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A large harvest of good quality wine
Weather Conditions
The extremely wet conditions of winter lasted well into spring, although conditions improved in time for a succesful flowering. Little rain fell during July and August, and temperatures were low. September fared little
better. The result was an abundant crop of poorly ripened grapes.
Best Appellations
This was the third October vintage on the trot, and the largest vintage of the decade, setting a new record for the quantity of red AC wine. The wines in general have not fulfilled their early promise, because of the problem of maturing the Cabernets. As a result many wines which promised well when 10 years old have declined and now show rather lean tannins while lacking fruit. Graves produced by far the best wines, which are delicious today, all other … have problems.
Best Producers
Graves: superb rich delicious wine from Haut Brion and La Mission, while excellent and perfectly matured wines are to be found from Domaine de Chevalier and Haut Bailly. Margaux: while many front runners in Medoc have stumbled, Chateau Margaux and Pauillac have lasted the course better than most. St.Julien: Leoville Lascases and Leoville Barton are probably the best survivors. Pauillac : some big disappointments here. Lafite, which seemed so promising, has not really gone anywhere, and Pichon Lalande is one of the few vintages in 20 years not to live up to its early promise.
