Châteauneuf du Pape: The Lively 2013s and Lush 2012s

Producers in Châteauneuf-du-Pape have been cursed with shorter crops than usual in recent vintages but 2013 took production to a new low. Yields were off by as much as 75% for growers whose vineyards are planted heavily with Grenache, which of course means nearly everybody. So there has been plenty of angst to spread around.

Emmanuel Reyanud in the vines outside Rayas' front door

The 2013 Growing Season and Wines 

The culprit in 2013, as in 2012, was a cold spring that delayed the flowering, with temperatures even more frigid than in 2012—so much so that many older vines, mostly Grenache, produced no fruit at all and, in the worst cases, actually died. Temperatures often hovered near freezing into May, which is virtually unprecedented in the region. It was also exceptionally wet through the spring, with total rainfall of 217 millimeters in the March through May period (compared to 165 in 2012, 17 in 2011 and 107 in 2010). For earlier-flowering varieties like Grenache, that’s a perfect storm for disaster, and paltry yields were the result. Fortunately, Mourvèdre and Syrah, which flower later than Grenache, were relatively unscathed.