Wine producers around Europe are toasting a mostly good quality vintage, with some growers in Bordeaux reporting the best grapes harvested in 25 years. There is already a buzz about the spring en primeur campaign, despite the wines barely even being vinified, let alone aged.

A hot, sunny September/October helped Bordeaux to a fine harvest. Even Sauternes was rescued by some mid-September rain which encouraged the onset of botrytis.

Burgundy producers are similarly upbeat about quality levels, while in Spain, Rioja was rescued from excessive summer heat by rain in September.

Germany is hailing ‘a truly great vintage’, thanks to near-perfect weather, but quantities are down to about 8.8m hectolitres, some 10-15% less than normal. Norbert Weber, president of the German Winegrowers Association in Bonn said, ‘This year will go down in history. Seldom have we been able to harvest such aromatic, healthy and fully ripe grapes as this year.’

It’s a similarly upbeat picture in Italy. Lorenza Sebasti, general manager of Castello di Ama in Tuscany, said that in general the prospects for Chianti Classico were ‘very good’, adding: ‘We had beautiful weather and we also had some rain when we desperately needed it.’

News item from Imbibe.com, 29-01-2010