Despite the header image (above) there’s no harvesting in the Burgundy yet.

Since the big rain of the 5th of September, it’s been pretty warm here – wall-to-wall 30°C – or thereabouts. The weather was supposed to break tomorrow and bring a couple of cooler days with rain – it looked like it would come early today, with darker cloud and some wind in the early afternoon. But by 4pm the cloud was gone – just sun and blue sky remained. The rain is now forecast for Friday, or maybe Saturday…(?)

Up and down Burgundy, almost everyone would be happy with a little more rain, though the need is less in the Côte de Nuits. Even though they lack a little juice, the grapes are looking in quite good condition on the vines – in both colours – those that you can find, anyway! In the Côte d’Or, it’s going to be the vines that saw virtually no frost that will reach ripeness first – Maranges and Santenay were hardly touched, so might already be harvesting about the 20-24th. Those vines that were partially frosted, lost some time and really won’t be ready to harvest before the 26th, possibly a little later – and like the incidence of frost, it will be a question of parcel by parcel ripening.

I’ll keep you posted…