1986

After a number of trouble-free years in space exploration, the Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after liftoff, watched live on television by people around the world. The Internet messaging access protocol is defined, paving the way for email, and the same year the Human Genome Project is launched to understand human composition, which will pave the way for major breakthroughs in the treatment of many diseases. The worst nuclear disast...

The 1986 Bordeaux vintage is celebrated as a monumental, slow-burning masterpiece, defined by its powerful tannins, immense concentration, and extraordinary longevity.

Following a torridly hot summer, heavy storms in September caused anxiety across the region. While the rain diluted the earlier-ripening Merlot on the Right Bank, drying northern winds quickly rescued the thick-skinned Cabernet Sauvignon of the Médoc. Châteaux that exercised patience and delayed their harvest were rewarded with exceptionally high tannin levels and deep fruit intensity.

Left Bank appellations like Pauillac and Saint-Julien triumphed. Legendary wines such as Château Mouton Rothschild and Léoville Las Cases became benchmarks for the vintage, requiring decades to shed their formidable structures. Today, these wines still retain brilliant acidity, vibrant black fruit, and immense power. Furthermore, 1986 stands out as a historic, legendary year for the intensely rich and beautifully botrytized sweet wines of Sauternes.

The 1986 Burgundy vintage was a complex, highly heterogeneous year across the Côte d’Or that produced a clear divide between the white and red wines, heavily dictated by severe autumnal weather. Following a cold winter and a delayed, damp spring, the growing season eventually gained momentum with a warm, dry July and August that allowed for healthy cluster development. However, the turning point came in September when torrential rains and humid conditions swept through the region, triggering widespread Botrytis cinerea and gray rot that severely challenged red wine producers.

While the fragile Pinot Noir grapes suffered from dilution and rot—requiring draconian sorting that led to a sparse, variable red harvest characterized by rustic, earthy tannins and lighter fruit profiles—the thick-skinned Chardonnay grapes fared remarkably better. Côte de Beaune whites from Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, and Chassagne-Montrachet managed to reach full phenolic maturity before the worst of the decay set in, yielding rich, concentrated, and beautifully textured white Burgundies with bright natural acidity that earned high critical praise and evolved gracefully in cellars for decades, making 1986 remembered primarily as an exceptional year for Chardonnay despite the difficulties encountered by Pinot Noir.

The Champagne region represents the global pinnacle of sparkling wine production, leveraging a cool, marginal northern climate and deep, prehistoric chalk soils to craft wines defined by piercing acidity, delicate effervescence, and profound ageability. Located roughly 90 miles northeast of Paris, the region’s unique terroir—dominated by Belemnite and Micraster chalk—acts as a natural thermal regulator and water sponge, forcing vine roots deep into the earth and instilling a signature, laser-like minerality across its four primary sub-regions: the Montagne de Reims, Côte des Blancs, Vallée de la Marne, and Côte des Bar.

Winemaking is governed by the traditional méthode champenoise, wherein a secondary fermentation occurs inside the bottle, followed by extended aging on the spent yeast lees (a minimum of 15 months for Non-Vintage blends and 36 months for single-year Vintage releases) to build creamy autolytic complexity, brioche notes, and structural breadth. Driven by three main grape varieties—Chardonnay for elegance and high-toned citrus, Pinot Noir for backbone and dark fruit weight, and Pinot Meunier for roundness and immediate fruitiness—Champagne spans a diverse stylistic spectrum ranging from razor-sharp Blanc de Blancs and rich Blanc de Noirs to prestige cuvées like Dom Pérignon, Louis Roederer Cristal, and Bollinger La Grande Année, which routinely cellar for multiple decades.

The 1986 California wine vintage—most notably across Napa Valley and Sonoma County—stands as a classic, high-caliber vintage that yielded deeply concentrated, ageworthy Cabernet Sauvignons and well-structured Chardonnays. Following a unusually wet winter and early spring that included historic flooding in February, the growing season stabilized into a warm, warm-to-hot summer marked by sporadic late-season heatwaves.

This heat accelerated sugars and forced an early harvest, requiring top Napa Valley producers like Opus One, Robert Mondavi Reserve, Dominus, Caymus, and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars to harvest rapidly to preserve acidity before over-ripeness set in. For Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux-style blends, 1986 proved to be an exceptional year characterized by deep ruby-purple hues, ripe cassis, sweet cedar, graphite, pipe tobacco, and firm, muscular tannins; while approachable in their youth due to rich fruit density, the top 1986 Napa Cabernets possessed the structural backbone and high extract necessary to age gracefully in cellars for three to four decades, cementing the vintage as one of the standout northern California harvests of the late 1980s.

Australia / Barossa: A very dry year with below-average rainfall and a warm vintage, once again without rain, provided ideal conditions for ripening and achieving good Baumés, although this was recorded as a very bad year for powdery mildew. The vintage conditions yielded rich and generous red wines. Highlights: Government-regulated grape prices were abolished, and a base price of $190/ton for all varieties was established for dry-grown land (Riverland $170/ton). Grape prices drove economic returns for growers to an all-time low and resulted in a reduction of inputs and vineyard development.

The South Australian government vine pull scheme was launched, compensating growers who removed old vines or unwanted varieties and left their land unplanted. 1986 Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon was processed into sweet sherry! No grapes were crushed at Leo Buring, with contracted grapes being processed at Peter Lehmann Wines. Since 1983, Leo Buring had reduced its grower base from 200 to 25 growers, and its crush was reduced from 9,000 tons to 2,500 tons. Increasing salinity in the groundwater supply led to a recommendation to proclaim (or control) the Barossa irrigation water supply. Quality became a growing issue for grape growers and winemakers, as Yalumba promoted an objective quality assessment of the grape load. In the wineries, Yalumba first used cross-flow microfiltration, and Seaview opened the largest champagne plant in Australia in Nuriootpa. Australian wine consumption reached a record high of 21.6 liters per capita.

