What was the vintage 1997 like?

1997 In Bordeaux initially not seen as an outstanding vintage, but a good one to drink. Early flowering was inconsistent. The wet, cool May led to trickling and small berries. Only August and September became sunny and hot. In the meantime, the vintage is developing into a long-distance runner at the important wineries. The long storage and maturity suits him well.
Legendary vintage in Italy, which brought the Piedmontese and Tuscan wines on par with the top French wines. An excellent vintage, especially in Piedmont, which was even celebrated as the vintage of the century in some wineries.

The 1997 vintage is a fine example of how high-quality wines develop and mature. Early judgments of the wine evaluation about the 1997 vintage are revised by the development of the wines. There are many very good wines to be found. The Barolo and Barbaresco received outstanding ratings right from the start.
In Bordeaux the year was warm with a bit too much wet. In order to do justice to the different degrees of ripeness of the various grape varieties, the best grapes make it into the Grand Vin and the less good ones characterize the so-called second wine. The always slightly changing mixture of grape varieties is one reason why the wines have characteristic differences from vintage to vintage. The selection in favor of the main wine (grand vin) forms the basis for its high quality and makes it appear superfluous to deal with the second wine of the Bordeaux wineries (with a few exceptions). The Grand Vin of a neighboring Cru Bourgeois is usually better than the second wine of a Grand Cru.