Vintage Weather
2012 across the wine world
Every region on record for 2012, read the same way: temperature, rain, harvest timing, and the events that shaped the season.
Northern hemisphere
A soaked spring and hot, dry August, then autumn rain that favored Merlot over Cabernet.
Frost, hail and a poor flowering slashed the crop; a hot, dry August ripened the rest.
Frost, hail, rain and mildew cut the crop; a dry, hot late summer kept it healthy.
Dry and sunny in the south, a wet spring and mildew fight in the north.
A wet, mildew-prone start gave way to a warm, dry finish and late-ripened grapes.
A dry, sunny southern season with drought in spots and a small, heterogeneous crop.
A cool, damp year of millerandage and mildew ended in a long, warm, dry autumn.
Deep winter cold, rain at flowering, July hail and August heat cut a short crop.
Drought and a hot Chianti summer, late August rain, smaller crops across reporting zones.
A drought year and a small crop, with late September rain helping ripening.
A textbook warm season with even ripening and a return to normal crop size.
A short crop from a wet bloom, then 100-plus dry days to ripen it well.
A long, moderate season with no heat waves and a crop 60 percent bigger than 2011.
A warm, dry, even season returned normal timing and the biggest crop to that point.
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).
Frost and Zonda cut the crop; a hot summer, then a cool March and a late harvest.
The WFA called 2012 a standout for quality on a 1.66 million tonne crush.