Yes I know, it’s very early to be making comparisons – but – we still do have some useful reference points, even at this early stage of the 2023 vintage.

Most places seem to have come through the frosts unscathed – though there are still 2 weeks until the Saint-Glace when the potential of frosts visiting the vineyards can be (historically!) forgotten.

The weather has remained rather fresh in the nights and early mornings despite sunny sheltered daytime spots quickly heating up. The result of this pattern of weather is a vintage whose early indicators suggest a mid to late September harvest – see below – but things can, and still may, change as quickly as the weather!

Most of the chardonnay are now showing their first leaves but the pinot noir and gamay are barely breaking their buds – only a few sunny spots are starting to show leaves.

Plenty of vineyards sites – last week – still had their baguettes (canes) standup up – often with extra buds left in place. The ‘definitive’ pruning to come – i.e. the cutting of the last 4 buds, or so, and then attaching the cane to the wire – with this done, all the buds see the same amount of sap versus when ‘standing up’ when the end buds get preferential treatment. This is the utility of late pruners, hoping that if a frost comes, just the end buds – which will anyway be discarded – might be the only parts hurt by the frost.

The last days saw rains in Côte d’Or of up to 20mm – that following a relatively dry and sunny week. To date, the largest challenge in the vines has been the bud-eating caterpillars – the mange-bourgeons – but the work in the vines has been aided/facilitated by the modest amount of rain this year so far – and judging by the number of tractors and horses in action – there is much work to do!

That’s enough for this week!

The candles were deployed last week in the Côte d’Or – the windmills too.

Most were not used – but a few saw service with temperatures hovering around -1°C. The weather was dry so these measures were more prophylactic than as a counter to any yield-limiting events. I could say the same for Beaujolais too where I noted a few candles in the vines but none that were gainfully employed.

In Chablis, there were a couple of nights of candle-burning – the sprays were turned on too – temperatures a little lower than the Côte d’Or. I’m not aware of any major gnashing of teeth, so I suspect that they probably got through things relatively unscathed. All the regions have ‘enjoyed’ a little wind so that usually reduces the impact of frost too.

Did I mention that the timing of (potential) frost(s) was, almost to the day, exactly the same as in 2021 and 2022? That being the case we can see that the growth is less advanced this year than either of the last two vintages, so issues should be few and far between – for now. Given similar timings of frost, the stage of growth in the vines becomes important. 2023 is at a similar growth timing to last year – 2022 – ie – a few days later than was the case in 2021 – so 2023 has less to damage and the (frost) temperatures were milder this year too – so for now – all looks fine. There are always earlier areas (and younger vines are earlier too) but bud-burst (on average) for Chardonnay is not expected until mid-April with the pinot noir expected to follow one week later.

Over the last 6 months, the average of rainfall across the Côte d’Or/Hautes Côtes is 333 mm with a minimum of 286mm recorded in Auxey-Duresses and a maximum of 389mm recorded in Echevronne. The average is currently 362mm, so the deficit over these 6 months is only 9%. Nobody is reporting any excess dryness at this stage, despite the popular news stories at the start of this year proclaiming that France had over 30 consecutive days without rain.

Ignoring frost or rain, the mange-bourgeons – caterpillars to you and I – are starting their annual rampage, and this year they could pose the threat of more losses than the frost. A farmer’s work is never done!