We have nice warm weather again – though given the colour of the vine leaves and the carpet of horse-chestnuts on the ground the harvest retains an Autumnal feeling.
Beaujolais is not yet finished – but is close – and Chablis still has much to do.
Here in the Côte d’Or the vineyards of the Côte de Beaune are starting to fall silent – I walked around Beaune today and saw only low-lying vineyards (much in Bas de Teurons) that were still waiting to be picked – the bunches looking sub-optimal but that’s the vintage. The Côte de Nuits remains busy, as do the vineyards of the Hautes Côtes. The action in the latter starting about 3-4 days agao and also still with much to do.
I’ve yet to see any statistics from here, but already there are some for size (weight!) of the bunches in Champagne – you can expect similar for the Côte d’Or – ie BIG! And there are many bunches too – just as well given how shrivelled many look.
It will also come as no surprise that many vigneron’s syndicates have been lobbying for making hay while the sun shines ie getting augmentations for their authorised yields – I’m sure that enough wine will be made this year…