The increase in brandy excise duty had a severe impact on the brandy industry. Greenock Creek Wines was founded by Michael and Annabelle Waugh. John Duval was appointed Chief Winemaker and custodian of Grange at Penfolds. "A legacy reclaimed" is the motto of Heathvale, the name of the original 1850s homestead of William Heath, one of the first wine producers in the Eden Valley. It was 140 years later, in 1986, that Trevor and Faye March arrived and replanted the vineyard, prompting them to start their Heathvale wine label.

Italy Vintage Report by Tb: 1986 provided another excellent vintage campaign right after 1985. Indeed, 1986 kept producers on their toes. The second extremely cold winter in a row turned into a rainy spring. In May, all of Italy was subjected to a heatwave, which was followed by variable summer weather and devastating hail storms in Piedmont. The most unfortunate producers lost their entire harvest due to the hail. The end of summer and autumn were hot and dry. Chiantis and Super Tuscans enjoyed greater success than Montalcinos and Montepulcianos. In general, these wines matured quickly and are ready to drink right now.

The 1986 Portuguese wine vintage was defined by an exceptionally hot, dry growing season that produced concentrated, high-sugar fruit across the country, serving as a landmark milestone for both fortified Port and table wines. In the Douro Valley, intense summer heat and drought restricted yields, forcing vines to produce small, highly concentrated berries with thick skins and elevated sugar levels. Harvested under scorching, dry conditions, the grapes yielded massive, deeply extracted base wines with high alcohol potential, dark berry fruit, and dense tannic structures; while not universally declared as a classic Vintage Port year by all major houses due to the extreme heat—though houses like Croft, Fonseca Guimaraens, and Quinta do Noval released acclaimed single-quinta or vintage bottlings—1986 proved crucial for boosting the reserves of aged Tawny Ports and Late Bottled Vintages (LBV). Simultaneously, in regions like the Dão and Bairrada, the 1986 harvest coincided with Portugal's entry into the European Economic Community (EEC), sparking a modern quality revolution in dry red winemaking where the year's sun-drenched, high-tannin Touriga Nacional and Baga grapes yielded powerful, long-lived table wines that aged gracefully for decades.

The 1986 Spanish wine vintage was defined by a classic, dry, and intensely warm growing season that yielded exceptionally rich, concentrated, and age-worthy red wines, particularly across the premier appellations of Rioja and Ribera del Duero. Following a stable spring, blistering summer heat across the central plateau and Ebro River basin accelerated sugar accumulation and thickened grape skins, requiring producers to carefully time their harvests to preserve balancing natural acidity.

In Rioja, where the harvest was officially rated as Muy Buena (Very Good), old-vine Tempranillo produced deeply colored, muscular wines with ripe black fruit, sweet leather, tobacco leaf, and high tannic extract, providing the structural core needed for iconic Gran Reservas from houses like Marqués de Murrieta and La Rioja Alta to cellar effortlessly for decades. Meanwhile, in Ribera del Duero—a region gaining massive international acclaim in the mid-1980s following its official D.O. status in 1982—the heat generated small, intensely aromatic berries that enabled historic estates like Vega Sicilia (Unico) to craft powerful, densely structured wines featuring layers of dark cherry, dried herbs, cedar, and mineral earthiness that aged into majestic, multi-decade classics.

Champagne : Généralement, un bon millésime et même excellent par endroits.

Le printemps doux et pluvieux s’est transformé en été assez tôt, et la floraison a commencé à la fin du mois de juin dans de bonnes conditions chaudes et ensoleillées. Au tournant des mois d’août et de septembre, le temps est devenu plus pluvieux. Les moisissures ont envahi les vignes et ont causé des problèmes de qualité des raisins. Dans le même temps, les pluies ont retardé les cueillettes, et elles ont eu lieu de fin septembre à début novembre. De nombreux producteurs ont hésité à commencer la récolte en espérant que le temps se dessècherait. Le résultat, cependant, a été une récolte assez abondante, à partir de laquelle les vins produits par une sélection minutieuse sont excellents. Le meilleur exemple en est le Clos des Goisses de Philipponat qui, avec sa lourdeur, son fruité tropical et sa richesse en nuances, représente le meilleur du millésime.

Rapports vintage de Napa et d’Australie: Conditions météorologiques Une autre année avec un débourrement précoce, mais il s’est produit après de mauvaises inondations hivernales à Napa et Sonoma. Avec un début de saison frais et peu de pics de chaleur, la saison de croissance a été longue et semblait ressembler à son prédécesseur jusqu’à un mois de septembre chaud. Cependant, quelle qu’en soit la raison, ce millésime a fait son propre chemin pour révéler un côté fruité lisse et poli et seulement des tanins modérés. Les succès ont été généralisés et à nouveau partagés par Napa et Sonoma. Invitant dans leur jeunesse, les Cabernets promettaient un avenir long et glorieux. Mais avec de rares attentes, la plupart se sont éteintes en une décennie. Ceux qui durent plus longtemps n’ont pas la structure et le piquant de 85 et la graisse de 84. Pour le Merlot, le millésime s’est avéré presque aussi fin que 85. Le temps doux de l’été a permis au fruit d’atteindre un stade dodu et mûr avec des saveurs avancées. Lorsque le Merlot de ce millésime a été proposé, le Merlot gagnait en popularité en tant que rouge soft, maintenant boissonné. Cependant, les 86 étaient capables de vieillir modérément et quelques-uns ont bien résisté pendant près d’une décennie. Dans l’ensemble, le Merlot était légèrement plus impressionnant que le 86 Cabernet.