closing in on the 2013 vintage…

Update 6.9.2013(5.9.2013)billn

I chatted with the ‘home domaine’ today to get a better feel for how things are running:

It seems that, despite great weather in August and (so far) in September, the harvesting timeline has been extended a little further. Whites and the first Côte de Nuits reds will probably arrive at the winery around 27-28th September, but this year will not be the usual concentrated 10-day blast, probably the Côte d’Or harvest could easily last 3 weeks (the Hautes Côtes is often a couple of weeks later).

The hailed Côte de Beaune vines lost about 2 weeks of maturity (versus the unhailed), and whilst you might expect them to catch back up (as there’s less fruit to ripen) there’s no sign of that yet. Another domaine that I know of in Morey isn’t planning to start until ~4th October, so I guess Laurent Ponsot will be penciling-in a Halloween party to coincide with his vendanges, but whether that aligns with his start or finish is yet to be seen!

Given the awful news of hail for Côte de Beaune vignerons, many people (even the French!) have fixed in their mind that 2013 is going to be a difficult/poor vintage, yet they lose sight of the fact that hail hit from the Meursault/Volnay border to Pernand-Vergelesses, but no more. The whites largely look magnificent, and the Côte de Nuits still has the potential for a Great vintage. Disease pressure was only very early in the season due to the wet spring / early summer, thereafter, the weather has been dream-like. Let’s see how that weather treats them over the next 4 weeks.

Meanwhile I’ve culled a few ‘Facebook bunches’ for your delectation: As always, Alexandrine Roy leads the field with her photogenic clusters(…!), but for balance, I’ve include a few from Pommard too.

Can’t wait!

[Photo credits: Jeremy Seysses, Thomas Bouley, Nicolas Rossignol, Alexandrine Roy]

Leave a Reply to claude.kolm@gmail.comCancel reply

There are 2 responses to “closing in on the 2013 vintage…”

  1. claude.kolm@gmail.com5th September 2013 at 5:29 pmPermalinkReply

    Hmm, makes for some interesting scheduling, since the Hospices de Beaune comes early this year — 15 November!

    • billn5th September 2013 at 5:35 pmPermalinkReply

      🙂
      You are right Claude – Laurent Ponsot won’t have finished his fermentations by then !

  2. claude.kolm@gmail.com8th September 2013 at 12:29 amPermalinkReply

    And Hospices has to have the fermentations done by the week before so people can taste the wines before the auction! (Of course, there’s not likely to be much to taste from the Corton-Volnay sector.)

    • claude.kolm@gmail.com8th September 2013 at 12:29 amPermalinkReply

      Secondary fermentations, that is.

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