Vintage Weather
1994 across the wine world
Every region on record for 1994, read the same way: temperature, rain, harvest timing, and the events that shaped the season.
Northern hemisphere
A hot, sunny summer was ruined by two weeks of relentless September rain.
A promising hot summer was ruined by heavy September rain and rot.
A hot summer gave way to relentless September rain that hurt many wines.
A hot July and a month of October sun produced musts unseen since the great 1976.
Record summer heat and drought made soft, fruity, early-drinking wines.
Hail and poor flowering slashed yields before a warm, dry summer.
A hot, dry, frost-thinned harvest producing small yields and brilliant concentration.
A long, moderate season gave one of the greatest modern Napa vintages.
A cool, small-crop year made light, jammy, approachable Pinot Noir.
A cool, extended growing season produced wines of elegance and freshness.
A warm, uneventful season produced big, rich, extracted reds.
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 dry, cool summer for most regions, with heat and bushfires in the Upper Hunter.