Most wine lovers have heard the phrase ‘a great vintage’, but what actually makes a vintage great? In traditional terms, this refers to wine from a ripe harvest possessing both concentrated flavour and plenty of structure, ie. acidity, tannins and other phenolics. These wines generally display more cellaring potential and a longer ageing curve before reaching maturity.

To understand why this is ‘great’, we look to history. In a pre-modern agricultural society, unsold barrels of wine were a winegrower’s de facto form of banking. The lighter, less age-worthy vintages had to be sold sooner, making the sturdier age-worthy vintages naturally more valuable as a way of storing wealth. Thus, the relationship between ‘great’ vintages and age-worthy wines formed. This carried over to buyers and merchants when they discovered that wines which matured over longer periods developed flavours not possible in younger wines. These were then able to re-emerge on the secondary auction market, giving birth to the trade in mature fine wine.

That is not to say good wines have to be age-worthy. Today, most wine is enjoyed young, turning the whole ‘structured, age-worthy’ value system on its head. In many cases (though certainly not all), wines made to age for decades show poorly in their youth, being either too structured and firm or inexpressive until their depth and  potential is realised through cellaring. This makes them poor value to many drinkers, given the exponentially higher prices commanded.

However, that ‘traditional’ view is shifting due to a combination of climate change, market preferences and winemaking. Many winemakers now aim to make even the age- worthy wines approachable in their youth – some would argue, to the detriment of truly long-term ageing – but that is a topic for another time.

When winegrowing was still largely European and fine-wine centred around cooler, marginal climates in France, Germany and Italy, there was a tendency to associate great vintages  with warmer, drier years. But climate change and the increase in global temperatures mean hot and dry are no longer the ingredients of balanced wine.  Most regions are now experiencing harvest up to two weeks earlier than in the late 20th century. Elegance, finesse and drinkability now require mitigating climatic conditions to preserve freshness, acidity and fruit definition.

How does that relate to wine here in Aotearoa? Our generally cool-climate wine regions show more vintage variation than those in lower latitudes. Our long, narrow country is bisected by mountains which create significant differences in conditions from one region to the next, whether that’s precipitation, sunshine, temperature or wind. Northland is almost sub-tropical while semi-continental Central Otago was the southernmost wine region  in the world (until it lost that title to Chilean Patagonia in the mid 2010s). To complicate matters further, we plant a range of varieties across these regions so generalisation can be difficult.

That said, there is one vintage which has Kiwi winemakers excited, namely 2024, and in particular for pinot noir. Not only is it a welcome reprieve for North Island regions such as Hawke’s Bay, the Wairarapa and Gisborne after a devastating 2023 marked by Cyclone Gabrielle, but it is in a sense  also a classical vintage. The shift to El Niño (inasmuch as those patterns still hold with climate change), coupled with yield-reducing frosts and cooler temperature in spring preceded a long, dry summer and autumn without extremes of heat. Just as conditions verged on drought, light showers  arrived where needed, allowing vines to continue ripening rather than shutting down. The results are ultra-concentrated berries with excellent acidities and near-perfect ripeness. This raised the floor of quality, so even those vineyards that are less well-placed delivered good wine. On more than one occasion I’ve heard people say, “You’d need to be a muppet to make bad wine in 24”. More importantly for fine wine, the pristine fruit and lack of harvest pressures allowed our most skilled winemakers to exercise creative flair. The finest pinot noirs in 2024 are very fine indeed.

The key regions for pinot noir all performed at the top levels. Central Otago has released a set of wine with precision and power, which highlights finesse and elegance more so than the hot summers of 2023 and 2022. Subregions such as Alexandra, Pisa, Wānaka and Gibbston Valley rose to  the same heights as the more typically consistent Bannockburn and Bendigo. This is mirrored in Marlborough and Nelson, where a wider range of subregions have closed the gap with the Southern Valleys and Moutere respectively widening the search radius for pinot lovers looking for well-priced bottles. These wines also have ‘puppy fat’ making them very approachable when young. Both North Canterbury and the Wairarapa saw severely reduced crops, but the resulting wines are ultra-concentrated, majestic creatures with astounding underlying structure,  often displaying the 2024 hallmark floral note and polished purple fruit. Martinborough’s older vines have produced the finest young pinots I’ve seen from the region.

While many 2024 pinots have already hit shelves and will provide delicious drinking now, the top examples are still being released. The fly in the ointment is the reduced quantity which unfortunately means there will be less to go around, so this is a vintage to buy widely and diversely. The conditions which converged that year are rare; I look forward to revisiting these 2024s over the next two decades as they unfold into something really rather special.