There are still some domaines harvesting chardonnay in the Côte de Beaune, but the whites being picked are now tending more to aligoté. The reds of the Côte de Beaune have been largely finished. The earlier Chablis harvesters started quite a while ago, but many are still far from finished. Like in Chablis, the Mâconnais and Beaujolais are following similar timings…
My home domaine had last weekend off (a long weekend – Friday to Sunday) as their higher vines in Pernand Les Pins (blanc) and Pommard Vaumuriens were not yet ripe on the 28th August. Monday 31st they were able to assemble enough pickers to finish the job. So 8 days of harvesting but over 12 days.
Today I managed to taste the reds – no whites as I was 15 minutes too late! Ripe but pure, super depth of flavour already despite specific degrees only between 994 and 1005. Particularly, I like the lines of these nascent wines – they have a great spine of acidity – roughly with pHs of around 3.20-3.30. It will be a pleasure to return to them in 12 months – I expect a style for reds much closer to 2019 than 2017 or 2018. Yields are modest – 35-38 hl/ha for whites and closer tho 30, on average, for the reds. This domaine is always conservative on yields, the average of the Côte de Beaune is higher, but not in the Côte de Nuits, where the dryness and some patchy areas of oïdium have made for losses of up to 50% in some places – Groffier still managed to make 40hl/ha but we will have to wait for the tanks to be emptied and the wines pressed before we can, generally, have a better idea…
Our afternoon saw a nice north to south tour through the Côte de Nuits. Not too many teams out in the vines this afternoon – but it was a warm day – touching on 30°C again this afternoon. Mainly we saw teams close to the RN74 – typically Bourgogne vines, though a few villages in Vosne and Chambolle. Just one team could be seen in the vines of the Clos de Vougeot – I think that this was the team of Chantal Lescure.
Tomorrow a nice trip out to Vézelay…
And for interested parties – Marko de Morey has been in the middle of his Côte de Nuits vines since Wednesday this week…
