Over the past week, the temperatures have been roughly ‘average’ and the wind has been steady. Weather that has not been particularly favourable to the onset of veraison yet it has started, without pause, anyway! In many plots – not just the early ones – you can already find the first veraisoned berries and twitter/instagram is full of the images – even for the whites!

Of course, last week’s ‘average’ temperatures have made way for more sustained heat this week and a forecast that’s not dipping below 30°C – indeed nearer to 35°C – for the next 10 days. Heat spikes are expected, with peaks that could reach 38-40°C, even in the shade. Given the volume of rain in the last 3 weeks, it’s unlikely that the vines will shut down – some vigneron(ne)s claiming that it wouldn’t matter if there was no more rain between now and the harvest – others remain more circumspect.

To date, it appears that 2022 is at the same stage of growth (earliness!) as 2011, 2007 and also 2018 – which is to say 2.5 weeks ahead of last year and just a few days behind 2020. The current dryness is keeping all of the usual maladies in check and despite hail and frost (etcetera) this year, the average yield is looking rather high…

And for your fun you can look at the before and after photos of the soil at the bottom of Gevrey’s Clos Saint Jacques – first after June’s heavy rain and then after ‘preparing’ the mound of soil to return up the hillside:

Clos St.Jacques 24 June

Clos St.Jacques 05 July