In Europe, where weather conditions have a dramatic and occasionally devastating effect on the quality of their wines, vintage dating is everything. Too wet and there is mold and mildew; too warm, high sugar, low acid and flabby fruit. The question arises, are the natural yearly climatic variations as noticeable in the wines of California where the weather conditions appear to be a bit more uncomplicated than that of the European grape growing districts?

With the assistance of Balzac Communications of Napa California in obtaining the wine and wine aficionados Amber and Jim Cameron of Nixa (whose opinions we greatly respect) we set up a test to confirm or debunk the vintage question. Our object was to determine if the characteristics of a wine i.e. the aromas, flavors and/or the finish of California wines really do vary noticeably from year to year as they do in Europe, or is vintage dating just of minor importance or perhaps even a ploy to sell wine.

Napa Valley’s Ariel Vineyards was kind enough to provide a vertical tasting of their Aril Atlas Peak, Napa Valley Sirah ($50) wines of the 2008, 2009, and 2010 vintages as our test subjects and it takes a great deal of confidence in their product to offer a wine for an in depth critical evaluation. Nine Riedel wine glasses of identical type were assembled, each wine was kept at the same temperature and opened and poured 15 minutes before testing. We took excerpts from the log book of Ariel Vineyards to illustrate the growing conditions for the years in question.

“2008… Winegrowers across Napa Valley met the challenges of a crazy weather year, harvesting fruit with incredible concentration, which, by all accounts, is showing 2008 as a low-yielding, yet high-quality vintage from Napa Valley. Mother Nature may have lightened the load in the vineyard, but what is being revealed in the winery is very well structured, concentrated, elegant wines.”

“2009 … In Napa Valley Mother Nature is once again a super-hero, providing winemakers lush, beautiful grapes for great wine. Initial reports all the way around are finding vintners and growers delighted with 2009.”

“2010… This was a rough year in the vineyards. The spring was unusually cold so budding and flowering were delayed. Rainfall in May was twice the historic average in Northern California. The combination of cool, moist weather and bountiful growth meant that mildew and fungus were a constant threat. Then, in late August, the heat came when temperatures pushed first into the high 90s and then rose to 100 for several days, breaking records.”

And now the results (trumpet fanfare please) to the earth shaking question “is there a noticeable difference in the attributes of a California wine year to year?” And the answer is (another trumpet fanfare) … A BIG FAT YES. Each of the vintages tested showed differences in the color, aroma, flavor, and finish. While each of these wines were easily within the 90+ rating category, there were discernible, although not objectionable, differences between the vintages that were readily noticeable, identifiable and, in the case of these wines, very enjoyable.

While one Sirah will resemble another in its basic characteristics, our test proved, without the slightest doubt, that even minor variations in conditions at a vineyard can and will have a significant effect on the final wine proving, that vintage dating of California wines is good, true, and necessary.

We believe that we have successfully solved the vintage question but must admonish the reader that there are many more factors to making a good wine than just the vintage. Reporting on the quality of an annual vintage is about as subjective as it comes. It therefore stands to reason that where one gets their vintage information should be seriously questioned. The best source of California vintage information can be found at the California Wine Institutes web site at www.wineinstitute.org/ where they present the facts and figures about current and past vintages without any editorializing or additional comment.