I first got wind of this in early December but not having yet visited Leflaive I wanted to ask Pierre personally about it – that, and out of respect for Fabrice and Sophie who have been running the Domaine des Terres de Velle these last years. I do now have my appointment at Leflaive – but in another month!

But now we have a press release:

“Domaine des Terres de Velle becomes Domaine Pierre Vincent
In the beginning, this was a project born out of three men’s passion for wine and for Bourgogne: Hervé Kratiroff, Eric Versini and Pierre Vincent. A friendship that developed into a shared dream – of owning a wine estate in the Côte d’Or with exceptional Climats as found in the Côte de Beaune.

So when Domaine des Terres de Velle with its magnificent parcels and outstanding vines came on the market, the decision was quickly made in the face of such a rarity. And on 18 July 2023 the Solexia Group took possession of the Domaine des Terres de Velle at Auxey-Duresses. The three men were associates in this new adventure.

Domaine des Terres de Velle first came into being in 2009. Highly representative of a ‘Burgundian’ mosaic, it produced 16 wines each year from the fruit of 7 hectares situated in the most prestigious villages of the Côte de Beaune.

They included notably exceptional appellations such as Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru; Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru, Les Chaumées; Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru, Les Referts: Meursault Premier Cru, Les Charmes; Savigny-Lès-Beaune Premier Cru, Aux Vergelesses for the white. For the reds: Volnay Premier Cru, Le Ronceret and Monthélie Premier Cru, Les Duresses.”

It seems that Pierre will retain his position at Leflaive until the end of 2024.

Monday 22 April 2024 – Pinot flowers forming in villages Chassagne…

I think that now is a good time to turn our attention to the 2024 vintage.

Vintages ending in a 4 have not had the greatest run of publicity; 2014 is an unheralded vintage but was actually an excellent-plus vintage for whites and a more ‘classic’ vintage for reds – people only seem to remember the reds though!

Pre-2014, we have a litany of poor (red!) vintages – 2004, 1994, 1984 & 1974 – we have to go back to 1964 to find a vintage with a decent reputation – though possibly the implied quality of that vintage has been augmented by failing memory !!

Back to 2024:

Although there were cold spells, and even a small dusting of snow to finish the year of 2023, the generality of the 2023-2024 winter was that it was another mild one.

With further mild weather in February and March (+3.6°C and +1.5°C respectively compared to average*) the vegetative cycle – ie the sap flowing back into the shoots from the roots – resumed ‘early.’ Early from a historical perspective but with ‘average’ timing in the context of most vintages since 2015. In some early-ripening areas, the first green leaves of chardonnay were visible before the end of March, though that coincided with some cooler weather that slowed the growth – a little.
*Figures from Beaune’s BIVB

At the same time, we can’t neglect the considerable amount of rain that has visited the region.

With seemingly 3 out of every 4 vintages now lacking rain in the summer, and continued discussions of the depth of the ‘water table,’ for now, 2024 is not like that. It’s fair to say that until mid-April this year, given the amount of standing water, the low-lying, flatter vineyards were good only for ducks. And it was much worse in Chablis, with the village of La Chapelle de Vaupelteigne twice cut off, the houses and cellars full of water. The second high-tide of water affecting also the centre of Chablis – the restaurant of Au Fils du Zinc also underwater (Instagram image below). The water-reserves of the vineyard areas seem to have been amply replenished – though in the quickly draining, sandy, granitic soils of the Beaujolais Crus, only 3-4 hot weeks can leave that as memory…

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A rough rule of thumb is 800-1,000mm of rain per year – by the end of March, the region had already recorded 800mm since October – and since the 1st April, the Côte d’Or has received an average of more than 50mm more !!

So now to the roller-coaster of weather in April.

Images of April:

Ploughing Romanée-Conti

01 April

01 April

01 April

04 April

04 April

18 April

18 April – Bonnes-Mares of Bruno Clair

Easter was in early April this year and it coincided with warm weather – not as warm, though, as the end of that Easter week where temperatures hovered only a little under 30°C – for the uninitiated, that was nearly 85° Fahrenheit!

When warm weather and lots of rain coincide the vine-growth can be very fast – also the worry about mildew – growers were already talking about the possibility before the second leaves were visible !! The warmth and easy availability of water have led to, at this stage, one of the most precocious vintages – most of the vines now have three to six leaves showing per bud and the first flower buds are starting to show – at least, that was until it all turned cold at the end of last week.

Versus average temperatures, April has thus far delivered the most extreme variations of the vintage – so far – extremes of more than 10°C higher AND 10°C lower than the historic monthly (daily) averages.

The Clos des Grands Vignes in Premeaux

So we now have to talk about frost.

In the most recent vintages, frost has visited the vineyards at roughly the same time – 04-06 April – and lasted a few days longer in Chablis.

This year during 04-06 April there seemed to be no preparation to fight frost in the vines – the thought of frost seemed very far away considering the ‘Ice Saints’ day(s) (the Saint Glace*, 11-13 May after which there should be no more frosts) being still a distant 6 weeks away.
*According to European observations of the late Middle Ages, around the dates of the feasts of Saint Mamert, Saint Pancrace and Saint Servais, traditionally celebrated on 11, 12 and 13 May each year. Once this period had passed, statistically, frost occurs very rarely during or after the ice saints, though frosts are not impossible after these dates.

