Vintage Weather
1991 across the wine world
Every region on record for 1991, read the same way: temperature, rain, harvest timing, and the events that shaped the season.
Northern hemisphere
The worst frost since 1945 devastated the crop in one of the coldest vintages ever.
Frost and hail cut yields, but a fine summer made precise, underrated reds.
Rhone escaped spring frost; September rain hurt the south more than north.
Persistent September rain kept Nebbiolo from reaching full ripeness.
Cold wet spring and harvest rains made an inconsistent, rain-affected year.
A hot dry summer after heavy winter rain gave small, concentrated berries.
A cold, wet, frost-hit year that produced lean, high-acid, age-worthy wines.
A cool, long season with heavy crop thinning produced ageworthy wines.
A cool late spring gave way to elegant, perfumed, age-worthy Pinot.
A cool, extended season with a July heat spike made elegant, structured wines.
Southern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere: the vintage year is the harvest year, so the growing season began in the previous calendar year (spring in September to October, harvest in February to April of the vintage year).
A warm start and a classic dry summer brought an early vintage of textbook reds.