1996

yielding good wines – long winter with heavy snowfall, some frost damage in lower regions, a warm May encouraged nice flowering and rapid growth, the flowering was marked by repeated rainfall, a short dry spell in June was followed by a cool mostly overcast summer with temperatures around 25° Celsius, hail at the end of August, a wet September with heavy downpours, one third of the average yearly precipitation was recorded during the time period between

the end of August and the middle of September, until the middle of September grapes were relatively healthy but unripe, then rapid ripening and fouling of grapes necessitated their careful selection. Varieties with high acidity that are late to ripe, like Cabernet, could not mature, early varities are clearly favored. The overall yield was exceedingly small, with some very nice fine wines having great aging capacities.