This confidence that there would be no frosts changed 1 week ago. Snow visited where I live (560m altitude) on Thursday 18 April, followed by weather forecasts with multiple nights getting close to zero degrees in Burgundy – at least the winemakers were no-longer worried about mildew!

This morning in Chablis, the water sprays and many windmills were deployed (below) – I have already seen images of frost-wilted leaves from Chitry – where of course, there are no water-sprays and candles are not economically viable. Plus some ‘moderate’ damage reported by Stéphanie Colinot in her Irancy vines.

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A windmill has sat for many weeks in the middle of Louis-Michel Liger-Belair’s Nuits Clos des Grands Vignes – it has now been joined by many others – not least a couple in Freddy Mugnier’s Nuits Clos de la Marechale – also in Premeaux. In Morey and Gevrey both candles and warming cables have been deployed in the vines – there are even more candles and windmills in the Côte de Beaune. Florence Heresztyn tells me that her pinots are okay but she has plenty of damage in her local (Gevrey-Chambertin) chardonnay – as yet, the extent is not quantifiable.

So far, very few domaines have deployed frost-fighting measures – predominantly those with higher altitude appellations such as Olivier Lamy in St.Aubin. Vincent Latour in Meursault told me on Friday “I’ll keep my fingers crossed, they say about zero degrees but with plenty of wind so we might lose a bud here and there but hopefully not more.”

All is quiet on the Beaujolais front – so far. The temperatures have been 1-2° warmer than the Côte d’Or – but still sometimes touching 1°C…

Over the next few days, I’ll be visiting both Beaujolais and Chablis – so I’ll keep you posted. But for now, outside of Chablis, candle-lighting seems to have been more for the self-confidence of the wine-growers – a prophylactic more than an absolute necessity.

I promised you that to avoid such a long wait I’d get more reports up weekly for the February Report – there’s always plenty of Beaujolais – and why not in such a splendid vintage!(?)

So here are another 37 domaines in Part 2: February Report

That’s 60 domaine visits in the February report so far – I think with about another 20 still to add – plus of course, my 2022 Beaujolais – Vintage summary – probably all online week of the 8th of April – as I’ll be tied up with visits for next week.

Enjoy Easter !!

A slightly green weekend !!

2021 Chateau Thivin, Côte de Brouilly La Chapelle
This La Chapelle was the least green of all Thivin’s 2021s as tasted at the domain. But on this day, the pyrazine was quite pronounced. It didn’t work for me…
Rebuy – No

2019 Armand Heitz, St.Aubin 1er Murgers des Dents du Chien – Rouge!
I think that this is the only red from this vineyard – which presumably is what prompted them to write monopole on the label. I would understand ‘monopole’ if this was a Clos within the vineyard – and so named – but only for a colour change I’m surprised it’s allowed. So, a monopoly for sure – but a monopole?
Sealed with an impressive DIAM¹⁰ which is probably the reason that it starts a little reduced – 5 minutes later and all is good though. Deeply coloured – and a nose with lots of dark cherry freshness and even a suggestion of rolling tobacco. In the mouth, we have concentration and fluidity – such that there is only a modest generosity – but what deliciousness, accented with a modest sucrosity! The fruit flavours mirror the nose with dark cherry. It gives me the feeling that I’m tasting a red from a white terroir – like a Pernand red too – but this is simply excellent. I didn’t buy enough!!
Rebuy – Yes

And the 2004 project? Some you win, some you lose!

Chablis Bar

The view to La Chapelle de Vaupelteigne

Irancy

Irancy cellar wildlife

In January, I really didn’t have enough time in 3 weeks to visit all the Chablis domaines – or at least all the ones in my current list as it now extends to over 100 domaines! So I was back in ‘the north’ in March – with another trip planned for May!

In May, I’ll be mixing it up with a few visits in Irancy too.

The view to La Chapelle de Vaupelteigne

On the Sunday I was in the Côte d’Or and I have to say that the flatter vineyards in the Côte de Beaune looked ready for ducks – there were a lot of vine ‘feet’ under water. Whilst the water in Chablis’ river Serein looked high on Monday, I still wasn’t prepared for the road closures on Tuesday as the river burst its banks to fill many of the flood-plains in the area. The rain hadn’t been so heavy in Chablis, rather in the surrounding Morvan countryside – as much as 70-80 miles away – and it takes about 3 days for the floodwaters to rise in Chablis.

Chablis itself wasn’t too badly affected but the village of La Chapelle de Vaupelteigne (above) was under water – only partly accessible for me by taking a route descending the hillside from Beine.

The weather calmed – indeed this week we have sunshine in Beaune – it’s a nice change! For now, Burgundians can’t right now complain about a lack of water – it’s double what was seen at the same stage in 2022 and 2023 – but instead they can complain that it’s 22°C in the afternoon 🙂

Boiling !!

And the sun is out !

Beru

Beru – superb…

If you know, you know… !!

March Chablis visits

Here

As promised, the first part of my 2022 Beaujolais Report.

I visited about 80 domaines in February, all of which will be included in my final February report. To avoid long periods with no obvious new content, I’ll be updating this report weekly with another tranche of finished visit reports – so check back in another week when I’ll have over 50 reports completed.

Just to keep me busy, I’ve another 20+ Beaujolais visits to do in April! It’s a great vintage in Beaujolais – but only on the completion of the full February report, will I include my 2022 Beaujolais vintage summary.

Enjoy!