That was a nice view on the in-car map!

The weather in the Côtes has been just about perfect so-far in July – and the forecast is more of the same for at least the rest of the month. Temperatures have been late 20s / early 30s °C, but with a dry breeze, so there is virtually no disease pressure, just isolated instances of a little mildew but without the conditions for it to spread.

There are plenty of bunches on the vines but coulure is causing problems for pinot noir – mainly, but not only, in the Côte de Nuits where flowering was a few days later. Some vines will again deliver low yields because of this, but generally there is optimism for both good yields and quality. Ploughing, ploughing and more ploughing has been the work of late June and July, but more controversially, the mandated spraying of insecticide in the vines of the Côte d’Or is a hot topic locally – whether you are Biodynamic or not! – yet has been little reported. I’ll give you more info later in the week.

Overall, 2013 is ticking along very nicely – let’s keep our fingers crossed! And to keep you occupied a little longer, a modest selection of images from the end of last week: