2014 Champagne Vintage

The winter was very mild and wet. January to March was the mildest winter in more than 20 years apart from 2007, averaging 7 C against a usual 4.5 C, with only 7 days of frost against an average of 28. Frost damage was almost nonexistent and bud break came very early. On 16 July 2014 the Comite Champagne found the vineyard in a particularly healthy state after a warm, dry spring, with rainfall markedly below normal from March to June and no notable climatic incidents. The March to June shortfall was about 20 to 40 percent on average and up to 50 to 60 percent in the Cote des Bar, with more than 1,000 hours of sunshine against a normal 725, a record. Flowering took place in favorable conditions in early June, and unlike 2012 and 2013, no major hailstorms struck. Then the weather turned. July and August were excessively rainy, with record rainfall totals through the end of August, and August brought cool, autumnal temperatures. The vines had been one to two weeks ahead of schedule until August, when the cool spell slowed ripening to a more typical timetable. September rescued the year: warm, sunny and very dry, with several weeks of it causing sugar levels to rise rapidly. Picking started on 8 September. The season was warm overall but full of sharp contrasts. The marketable yield was set on 16 July at 10,500 kg/ha, including 400 kg/ha released from the Champagne reserve. The crop itself was generous: the agronomic yield was about 14,000 kg/ha, with 2014 among the top three years for bunch weight, and the harvest was comfortable if slightly smaller than expected.

• Very mild, wet winter and very early bud break; frost damage almost nonexistent
• Warm, dry spring with rainfall well below normal from March to June and a record 1,000-plus hours of sunshine
• Flowering in favorable conditions in early June, then an excessively wet July and August and a cool August
• A warm, very dry September; picking from 8 September on a 10,500 kg/ha marketable yield, with an agronomic yield of about 14,000 kg/ha

The wet summer raised fears of botrytis, but gray rot stayed infrequent. From mid-July the vineyard showed the strongest rot signal of recent years, usually limited to one or two berries per bunch, yet cool temperatures held the disease back and September's weather shut down existing outbreaks. Botrytis remained under control despite the rains. The bigger problem was acid rot, an unprecedented outbreak in 2014. First signs came in early September, with sometimes spectacular deterioration on 10 and 11 September, and small picking teams went into the worst-hit parcels the following weekend. Meunier was hit hardest, Pinot Noir less so, and Chardonnay was spared. Peter Liem tied the acetic rot to drosophila suzukii, a vinegar fly that attacked ripe, healthy grapes, the most widely seen incidence in Champagne to date. The UMC, which trapped the fly in some parcels, judged that it probably helped spread the disease but did not appear to be its main cause that year. Either way, careful sorting at harvest was essential. Downy mildew arrived very late but was widespread on the foliage by the end of August, without causing a ripeness problem, and powdery mildew pressure was low to moderate, more marked in the Cote des Blancs.

• Gray rot stayed infrequent, held back by cool temperatures and then the September weather
• Acid rot struck from early September, worst on 10 and 11 September; Meunier most affected, Chardonnay spared
• Liem blamed drosophila suzukii; the UMC found it a likely spreader but not the main cause
• Downy mildew was late but widespread on leaves by late August; powdery mildew low to moderate

Early verdicts were upbeat. Wine Spectator's vintage report said 2014 surpassed 2012 and 2013 in both quantity and quality, and that Chardonnay performed particularly well, reaching excellent physiological maturity with great aromatic expression. Olivier Krug of Krug told the magazine, "2014 is better than was expected in August." The vintage ranks among Champagne's acidic years, and Peter Liem found ripeness relatively high, the product of rapid accumulation, with acidity above the average of the previous decade. Liem wrote that opinions were mixed from the start and that 2014 has never been highly celebrated, generally sitting in the shadow of 2012 and 2013. Yet he finds the wines consistently satisfying, especially from growers who worked diligently in the vineyards: generous in build, forward in fruit and approachable young, with the structure to age, and often with a grounded earthiness. Many were showing well while their 2012 and 2013 counterparts seemed more reticent. His opinion of the vintage has steadily risen, and he counts the trio of 2012, 2013 and 2014 as striking for its quality and diversity.

• Wine Spectator: 2014 surpassed 2012 and 2013 in quantity and quality, with Chardonnay the standout
• Olivier Krug: "2014 is better than was expected in August."
• High acidity: among the acidic years, and above the previous decade's average in Liem's account
• Liem: generous, forward and approachable young, with the structure to age