Twenty Years On: The 1999 Vintage
I confess I have never really gotten along with the 1999 vintage in either of my two regions of interest. In Bordeaux, 1999 followed a run of vintages with strong identities. These were mostly positive; 1995 especially on the right bank, 1996 on the left bank, and 1998 on the right bank again. The fly in the ointment was 1997 which, aside from the sweet wines, was a minor vintage of stridently overpriced wines. A vintage to avoid, but you can not deny that it least has an ‘identity’. So what of 1999 then? This was a vintage which did not seem to develop a particularly strong image, being neither good enough to be of great interest, or bad enough to conclusively ignore. It was one of those years that came and went and, with the publicity that surrounded the ensuing vintage, boasting wines of good quality with the magic 2000 on the label, the 1999 vintage was soon forgotten.
As for the Loire Valley the 1999 vintage also lacked a consolidated image, although to be fair in this very diverse and expansive region, which runs from the Massif Central down to the Atlantic Coast, it could be argued that there is always variation, and there is no such thing as a universally successful year. The 1999 vintage was certainly not free of its problems though, particularly in Vouvray, where dreadfully wet weather brought a wave of grey rot into the vineyard at harvest time, and many of the wines bore this mark. When visiting Domaine du Clos Naudin earlier this year, even twenty years on Philippe Foreau still cites 1999 as one of the more difficult vintages he has experienced. On the other hand, however, more distant corners of the Loire Valley enjoyed greater joy, as evidenced by some good wines in the Coteaux du Layon appellation.
The Wines
This look at the 1999 vintage is not focused on Bordeaux or the Loire Valley, although thanks to Château Léoville-Barton, Philippe Foreau and Patrick Baudouin both put in an appearance. And this is no bad thing, because while nobody is going to get excited about this vintage in St Julien, St Emilion, St Nicolas de Bourgueil or St Lambert du Lattay, vignerons in other regions enjoyed a fine growing season and produced some fabulous wines.
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