2003 Rhône Valley Vintage

Summer 2003 was one long, hot event. In the northern Rhone the heat was quite exceptional: 42C in the villages in early August, 10C above normal, which meant 60C or more in the hillside vines. The torrid summer led growers to harvest before the end of August, two to three weeks earlier than usual, and only the best terroirs, where old vines with deep roots could sustain themselves through the drought, made great wines. In the southern Rhone the vineyards stood the heat well. The water table was high after the deluges of autumn 2002, so areas with clay subsoil were fine; more draining soils suffered, though they could often be irrigated up to mid-August, and old vines fared better than young ones. The Gard area (Lirac, Tavel, Laudun) was the hottest, driest zone of the south, while storms at Rasteau, Cairanne and Gigondas dropped around 80mm of rain and Chateauneuf-du-Pape stayed drier. The baking led to early harvests everywhere. At Cornas, Clape started on 26 August, two weeks early, and was among the last to pick, and Philippe Guigal said of Cote-Rotie, 'We had finished all picking by 31 August.' At Chateauneuf-du-Pape, La Nerthe started picking its reds on 23 August and Vieux Telegraphe on 25 August, extraordinarily early dates. The harvest was healthy, with not a trace of rot.

• North: 42C in the villages in early August, 10C above normal, and 60C or more in the hillside vines
• North: picking before the end of August, two to three weeks earlier than usual; Clape began at Cornas on 26 August and Guigal had finished at Cote-Rotie by 31 August
• South: a high water table after the autumn 2002 deluges helped clay sites; the Gard (Lirac, Tavel, Laudun) was the hottest, driest zone, while storms dropped around 80mm at Rasteau, Cairanne and Gigondas
• Early harvests everywhere and a healthy crop with not a trace of rot; at Chateauneuf-du-Pape, La Nerthe began its reds on 23 August and Vieux Telegraphe on 25 August

Wine Spectator's James Molesworth tasted the northern 2003s from barrel on a visit to top domaines. The wines were young and not tasted blind, so he gave no scores. He found that the top estates made incredibly dense and exotically ripe wines, the likes of which many producers admitted never having seen before. Only Jean-Louis Chave and Michel Chapoutier mentioned the 1929 vintage; most other vignerons shrugged when asked to compare 2003 to a previous year. The same producers voiced concern over the inconsistency of the vintage and the freakishly high alcohol and low acidity of the wines. Molesworth expected that for every stunner there would be a clunker, made by someone whose vineyards were overmatched and who tried to fix the problem in the fermenting vats.

• Top estates made incredibly dense, exotically ripe wines; only Chave and Chapoutier mentioned 1929 as a comparison
• Producers worried about inconsistency, freakishly high alcohol and low acidity
• Only the best terroirs, with old, deep-rooted vines that could sustain themselves through the drought, made great wines
• Domaines covered: M. Chapoutier, Jean-Louis Chave, Jean-Luc Colombo, E. Guigal, Paul Jaboulet Aine, Bernard Levet, R. Rostaing and Georges Vernay

The southern Rhone's vineyards stood the heat well. The high water table left by the deluges of autumn 2002 kept clay-subsoil sites fine. Free-draining soils suffered more, and old vines with deeper roots fared better than young ones. The Gard side, around Lirac, Tavel and Laudun, was the hottest and driest zone. Decanter called 2003 a triumphant year for the southern Syrah and a good year for the Mourvedre.

• Clay subsoils coped with the heat thanks to a high water table after the autumn 2002 deluges
• The Gard (Lirac, Tavel, Laudun) was the hottest, driest zone; storms dropped around 80mm at Rasteau, Cairanne and Gigondas

Decanter advises keeping red Rhone 2003, describing chunky wines with high but ripe tannins meant for laying down, and says that in the best cases the vintage meant incredible concentration. In the north, Wine Spectator found dense, exotically ripe wines at the top estates but flagged inconsistency, high alcohol and low acidity.

• Decanter: 'Keep', with chunky wines and high but ripe tannins meant for laying down
• Wine Spectator (north): dense and exotically ripe at the top, but inconsistent, with high alcohol and low acidity