Red Burgundy - 1971
Meteorological data: favourable weather overall. Difficult flowering. Shatter. Hail in August. Hot sun in September. Harvest status: from September 16th. Abundance: small harvest, much reduced in Côte de Beaune, where the hail affected the vines. Quality: lovely ripe, concentrated grapes, in spite of some shatter and millerandage. Overall quality of the vintage: excellent. Magnificent generous, strong and well-balanced wines. Perfect today, but will still stand keeping a little longer. White Burgundy - 1971
Harvest status: exceptionally favourable weather conditions, despite hail in August. Concentrated grapes. Overall quality of the vintage: excellent. Dry, firm and well-constituted wines. Excellent for laying down, a real success. The best may still be good. Bordeaux Red - 1971
Meteorological data: cold and wet spring. Early summer, which then continued through to harvest. Sunshine, heat and some light rain. Harvest status: Dates: from September 4th. Abundance: Small harvest. Lower yield than in previous years. Overall quality of the vintage: very good. Elegant, powerful wines, excellent now and should continue to be so for some time to come. Bordeaux White - 1971
Meteorological data: A late spring and a slow flowering, but a lovely sunny summer. Quality: perfectly ripened grapes. Overall quality of the vintage: excellent. Elegant, fleshy, firm and long-lasting wines. The best are still excellent and will keep a little longer. Syrupy Bordeaux - 1971
Meteorological data: good weather conditions. Harvest status: Dates: early, beginning of October. Quality: good ripening. Good noble rot. Overall quality of the vintage: excellent. Soft and subtle wines, perfect now and still with great potential to keep for a few decades more. Champagne - 1971
Meteorological data: Frost in spring, thunderstorms in May. Heat and rain in June, uneven flowering. More thunderstorms in August. Luckily, a hot, dry September saved the day. Abundance: small harvest. Overall quality of the vintage: excellent. Elegant, thin, delicate and refreshing wines. Their heyday has now passed, but some, the greatest and the firmest, can still be pleasant. Red Rhone Coast - 1971
Overall quality of the vintage: good. Lovely wines, a little less powerful and structured than the 1970s. But the best, and those best kept, have shown great extended ageing potential.
Alsace Blanc - 1971
Meteorological data: good weather conditions. Sunny year. Harvest status: Dates: early. Abundance: small harvest. Quality: Fine, ripe and concentrated grapes. Overall quality of the vintage: Excellent. Very successful wines throughout the region, and across all the grape varieties. Loire Wine - 1971
Overall quality of the vintage: good. Much reference is made to the sweet wines, generally better. Some are rich, well structured and with good ageing potential.