Vintage Weather
1996 across the wine world
Every region on record for 1996, read the same way: temperature, rain, harvest timing, and the events that shaped the season.
Northern hemisphere
A late-August storm spared the northern Medoc, giving a classic Left Bank year.
Very high natural acidity defined both the age-worthy reds and premox-troubled whites.
A wild, see-saw season produced Champagne's rare high-sugar, high-acid marvel.
A mild wet winter and cool harvest gave firm, average-quality wines.
Cold flowering and hail made for a lean, high-acid, classically structured year.
A rescued wet spring gave way to a long, sunny, balanced autumn.
A promising, balanced season undone by heavy rain right before harvest.
A hot August and low yields produced rich, seductive, ripe wines.
Oregon's wettest year on record still produced rich, structured Pinot.
Spring berry shatter and summer heat spikes made a concentrated sleeper year.
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 cool, late season that ended in a record 885,000-tonne crush.