Greek wine industry news:

Feb 18, 2003

Vintage Report 2002-Kir-Yianni The 2002 vintage was no doubt one of the worst since 1983. A late and wet bud-break with a severe disease pressure throughout the season set the stage for a weak and unpromising vintage. However, the absence of heat waves and excessive sunshine led to normal maturity rates without the usual vine stress caused by the hot and dry Greek summer. In fact, the water surplus in the soil benefited several of our varieties, mostly Merlot and Chardonnay. The regular rainfall, which began late in July and continued past the end of crush, pushed back the picking date for about two weeks in all cases. The low sugar content, unbalanced acids, and poor pigmentation were on the average the main characteristics of the fruit juice, which had to be treated accordingly in the fermentation tank. Furthermore, the combination of high humidity and temperature led to serious fungal and botrytis infestations, which were checked by timely operations of our vineyard management team (leaf pulling, thinning, spraying, etc.). Hence in some cases not only didn't we have problems, but we also managed to get very good results indeed. As we received the handpicked grapes on a conveyor belt before the crusher-destemmer, we separated the rotten or unripe grapes; therefore, our projected production for the 2002 vintage is a lot lower than expected, but the quality remains at a high standard. In particular, we had the following peculiarities for each variety:"   Merlot (Aug.25)   A benchmark for the variety in our estate. The extra water in thesummer helped for the development of a more typical Bordeaux-style character. No noticeable disease problem. Good ripeness and yield.       Gewurztraminer (Aug. 30)   Less aromatic and more productive than usual. More akin to the German examples of the variety.       Sauvignon Blanc (Sep. 5)   Very much like a New Zealand fruit. Typical lychee and grapefruit notes with little disease problem.       Syrah (Sep. 10)   Hurt by the excessive humidity in the topsoil and canopy. Handpicked even in the rain bunch by bunch in stages to separate the different levels of ripeness and remove the infected fruit. Effective fermentation management to overcome the challenging fruit quality.       Chardonnay (Sep. 15)   Similar to the fruit produced in Chablis with some disease presence, but great phenolic concentration and aromatic richness.       Roditis (Sep. 20)   A variety prone to overproduction. Despite the excessive rainfall, which should have led to overproduction, the yield was lower than average, due to last season's frost. As a result, even though the wine may lack in body, the typical sharp finish and citrus-flower bouquet make up its distinctive character.       Xinomavro (Sep. 25)   Rainfall practically stalled its maturity. Even in good years, this is a fickle and difficult grape. Fortunately, this was the first year of cold-soak prior to fermentation using a system of liquid carbon dioxide. Therefore, we improved naturally the phenolic extraction because the juice was on average very low in sugar and color content, while it had a high concentration in acids and phenolic monomers. Substantial bleeding resulted in the production of an exquisite rose wine, but as for the reds, we have yet to see...