1977

The vintage business is complicated!

If you were lucky enough to have Bordeaux wines from the vintages 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980 safely stored in your wine cellar, you would try to drink them in the same order, starting with the most elders, leaving the younger ones to age. RIGHT? Error. With some minor variations, the best order for drinking these particular vintages would probably be: 1977, 1980, 1976, 1979, 1978 and 1975.

The vintage business is complicated. Knowing Bordeaux vintages isn't much help when it comes to Burgundy, and Burgundy isn't going to provide too many clues about what's going on in the Rheingau or Tuscany or Napa Valley.

It is, of course, entirely possible to drink wine all your life and never worry about vintages. Probably 90 percent of all the world's wine is intended to be drunk within a year of being made. In fact, a lot of time is wasted worrying about vintages. People who can barely tell red wine from white are desperate to know if what they are drinking is from a good year. When they buy wine, they miss out on wonderful bottles and great deals because they assume they must have great vintages.

Two veterans of the California wine scene, Brother Timothy of the Christian Brothers and the late August Sebastiani of Sebastiani Vineyards, tried very hard to beat the vintage game and failed. Their theory: wines from different vintages should be blended to take advantage of the best qualities of varied years. They were right, of course, but the public would have none of that.

In fact, the only premium wine in the world that successfully ignores vintages is Champagne. Champagne makers routinely blend wines from six or seven vintages to achieve their distinctive styles. Even they make vintage wines, but only in certain years and even then, many Champenois insist that the blends are better.

Given our obsession with vintages, there are times when it's good to know a little more about them. For example, suppose the clerk tells you he has a sale on four-year-old Beaujolais. The way to tell the best year for simple Beaujolais is to look at a calendar. No matter what year you are in, last year’s Beaujolais is the best.

Collectors need to know something about vintages. What's worse than sitting on a cellar full of wine over the hill? Anyone who has preserved Bordeaux from 1967 or 1973 should definitely drink it. Wines from the 1950s, except for the big names, should all disappear. The same goes for everything about the 1960, 1962 and 1969 vintages. The 1963 and 1965 years were poor from the start, and there are only a few of them. The years 1968 were not much better. Some l964s are still good, others not; Many 1966s are still excellent if they have been well preserved. The great vintage of the 1960s was 1961. The best wines of the vintage, dark and concentrated, are still not ready to drink. There hasn't been a vintage like this since 1945, another great year.

The 1970s were, and are, very good and in many cases seem to be getting better. It was a great harvest and the vintage that served as an introduction to Bordeaux for many Americans. By the mid-1970s, there were plenty of 1970s, and for a while, at a bargain basement price. Anyone who stocked up on 1970 has every right to be complacent now. The 1971s were good, and some continue to be good. But they're not expected to improve much, and most people have already drunk them. The following year, 1972, was universally condemned upon its release and is generally credited with triggering the collapse of the Bordeaux wine market in 1973 and 1974. What happened was this: buyers drove the prices of the 1972 to astronomical heights. Then, while the wine was still in barrels, came the enormous 1973 vintage, a year of much better wine. Bordeaux was stuck with the 1972s.

In France, the years 1972 were treated less harshly. They still appear on lists, and they turn out to be, well, not so bad.

Most experts shrugged off 1974 as harsh, dry and unsightly. A few fans of the vintage are stubbornly holding on to a few bottles, hoping they will come back. Most Bordeaux enthusiasts wrote them off. They should probably be drunk. Don't confuse them with any 1974 California Cabernets you might have. It was an exceptionally good year in California.

Bordeaux / The 1977 vintage ended up being one of the poorest of the 1970s. Early budburst faced a damaging spring frost, reducing crop size from small to minimal. The forming crop was poorly treated by the cool and constantly wet summer. Then came the driest September in 125 years, followed by a dry October saving the vintage from total disaster. The epitome of the vintage was the poorest Mouton-Rothschild ever made. The only pleasure it can give is the beautiful label. On the other hand, there are surprises. Lafite with a ridiculous price of 150 euros per bottle turned out to be very pleasant. The best experience this year is still the Yquem produced in very small quantities. Overall, all dry wines were ready to drink upon release and are not

Main characteristics of the vintage
From the beginning of March, the weather was good with temperatures quite high above the seasonal average causing the vines to grow around March 10, which was really very early. At the end of the month, despite the sunny weather, it was rather cold (on March 31, the temperature dropped below 2°C). Merlots and Cabernet Francs were first affected by the frost, because their growth predated that of Cabernet Sauvignons. The Montrose vineyard, well ventilated by its proximity to the Gironde estuary, was never subject to spring frosts before 1977. Then, May and June were too mild for the season with precipitation. Early vegetation was delayed and flowering was late (mid-flowering on June 21). If July temperatures were normal, August and September lacked sun and heat, leading to insufficient maturity of the grapes. The first days of harvest were characterized by alternating rain and sun, followed by nice cool weather. During this period, the temperature did not exceed 20°C;

Declared by all the major Port houses, 1977 is a classic vintage. Marked by well structured, balanced wines with strong tannins, the wines from 1977 have great elegance and staying power. The best of them have the tannin and structure to age for decades.

Port Vintage Report: A classic vintage. Dark purple and fruity wines, rich in tannins, with good aging potential. Almost all producers declared their production. Cold and rain in the first months of the year. Late flowering and slow maturation. Moderate summer, but very hot September.

Napa Vintage Report by Heitz: Rain interrupted the harvest but a number of good cabernets were made

Weather Conditions With vines pruned for a small harvest in anticipation of a second year of drought, winemakers produced better-balanced wines with a certain elegance. With most vines having a small harvest, the vineyards got through the hot and sometimes hot summer weeks in fairly good condition. Irrigation was widely practiced to avoid putting too much stress on the vines. By the time most of the Merlot was safely in cellars, the North Coast experienced several light rain showers which, in retrospect, proved beneficial to the small, dehydrated fruit. As a result of this harvest rain, the cabernet was revived and over the next ten days to two weeks the berries returned to a better balance of juice and softer skins. Many of the best wines were made from vineyards picked in late October. Overall, the successes showed good varietal character and were capable of medium (10 years) long-term aging.

Australia / Although the previous winter was considered a drought, 25mm of precipitation in January and a cool, wet March allowed growers to achieve average yields. The cool ripening period contributed to tighter, more elegant reds than in 1976, the best of which were very good.

In 1977 there were 7,936 hectares of vines in the Barossa and 36,471 tonnes of wine grapes were crushed in that vintage.

This year marked the first serious surplus of wine grapes in the Barossa, particularly red varieties but also Sémillon. In response, Dalgety (Saltram) announced it would not purchase grapes from its Barossa growers.
Returns have been good, but price increases, if any, have been minimal.

Technical innovations continued at Kaiser Stuhl where the first Westfalia centrifugal carafe for clarifying must and wine was launched. The Barossa also entered the computer age with the first microprocessors used at Yalumba to control winery operations.

The first Barossa Wine Show took place in January. This took over the long tradition of judging wines at the Angaston and Tanunda Agricultural and Horticultural Exhibitions, which had begun in the 1850s. The first chairman was Phillip John. The show was created “because it was thought that the Barossa was lagging behind other regions in the potential to use wine shows to market their wines”, according to Phillip John.

The show was judged in two parts: Section A for wines made in the Barossa with the winners awarded a “Quality Diploma; and Section B for wines made in the Barossa from fruit grown in the Barossa with winners awarded a “Diploma of Quality and Origin”.
Both sections were considered very important, recognizing that the Barossa was not only a major wine region, but one of the main regions in Australia producing wines from fruit from other regions.