1970

Australia/Barossa: Aggressive promotion by the Australian Wine Bureau and its director Len Evans has finally stimulated consumer demand and it is Barossa red wine that the new urban trendsetters of the 1970s want. Old, cash-strapped family wineries in the Barossa are unable to prepare quickly enough for the boom and are reluctantly selling to foreign multinational grocery companies such as Reckitt and Colman (Orlando), Dalgety (Krondorf and Saltram) and Tooths (Penfolds). These companies are introducing greater efficiency to the industry with mechanized harvesting and drip irrigation to ensure consistent production. There is also less loyalty to Barossa growers and without today's strict regional integrity laws, cheaper fruit comes from the irrigated Riverlands but still labeled Barossa.

The first bag-in-a-box wine container was invented in 1971 by David Wynn (and was popularized by Orlando as the Coolabah Cask in 1974) and Wolf Blass launched his own cellar, winning the prestigious Jimmy Watson Trophy in 1974, 1975 and 1976. However, the red wine boom ended abruptly in 1975 as consumers turned again, this time to fruity white wines such as Moselle and Chardonnay. In 1978, the Barossa faced a serious glut of red wine and when the multinational Dalgety told Saltram winemaker Peter Lehmann not to buy fruit, he rebelled by creating a producer pool, processing the fruit and by reselling them as table wine in their name. He repeated this in 1979 then left Saltram to start his own label Masterson (which later became Peter Lehmann Wines).

A mild, dry year with below average rainfall and a dry vintage produced medium weight red wines and excellent whites.

Port Vintage Report: An exceptional quality Vintage, with great fruit and tannin harmony, ensuring longevity. Almost all producers declared production. A lot of rain in January and February, followed by a cold and dry March. The weather started to become hot in April, favouring good blooming and grape maturity. Rain in August and at the beginning of September, but the harvest was made under dry and very hot weather, with the temperature reaching 45¨C in certain areas. Very mature wines.

Generally declared, 1970 was an outstanding vintage with ripe fruit flavours and concentrated tannins, great balance and structure. Certainly one of the absolute finest Vintage Ports of the 50 years up to 1970.  Now mature, it is probably one of the finest glasses of port that you will ever taste. A wine of this quality, from the best houses, will age superbly for many decades to come.

Report of the Bordeaux vintage of Château Margaux: It is difficult to imagine today the excitement generated by this vintage, whose abundance and generosity appear all the more remarkable if we consider the complete disasters of the two previous vintages (1968 and 1969). Most wines produced in the Médoc remained closed and quite hard for a long time. As with the 1975 vintage, it could have been a problem with Cabernet Sauvignon not being ripe enough when it was picked. In many estates, even in the largest, the equipment of the vats, in particular the number of vats, could not adapt to such a large harvest. The vinification conditions were therefore not ideal. This was the case at Château Margaux, where the 1970 demonstrated the quality of the vintage very well, but lacked a little concentration and flesh. The nose is complex, well developed, deep and quite harmonious. In the mouth, it is fine, pleasant, but a little short and dry in the finish. We think this wine is ready to drink now, but it definitely has good staying power and even has potential for improvement. (January 2009)

Vintage Report by Angelo Gaja : Finally another good vintage. A very good vintage obscured by 1971. There was an idea among wine writers in Italy at that time that Piedmont could produce a great vintage only once every ten years. They weren’t ready to accept that Piedmont could have two great vintages two years in a row. And this is what happened in 1970. Their idea was that there could be only one great vintage and so they believed the others were low quality.

Rhöne Vintage Report by Jaboulet: The total harvest of the Côtes du Rhône wines is 1,498,354 Hl.
In the northernmost part, the grape harvests began on the 22nd. September and finished on the 17th. October. In 1969, the winter came early and was long. For Whitsun, the warm weather has still not yet shown up. The vineyards are behind in growth. On the 25th. May the warm days arrive.The following months of July and August are very hot. On the 20th August, there is a favourable gentle rain and on the 22nd.September the harvest begins.

RESULTS: a quite large harvest, good healthy wines which, in all, will develop quite rapidly. A good commercial year, especially for the northern wines, those based on the Syrah grape. The tannins are supple and distinguished.