It’s the start of July, so time to take stock…
Last week it was super hot, with temperatures that are usually reserved for August. This week it’s ‘quite’ warm. What rain was in the last days’ forecast for the Côte d’Or hardly materialised, and the prognosis for the next two weeks is largely dry and getting hotter again – but for some light relief, at least the nights are forecast to be cooler…
So the domaines are mostly trying to avoid any stress for the plants. Few are ploughing or even moving the soil right now as the soil will dry out faster, and likewise, the trimming of the vines has been significantly curtailed to avoid ‘stress.’ So far, there’s no indication of ‘blocking’ in the vast majority of soils, just a few yellowing leaves on flat gravelly (draining) soils or very stony soils without much earth (right)…
It’s a vintage where I’ve never seen so much watering of recently planted vines. As you will know, it is against the rules of AOC to irrigate vines, or they will lose their right to this appellation d’origine contrôlée – the resulting wines become, for example, Vin de France instead of Clos de Vougeot. Young vines, under 3 years old, are the only exception to this rule.
I wonder if we are witnessing a modern 1976 in the making. A vintage in Burgundy where the drought was more marked than the heat of some other regions/countries. This year, it seems that we have both !!
As for the Côte d’Or hail of Wednesday 17th June, significantly hit were Beaune to Pommard, and hail cannons were not used as the storms ‘came from the wrong direction(!)‘ The insurance assessors were in the vines during the last week of June, as much as 30% losses were forecast – but today, 30% ‘of what’ is the fair question. The effect should be less in the pinots, but there was already some coulure in the whites of Beaune, so it could be a ‘real’ 30% here. Then this week (Sunday evening), multiple violent storms came through Beaujolais, mainly bringing some much-needed water, but hail came too. There was some significant damage on the hill of the Côte de Brouilly and the nearby valley of Brouilly Saburin… Too early to say for sure, but vigneron(ne)s are suggesting 60-80% losses, see the images…
Back to the Côte d’Or, Frederic Mugnier told me yesterday, “I’m surprised how the vines currently look – they look fine – but I don’t like this period of heat, we need rain, but there’s nothing in the forecast. The vines looked great 1 week ago and will still be great if we get some rain.”
And where are we in terms of maturity?
Well, already in the last days of June, there were photos of the first (red) veraison – potentially the earliest in a sequence of very early vintages. Assuming no blocking to retard maturity, the crémants will already be harvesting around 7 August and the still whites only a week later, then the first (young) reds only a few days later – but it’s usually the case that the combination of heat and dryness causes the process of maturity to stall and is usually ‘unlocked’ by events of rain…
“The season is clearly ahead of schedule. We have compared 2026 to other great early-ripening vintages—often characterised by heat and dry summers: with mid-flowering on May 24 and bunch closure around June 20–22, it is hard not to recognise the hallmarks of an exceptional season. However, the water deficit since the start of the season is among the most severe ever recorded. Also noteworthy is that June temperatures were 4.4°C above the 30-year average.
Apex Vineyard Consulting”
The hail on the Côte de Brouilly, Sunday 28th June:
