1989

1989 is one of those years where most of France seemed to do well, sometimes very well. In fact, most of Europe seemed to have good weather and harvests too, though the New World did not seem to fare as well. Looking at France, 1989 is the middle of three good consecutive vintages for many places. In some cases 1989 produced great wines. However, its coming just before 1990 (which was an even better vintage all around) meant that 1989 would always be in its shadow. For Sauternes, although the trio of 1988, 1989 and 1990 will always be remembered as a run of 3 good vintages, the fact that comparatively speaking, 1989 was the weakest of the lot will always mean that it will suffer in the comparison. Outside France, Germany had a good vintage4, but results were more mixed in Italy with Piedmont being good and Tuscany more mixed. A very dry Spain caused problems for Viura, with Tempranillo and Cabernet suffering less.