OUT OF THE ASHES
HEAT SPIKES AND RAGING WILDFIRES SHOULD HAVE DECIMATED THE NAPA AND SONOMA 2017 VINTAGE, BUT AFTER TASTING SOME 1,000 WINES, james suckling DISCOVERED SOME GREAT BOTTLES
Top 8 Wines from California’s 2017 Vintage
The summer of 2017 in Northern California will be remembered as one of tragedy, drama and, in some cases, ultimately of success, as winemakers overcame the odds to produce great wines. For three days over the Labor Day weekend, temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius and in some areas they reached as high as 43, sending some vines into cardiac arrest. This exaggerated dryness and heat set up the conditions for the fires that came in October. Some top winemakers couldn’t get their crops picked before the fires began and had to leave the grapes on the ground with smoke in the air. Screaming Eagle, the legend of Napa, had only just begun the harvest when the fire began on the night of October 8. Yet it still made two of the best wines of the vintage – but only the equivalent of a few hundred cases, with the rest declassified.
“It was on track to be a really pretty vintage,” said Nick Gislason, winemaker at Screaming Eagle. “The Merlot was all in and we were just starting on Cabernet Sauvignon. Monday was going to be a big pick day and then it changed with the fire.”
I was in Napa during a large part of the fire and it was dreadful. It was incredibly smoky and breathing was difficult. Besides the poor air quality, there were power cuts. Some winemakers were locked out of their wineries, while others snuck in to make the wines already in the tanks or vats.
It really was only by the grace of God, combined with incredibly talented winemakers, that some beautiful wines were produced in 2017. I honestly had much lower expectations for the 2017 vintage in Northern California and especially Napa and Sonoma but so many of the wines are gorgeous.
“It’s a challenging vintage because of the psychology of it, as well as what happened, but we made some excellent wines in 2017,” said veteran winemaker Paul Hobbs. “We hope people taste and drink them.”
So what is worth buying? It’ll pay to be selective when looking at 2017 bottles from Napa and Sonoma. Napa Valley red wines in particular are very different from what’s usually produced here. If you prefer full-bodied, fruit-driven wines with lots of ripeness, high alcohol and sweet tannins, you’ll probably be unhappy with many bottles. But there are still some worth buying and drinking, particularly if you like more balanced and fresh wines. I found numerous 2017 reds that I think are excellent quality.
“WE FINISHED PICKING BEFORE THE FIRES”
— TOD MOSTERO, HEAD WINEMAKER AT DOMINUS AND ULYSSES
I tasted about 1,100 wines from Northern California and many have a firmness and drinkability that’s attractive and intriguing.
The reds show an almost European character, focused on expressing their provenance and vintage, rather than a stylised personality that emphasises fruit concentration and tannin power. Those were features that were once identified with the best wines from the region, but times are changing.
The 2017 whites are quite opulent but also show tension. “The baby fat is not there in the 2017, so it made wine more European with more restrained and complex reds,” said Benoît Touquette, the French winemaker of Napa Valley’s Realm Cellars. “You talk about fire and heat, but then you have a super-fresh wine. It’s kind of weird.” Indeed, I expected to taste many overripe and over-made wines with “2017” on their labels; yet so many were balanced, fresh and refined, especially the Napa wines that comprised the majority of my tasting.
“People talk about fires in 2017, but we finished picking before the fires,” said Tod Mostero, head winemaker at Dominus and Ulysses, who made some lovely fresh reds. “It was the big heat spike over Labor Day that hurt us. The vines shut down.”
According to veteran winemaker Cathy Corison of Corison Vineyards, “2017 was very unique. It reminds me of 2002, which was fruit driven. 2017 was the most unique heat spike I’ve ever seen in my [42-year] career.”
“I had to make some tough decisions with the 2017,” said Chris Carpenter, the respected winemaker of La Jota Vineyard. “I bottled nothing from the fire, knowing what we know about ageing and the rest. I just couldn’t do it. I was heartbroken. It was one of the great vintages leading up to the fires. We tried everything to treat it, but it just wasn’t right.”
The memory of the fire and the heartbreak it caused will always be the story of the 2017 vintage. But we should also remember the excellent quality of so many wines made.
I’m going to happily uncork bottles in the future and toast everyone who got through the ordeal, especially the winemakers who managed to make great wines.