With its consistent climatic conditions, Malta rarely suffers from a poor vintage, but that’s definitely not the case in other European wine-growing countries where the weather is less predictable and more erratic. This has been especially so in recent years with the onslaught of global warming.

In Malta, the 2014 harvest was excellent with its comparatively mild temperatures and lengthy rain-free growing period, but here is a taste of what happened in other wine regions.

In Italy, wet weather throughout the country contributed to a substantial decline in production, especially in the extreme north and south, although in Sicily some wine-makers are praising the wines’ quality because the cooler conditions have resulted in wines, especially white wines, with higher than average acidity levels.

Malta rarely suffers from a poor vintage

In Spain the OIV has predicted that the country as a whole will produce an average quantity of wine compared to the previous year, which was a record high. In Rioja the region was hit by unfavourable weather conditions in the final part of the harvest, which brought problems with rot, but growers are saying that both the quality and quantity were set to remain higher than in the previous two years.

In neighbouring Portugal the Oporto regions vineyards were hit by torrential rainfall, which caused severe soil erosion in many parts of the steep vineyards of the port-making Douro valley. In cool-climate Germany, despite periods of very heavy rain, positive reports have been released by both the OIV and the German Wine Institute in terms of quality and quantity, with increased overall volume by about 16 per cent.

In France overall production rose by 10 per cent over the previous year, but quality and quantities varied from region to region, as is the norm. In the predominately red wine region of Bordeaux, a surge of warm weather in September and early October relieved wine-makers who have subsequently predicted a ‘rare and interesting vintage’ for their red wines that wouldn’t have been possible without the Indian summer they enjoyed.

Further northeast, in Champagne, a lament-ably wet summer was also rescued by the warm, dry conditions in September. Producers are ‘happy’ with the over-harvest, comparing it to the 2008 vintage in terms of ripeness and acidity levels and reporting that the Chardonnay grape had performed much better than the thin-skinned Pinot Noir. Further south in Burgundy some vineyards, particularly in Pommard, Volnay and Beaune, were hit hard by severe hailstorms, but for those who escaped the deluge the harvest reports are ‘good’ with a likelihood of fresh easy-drinking wines.

Further south again, in the Rhone Valley, the northern Rhone has fared better than the south. In the northern Rhone some Cornas vineyards were hit by heavy rain, but for producers who had already harvested everything was fine.

In the southern Rhone, on the other hand, with its production of Côtes du Rhone, cooler conditions caused stubborn ripening of the Grenache grapes, which meant that wine-makers needed to introduce a rigorous sorting of the grapes before pressing.