Vintage Weather
2009 across the wine world
Every region on record for 2009, read the same way: temperature, rain, harvest timing, and the events that shaped the season.
Northern hemisphere
A warm, sunny summer with cool nights and a dry harvest gave ripe, powerful wines.
Cold winter, mid-July storms, then hot dry weather to a healthy, unhurried harvest.
A hot, dry August made rich, plush, early-drinking Champagne.
Hot, dry summer and early harvest; low Chateauneuf yields, normal ones in the north.
A dry summer and uneven flowering gave the Mosel a tiny crop of ripe, fruity wines.
Winter snow reserves saw vines through a hot, almost rainless summer; harvest came early.
Wet spring, hot dry summer, September rain; mixed quality, cooler sites best.
A third dry year brought August heat, early picking and reduced yields.
Hot, dry summer and May hail, rescued by September rain for an early Muy Buena harvest.
A long mild season that ended in a race against October rain.
A warm, swing-heavy year with long hang time and plentiful Willamette yields.
Mild, even California season; Sonoma Pinot and Chardonnay picked before October rain.
A record-hot summer rushed harvest, and an October 11 frost closed the season.
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, very dry Mendoza season with cold nights and a below-average crop.
A two-week heatwave and Victorian bushfires cut Australia's 2009 crop.