A very good year

[Innkeeper]

Hi Bustagrape, and welcome to the Wine Board. There is no such thing as a universal good or great year throughout the world. Even within a single country such as France, vintages can vary from one region to the next. For example, Bordeaux may be fine, and Burgundy may have problems.

The quality of the vintage is determined by many things, but the most critical is the weather throughout the year. An extra deep freeze in winter, hail at budding time, and rain at harvest, are among many perils the weather can bring.

It is too early to tell about 2002 in the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere showed a mixed bag. There was drought in Australia, and heavy rain in Chile. You will never really know about a given vintage, until you open a bottle from that vintage and try it.