From Berry Bros & Rudd website:
“18, July. It’s all doom and gloom in the press at the moment with reports coming in thick and fast that there might not even be a harvest in Bordeaux or Burgundy. In actual fact, many vineyards are looking healthy and happy with a very early harvest predicted.
This is in part thanks to a beautiful April which prompted early flowering, with the combination of rain and sun successfully managing to prolong the vines growth cycle.
Dominique Lafon reports a little mildew in one vineyard, and localized hail damage has been reported in St Aubin, Beaune and Chablis, but there has been nothing too dramatic thus far and the general outlook is good.
This may in part be due to the recent cold weather which has prevented the mildew damage from spreading further.”
Clearly the weather has been quite sunny for the (almost) two weeks since they posted this piece, with only about 1-2 days with rain in every 10.
Humidity has been quite high, but the fact that it’s not been too hot (only 22-28°C) has provided relief from rot. Clearly, many producers have taken a belts and braces approach, and have been doing as much spraying of copper sulphate solution onto their vines as possible as a safeguard.
We are now around 1 month from harvesting – perhaps less – and we are fast approaching a ‘classic’ vintage in the best (non pejorative) sense of that word. Plenty of sunlight and enough heat for ripening, better still – coupled to cooler nights – I find uniformly hot weather wines very one dimensional, at least in their youth.
Many fingers remain crossed.