As you can see from the above – this was Beaune Day 1.
Day 1 of the opening of restaurant terraces – and suddenly Beaune has woken from its slumbers – so many people, so few parking spaces!
Despite a long-range forecast that suggested rain every day this week – there have only been intermittent showers. The temperatures, even when sunny have stayed in the teens. There has been plenty of rain this year so far – though compared to wet (starting) vintages such as 2013 and 2016 we currently have about 75% of the rainfall of those two. You know about the April frosts and the return of some frost at the start of May too but Saint Glace is now nearly a week behind us.
The cold and cool weather has had its effect on the growth of the vines – we are close to 4 weeks behind the growth of the vines last year – so whilst the arrival of hot weather will see a spurt of growth it’s unlikely that we will see harvesting before the 20th September. I can also see this delay in my garden; my collection of irises continues to grow and there are many flower buds and whilst the irises of Beaune are well underway, in Bern I am still waiting – none have opened yet – the first last year was Tuesday 5th May! Maybe this weekend…
But what exactly will the Côte d’Or be harvesting?
For reds, it seems that the late pruners have lost the least – but still, a conservative one-third of the crop is gone – Savigny was terribly frosted in 2016 but the growers tell me that 2021 will have better yields – though at least 80% of the whites have been lost in that village. Wandering around Corton there are vines with 5 or 6 bunches starting to show – assuming an okay flowering – but other vines show nothing. Perhaps one-third to half a crop here. Of course, such estimates can be taken with a pinch of salt pre-flowering…
I’ll keep you posted.
Oh, and given the lack of 2021 harvest to look forward to, I think you can already guess where the bulk prices of the 2020s are going…
