First of all what is all this talk about vintage anyway. Rather than some of the connotations of quality that some of the wine trade would have us associate with the word 'vintage', all it actually means is wines made from a particular years' harvest of grapes. So if all the grapes in a wine were harvested in 1999, then the wine is a 199 vintage ... it's as simple as that.

So what forces are there at work to enhance or destroy the quality of a vintage. The answer is the weather ... it has the power to make or break a particular vintage, or the quality of the grapes that are harvested. The key qualities that a winemaker wants of the grape juice is a concentrated fruit flavour and a high natural sugar content, so the alcohol content is present in the wine.

While the weather is crucial throughout the year, the weather conditions at the time of the actual harvest are absolutely key. To be more specific the enemy at harvest time is rain. Rain will very quickly work its way into the fruit to dilute both the flavour of the juice and its sugar content. Too much rain can actually render the harvest next to useless.

In France, one of the Northern Hemispheres' more marginal wine making areas, the weather was a bit of a mixed bag around harvest time, last September and October. Conditions through the rest of the year had been good, so a good volume of harvest was expected. But in many parts of the country there were rains at the time of the harvest. The individual skill of the winemaker comes to the fore in that situation, and they can use some fairly novel techniques too. What about hiring a helicopter to fly over the vineyard and dry the soil and the vines....it happened in a couple of the Bordeaux vineyards in 1999 to try and counteract the effects of the rain...expensive maybe, but it works.

So in France, 1999 looks like it will be a vintage where there won't be a shortage of wine, but the quality may be a little patchy. In those circumstances the best thing to do is to buy wines from vineyards that tell you what the weather was like at harvest....and then you have to believe what they're telling you!

While the wine merchants and supermarkets are waiting for the first of the 1999 vintage to stock their shelves with, there will be some bargains to be had as they clear some space. Try a bottle of Gouts et Coleurs 1998 Viognier Chardonnay from Somerfield as they reduce the price by a whole £1 to just £3.49. Viognier has been a favourite of mine for some time, and this wine matches its wonderfully aromatic apricot flavours with the citrussy flavours of the Chardonnay. Its a marriage to die for and all the better knowing you've bagged a bargain too ... go and get a whole case from Somerfield is my advice!

Feel free to e-mail me at comments@vinrouge.co.uk