2023: Vintage of a lifetime?

By Jeff Siegel

Jan 18, 2024

Editor’s note: Napa Valley Features welcomes a new contributor, Jeff Siegel, who brings with him four decades of experience in journalism, including two dedicated to the wine industry. Building on his extensive work from the popular "Wine Curmudgeon" blog, where he authored more than 4,700 posts, he will continue to expand his insightful coverage to encompass a broad spectrum of relevant topics to Napa Valley and the surrounding region. His commitment to honest commentary will further enrich our content with critical and thought-provoking discussions. Jeff — your voice is a valued addition to our community's dialogue.

NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — Which of the following best describes the 2023 vintage in Napa Valley?

A. “A classic vintage for Napa Valley”

B. “Another amazing vintage from Napa Valley”

C. “Optimal ripening brings in ‘epic’ fruit”

The answer? None of them, actually, but it really doesn’t matter. Those are descriptions from three different vintages over the past decade. I could have picked almost any description from any vintage from the past two or three decades because each sounds more or less the same, and that includes the description for 2023, modestly called the “vintage of a lifetime.”

And although these assessments come from marketing trade groups (with their vested interest), you’ll find the same thing if you check the vintage charts from most of the wine magazines. The Wine Spectator rates 19 of the cabernet sauvignon vintages between 1991 and 2021 at 95 or better, or “classic.” Even the 2020 wildfire vintage scored an 87, a mark that almost anyone else would be happy to advertise on a shelf talker. At RobertParker.com seven of the vintages for North Coast cabernet sauvignon between 2012 and 2021 are 95 or better, and the wildfire-tainted 2020 checks in at 90. As if that’s not enough, VinoVest scores only three vintages between 1999 and 2019 at less than 90.

In other words, almost every vintage in Napa Valley is perfect.

Maybe that’s true. Maybe climate change and droughts and wildfires and labor shortages haven’t made a difference and Napa remains eternal, the wine equivalent of the concepts of truth and beauty so beloved by the ancient Greek philosophers. Or maybe there’s something else going on here.

“Calling every vintage the ‘vintage of the century’ is silly, and not just because few consumers care about vintage — including collectors — but because it's overkill,” said Tim McDonald, a longtime California wine marketer and Napa resident. “Obviously, everyone knows that's not possible."

So what is possible? That Napa has become too important to fail, the wine equivalent of Chrysler in 1979 and all those investment banks during the Great Recession? Napa is more than the symbol of California wine greatness; it is also the region whose legend has enriched not only those who grow grapes and make wine here but almost everyone else in the wine business or even anyone remotely connected to it. That includes retailers, restaurants, wholesalers, hotels, Airbnbs and the wine media. A world without Napa and its economic and prestige engine would be too horrible to imagine.

The vintage had better be perfect every year, right?

Know two things here: First, this is not a criticism of the quality of Napa wine, which ranks among the best in the world (which is obvious even to those who can’t afford to drink much of it). Second, this doesn't suggest that a widespread, secretive conspiracy is working behind the scenes to ensure consistent use of identical adjectives and the regular assignment of 90+ scores each year.

Rather, it’s the idea that we’re at the point where everyone accepts that their livelihoods depend on all those 90+ scores. Since the wine is usually pretty good anyway, why look a gift horse in the mouth?

Call me cranky, but I can think of several reasons.

First, as McDonald mentioned, is that consumers aren’t foolish. Doesn’t everyone involved in this process understand that wine drinkers who are sophisticated enough to regularly buy $150 wine are also sophisticated enough to understand that recurring “perfect vintages” are a marketing ploy? And as any competent marketer will remind anyone who will listen, consumers don’t like being played.

It’s probably not a coincidence that several of the various wine marketers who were surveyed for this story launched — unasked — into long, specific email tirades about Napa, its stuffiness, and how its attitudes are scaring off consumers and hurting the wine business. And it’s also probably not a coincidence that more than a few people who follow what’s going on in Napa (including several in this space) have looked at declining tourism numbers and increasing hotel vacancy rates and asked if the region was kicking itself in the head with its current approach.

Second, and perhaps even more important, is the idea of transparency. The wine business has long had difficulties with transparency, whether it’s about disclosing the ingredients that go into wine, the vagaries of pricing or any of the other subjects it figures wine drinkers don’t need to know anything about. Because, of course, the wine business knows what’s good for all of us.

Which, in this case, it doesn’t. It strikes me that telling Napa’s story as more than “We’re perfect — where’s your platinum card?” would do wonders for its image, as well as for the wine business in general. Several years ago, during a rather robust discussion about the economics of the wine business in the old “Wine Curmudgeon” blog, a reader wrote that he was tired of hearing small “artisan” producers whine about their financial struggles. After all, he asked, who forced them to go into the wine business?

Again, consumers aren’t foolish. And there are other stories to tell that don’t revolve around 90+ scores and which, frankly, are much more interesting. I’ve spent a fair amount of time over the last couple of years interviewing growers and winemakers who are part of the old-vines movement, and even I was surprised to find out that there are old vines in Napa that aren’t cabernet sauvignon — maybe even colombard, best known as the grape in those boxed wines. How much more accessible is that than yet another discussion of hillside terroir, oak aging, and mocha and toffee notes?

The region has a long, rich and intriguing history that’s mostly ignored these days in favor of the myth of perfect vintages. Given the challenges wine is facing, isn’t it time to acknowledge that Napa and the wine business it personifies are about more than its myths and that it can be accessible and approachable — and perhaps even fun? Isn’t that what perfect should be about?

Jeff Siegel has over 20 years of experience writing about the wine industry, including 16 years as the author of the well-regarded "Wine Curmudgeon" blog.