rhone and the Loire this morning (their time). One was actually in tears. 2010 is going to be an "interesting" year.

Shades of 2002?

.....when RMP was nearly drowned in his hire car .

Per a recent post on his stie, he was already back in the USA. In more seriousness, I was curious if there was flooding, etc. I took a look on some of the weather service sites, but could not get prior period data.

There was some localised flooding (see pictures in this link http://www.laprovence.com/article/regio ... ntemperies ). I have seen no reports on vineyards but a lot of water and particularly hail so near the harvest is not usually good news.

[David M. Bueker]

Even with my mediocre French I can tell it was pretty bad. That's very sad.

Here's hoping for the best possible outcomes.

Per a recent post on his stie,

Porcine insinuations regarding Mr. Parker?

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

Per a recent post on his stie,

Porcine insinuations regarding Mr. Parker?

-Paul W.

Porcine fingers.

[Jenise]

Oh dear....

From many signs to date, 2010 in much of Europe and throughout the Middle East is promising to be a poor to mediocre vintage year for wineries and an excellent one for critics.

Bad for the wineries because the wines will not be all that great and will be hard to sell in a world already glutted with wines "of the century"

Good for the critics because scores, like grades at universities, tend to inflate over time. Not at all a conscious process but one borne out by the laws of statistics and a truly poor year will give us a chance to lower scores and to start a new data baseline.

Best
Rogov

I will be there next week (Provence) and will try to give an update. Hope it's not too grim.

I'm here in Provence (for the last 5 days) and at least here there is no concern about the vintage. The harvest is progressing, with a little light rain tonight (which one winemaker said would help the acidity, not sure what he meant with that). Weather has been beautiful and they feel like it will be a small but good vintage. Really tasting some very nice wines, from a region that seems to not have any trouble sell their production. Just wish they would make more sparklers, which seems to be in the cards.

That's encouraging, Richard. I'll still keep my fingers crossed, though, because hail in particular can be very localised. I like a lot of 2008s from talented vignerons in the Southern Rhône when they also had heavy September rains, but the less good tended to make dilute wines.

If the sky has been clear since the storms and particularly if the Mistral has been blowing, incipient rot may have been stopped.

How do the grapes look?

[David M. Bueker]

Good first hand data.

On the other hand, hearing about lots of botrytis in Champagne.

Here in Provence, everything I have seen and everyone I have talked with is happy with the weather and the grapes look great. It is treating rain now but we will have to see. But so far, so good. I was interested to learn that most of the production here is sold in France (85%) so these wine growers are lucky. They produce 85% rose' and it is selling out. Their whites are OK, mostly Rolle (Vermentino), Ugni Blanc, or Grenache Blanc. Had a nice blend with Rolle, Ugni Blanc and Grenache Blanc that was noteworthy. The rose' is almost always very nice, have only had a few bad ones, and then because of excessive alcohol. They have a unique style that seems to say "South of France", and people like that. There have been some very nice reds, and to me it seems that when they keep the alcohol at or below 13.5% the wines are a credible challenge to Cotes-du-Rhones. I've had a few fabulous wines from various regions (we've been all over Provence tasting wine). All in all, they have a unique problem, they sell all they can produce, and for me I think their future growth should come from sparklers, but we will see. There are so few producers here that tasting notes would almost be superfluous, but let me know what you are interested in and I might have a note.

I've had a few fabulous wines from various regions (we've been all over Provence tasting wine). ... There are so few producers here that tasting notes would almost be superfluous, but let me know what you are interested in and I might have a note.

We're planning to spend two weeks in the Baux de Provence area in July of next year, so if you had any memorable experiences with wines from this (mostly organic) appelation, I'd love to hear about them.