23
Mar

1982 : Exceptional vintage, 30th birthday celebrations

At the end of each year SoDivin anticipates sales for the upcoming year and we stock our cellar according to what our customers will want. It is very popular right now to offer a bottle of wine as a gift from the recipient’s birth year. This means in 2011 we ramped up our stock of bottles from years ending in a 2. Of course not every vintage is exceptional. For Bordeaux reds, for example 1942 was okay in the vineyard but tough wartime conditions made it difficult to make excellent wine. 1952 is a mixed bag. 1962 was excellent and 1972 catastrophic. But 1982 was arguably the vintage of the century. People turning 30 this year who receive a red Bordeaux as a gift have an incredible wine tasting experience ahead of them. (I’m jealous, I was born in 1972).
Even if the vintage is not a good one, the fun can be in simply owning the bottle. Clients who call to get advice on a specific year or bottle in the end say that the fun is simply giving a bottle in the given year and they will take the risk. Often we find that if we taste a wine from a lowly ranked year there can still be quite a bit of charm in the bottle. Maybe it is because expectations are low and in addition, there really are often redeeming qualities in non-exceptional years. To drink a wine that has lived through the life you have lived is a moving experience. And remember that context plays a very important role in wine tasting.
However, those who were born in 1982 and are receiving red Bordeaux wines from this extraordinary vintage are incredibly lucky. Every day SoDivin receives orders of red Bordeaux wines from 1982 and it gives us great pleasure to ship them knowing that probably they are a gift for a loved one turning 30. These wines not only have the gift of sentiment but also the gift of the exceptional wine itself.  Some consider 1982 the vintage of the century for Bordeaux reds; the debate is between 1982, 1961, 1929 and 1945.

This is what Robert Parker and Michael Broadbent have to say about the 1982 red Bordeaux vintage:

Robert Parker:
In  Bordeaux, 1982 is celebrated as one of the best vintages of the 20th century, often compared to the 1929, 1945 and 1961 vintages. An extremely abundant harvest but also of great quality. 1982 produced the most complex and profound wines since 1961. The exceptional climactic conditions of 1982 made a wine in their image. Budding intervened by a hot, dry and sunny month of June foreshadowed an abundant harvest. July was extremely hot and temperatures in August were slightly below normal. Already at the beginning of the month of September the Bordelais winemakers were hoping for a big harvest of excellent quality.  However, an intense heat wave that lasted 3 weeks…multiplying the level of sugar in the grapes, transformed an excellent year into a fabulous vintage.
Analysis of the 1982s show that they are the most concentrated and the most rich in extraction since 1961. Most  [1982 Bordeaux wines] seem to have evolved very little since their time in oak barrels and have now totally recovered from the bottling. They deploy in the mouth extraordinary ample, rich and fat aromas of an exceptional richness that should last at least 10 to 15 years to come.

Michael Broadbent:
A milestone. The combination of richness and perceived quality matched the economic climate. The big guns still have fire power and length of trajectory.

To discover our selection of 1982 wines click here