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 Sa...

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.