Napa 2010 - the promise of an elegant vintage
Decanter Magazine reports today (06-12-2010) that "Vintners in Napa are reporting ‘excellent quality’ across the region in reds and whites – though the season wasn't without significant challenges."
"Across the region volumes were low, there is good colour in the must, sugars are good but not excessive, and alcohol levels will be comparatively modest.
This should mean 'balanced, elegant wines', as Terry Hall of Napa Valley Vintners put it.
The 2010 season was exceptionally cool and long, with some wineries leaving parcels until November. It was a year of extremes for growers, with prolonged coolness, intense heat spikes in August, and monsoon-like rainfall in late October which interrupted a much-needed Indian Summer.
Some wineries picked before the October storms but many lost a sizeable amount of fruit, either from heat spike damage or green harvest – dropping clusters to enhance ripening in the cool temperatures. There was also the issue of uneven ripeness."
Damian Parker, Vice President and Director of Winemaking at Joseph Phelps Vineyards was asked for his view of the vintage:
"Also optimistic are those veterans who recall cool vintages in the past. ‘Nineteen ninety-one and 1985 were cooler than 2010 and both vintages were great,’ Damian Parker at Joseph Phelps told Decanter.com."
We look forward to tasting the finished wines!
Click here to read the full article on Decanter's website
