It’s hot out there!
At the home domaine we are starting as early as possible – but it’s not that early – why? Because a lot of our pickers take the train from Dijon to Beaune, and at the weekend there are no early trains – they can’t be in Beaune before 7am. So that means that the first grapes are arriving at the domaine for sorting from about 8am.
Our domaine was supposed to start harvesting on Friday but the previous week’s warm weather meant that some vines needed picking a couple of days earlier than planned – but now we’re back to normal.
Those early morning grapes are lovely and cool to the touch – as the morning moves towards lunchtime – they become far from cool to the touch! Because of this, our team of pickers have been calling a halt picking by 2:30pm – when it was, today, already 35°C in the vines – for our American cousins, that’s 95°F.
The whites look fine – there’s not a lot of sorting to do – our domaine have done Savigny 1er Hautes Jarrons, Corton-Charlemagne, Chorey Blanc and Pernand 1er Cru Sous Frétille. We are certainly back to a more classic – whites ready before the reds – vintage. So far I’ve only seen the red Corton-Renardes – always ready early given it’s exposure to the sun. It’s the reds that seem more complicated. Lots of them (the grapes) are starting to shrivel – more-so in the Côte de Nuits – but not just. Yet, a lot of them are not yet quite ripe, so…(?) Actually, better said, the ripeness is variable. There is a little rot, but not much – it gives the impression that it was starting to grow until the weather became hot and dry – which, largely, stopped the spread.
An interesting side-note: We have a decent amount of pinot gris co-planted in our parcel of Corton-Charlemagne. Usually, I don’t see a lot of interest in these grapes – I see them only as ‘fillers’ – but this year the gris has a lovely perfume in the mouth. Lert’s see!
There are rains forecast from Tuesday pm – and a modest cooling of the temperature – for 2 days. Maybe that will be enough to kick any recalcitrant grape clusters into shape – those that won’t already have been harvested!
I’ve seen worse, but we are collecting quite a few ladybugs/birds over our triage table…
PS: It would be remiss of me not to tell you that the Chablisiennes are now starting to pick their grapes too!
There is one response to “2023 Burgundy harvest – 10 September”
When you say “the gris has a lovely perfume in the mouth” – is this from the grape itself?
Yes, exactly. When you eat the grapes…