2002 North America

Another very good vintage for California and Oregon, and one of the best ever.

A long, generally cool growing season in California has provided very ripe fruit, with the complexity that comes from a long hang-time. Some hot days in Carneros and Napa were the only worries in an almost perfect growing season. The best producers were able to thin the crop in June and July, but even so, the crop has come in up to 10% larger than usual.

The Pacific Northwest is also reporting an excellent vintage. After a cool start, warm summer temperatures brought on excellent ripeness in the fruit. A single days rain in mid-September put paid to the worries of a drought.
Comparisons are being made here to the excellent 1994 vintage.