DRC Montrachet

Romanée St.Vivant

Green harvesting

Richebourg

Well, nearly!

Some are already at it but my first harvest day will be Saturday.

I did a bit of a tour of the Côte de Beaune and the Côte de Nuits yesterday. 99% of the activity was in the Côte de Beaune, and 90% of that was whites.

The white hillsides had harvesters in just about all locations but it was just a few domaines here and there – not all domaines. There was a small amount of red harvesting to be seen – I’m assuming for the grapes of the precocious young vines. I remember in a recent hot vintage – 2020 – that Chartron in Puligny had started their harvest with their red Puligny 1er Les Caillerets – this year it’s the more classic ‘chardonnay first’ style of vintage and their red Caillerets is still waiting to be picked.

A lot of Montrachet is still waiting to be picked but much of Chevalier-Montrachet – despite being higher on the slope – has already been picked. And some of the vines – like those of Bouchard Père – are continuous but their Chevalier is picked, their Montrachet not. Likewise, the neighbouring Montrachet of DRC was also waiting to be picked. Reds are slowly coming into focus though: d’Angerville started yesterday, David Croix and Thibaud Clerget started today – Guillaume d’Angerville noting that his teams are starting early and finishing at midday due to the heat of the day – just now it’s about 33-35°C each day with not much change in this pattern of weather before Monday/Tuesday, next week. The team at Lafon are almost finished!

It’s clear that there are plenty of white grapes on the vines of the Côte d’Or – as we will see – also the reds.

Whilst the red grapes in the Côte de Beaune look pretty good – I had the impression that the grapes in the Côte de Nuits – a random sample – looked to have more challenges, ie more variable ripeness, a little rot behind some of the grapes and, seemingly, ever-more raisined berries too. Like in the Côte de Beaune, plenty of grapes though. This included the great grand crus of Richebourg and Romanéée St.Vivant. I already mentioned the generous amount of grapes – and some of the bunches are impressively large too – but in Romanée St.Vivant there was evidence of plenty of green harvesting – probably done in July. I think a necessary step for anyone looking for a decent level of ripeness. Whilst some vines remain green and vigorous, I observed a lot of very dry vines – in both Côtes – vines that already look like it’s the end of October when the grapes have long been picked – this surprises me given the relatively consistent amounts of rain this year.

Early indications are that the acidity in the grapes is low but the amount of potassium in the grapes is also low this year – ‘So what we have, we should be able to keep!‘

For those with an interest, the harvest is getting underway in Beaujolais and the Mâconnais but all is seemingly quiet for now in Chablis.

Nuits Les Plateau Tuesday 22nd

Chevalier-Montrachet Tuesday 22nd

Burgundy this Monday-Tuesday, has a very different feeling to last Monday-Tuesday.

Last week, the Côtes d’Or, Chalonnaise & Mâconnais – Beaujolais too – were doing their best to enjoy temperatures of 36-38°C. Chablis was a slightly less sticky 33° – or-so. This week, they are getting-by with about 20°C after lots of rain with nights hardly in double-digit temperatures.

Last Tuesday, I discussed the harvest and matters arising with Jacques Devauges of the Clos des Lambrays. He was of the opinion that he may start his teams on the 9th September – mirroring what Antoine Gouges had ‘thought out loud’ earlier the same day. I mentioned to Jacques that although the pinot looked to be in good shape, the vines seemed to have wildly varying yields – from only 2-3 bunches per vine to more like 15! “That’s the essence of the vintage and the most important thing to avoid! You can see in the Clos that we have already thinned out the fruit – you may still see some vines with only a few bunches but you won’t find any with an excess of bunches – that excess is already lying on the ground. It’s clearly nonsense if a domaine claims an average yield of 35 hl/ha when half of their vines are producing nearly double – how will those grapes ripen?”

Of course, Jacques is completely correct. And since I spoke to him, it’s even a little more complicated: Some maturities were already pushing 12° last week but with much rain in the last days – and it’s probably not stopping until Wednesday – the sugars in the grapes will have been diluted. Half a dozen domaines canvassed today still have no (exact!) idea when they will start to harvest.

As mentioned, those domaines that have avoided the worst of the hail – twice in parts of the Chalonnaise and three times in parts of Beaujolais – still have some healthy-looking grapes and time is on their side – except; the grapes in Chablis have been really suffering from rot – it had largely dried up before the rains – but now? Now it will be a concern for all the other regions too.

BUT! Of course, it’s the usual names, but at least half a dozen domaines have already started harvesting some of their whites; from Lamy to Leroy (d’Auvenay) there are already tanks of must settling, and even some latent wines are already in their barrels. It’s easy to criticise – and some always do – but these domaines have low yields and ‘different’ viticulture to the majority of their neighbours – and if their grapes say go – then go they must!

I’m expecting to start my harvest in Beaune around the 4th-5th of September, but like in many places, we are not yet certain!

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A post shared by Jérôme Lacondemine (@jerome.lacondemine)

Yesterday brought hail to Beaujolais. You can look through Jerome’s images above. This is already the third time that Beaujolais has experienced hail – (almost) always in different places…

You can also see from Jerome’s comments, that the hail followed a narrow but long corridor. As is often the case, the storms start in or around the combe of Beaujeu, this time following a line through the top of Lantigné, Emeringes, through the higher part of Regnié then onwards above Morgon through Chiroubles and the rear hills of Fleurie. Chenas was hit a little but on the lower slopes of Moulin-à-Vent, there was only rain.

I asked a few vigneron(ne)s:

Richard Rottiers (Moulin à Vent): “The high parts of Beaujolais were touched but where I am in Romanèche it was only water!”
Paul Henri Thillardon (Chenas): “We lost 20% of the harvest a month ago but not yesterday!”
Anne-Sophie Dubois (Fleurie): “Indeed there was a storm with hail. The impacts are not very numerous but the vine has almost finished veraison. Open berries are now susceptible to rot. The problem is here. As usual, the weather will, or will not, clean up the situation.”
Grégoire Hoppenot (Fleurie): “It seems that there is heavy damage on the ridges from Lantignié to Emeringes. In particular the high parts of Regnié, St Joseph, Chiroubles and the top of Fleurie. I don’t know the limits.”
Domaine Desvignes (Morgon): “No damage to the parcels that I looked at – so no hail for us this time.”
Laurent Martray (Côte de Brouilly): “Apparently no damage for me – I don’t know about the other areas…”

So, it seems that the Beaujolais Crus have fared well versus the hyphen-Beaujolais villages. The 10-day forecast seems mainly thunderstorm free in the Beaujolais, the same can’t be said of Chablis or the Côte d’Or, nor the Côte Chalonnaise or Mâconnais – I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed!

www.wine-searcher.com/burgundy-counts-the-cost-of-hail-storms

Maybe some extra infos for you in this article but it seems largely culled from the Instagram accounts of the vignerons concerned.

What’s missing from this report are the areas most affected by the hail – namely the higher slopes of Bouzeron that run into the plateau of Rully – some vignerons estimating more than 50% losses – parts of Mercurey and Givry were similarly affected and Montagny a little less. For now, it’s the Côte de Chalonnaise that has seen the most significant losses.

Fortunately, Chablis has been spared from the hail for now. The problem in Chablis is different – mildew. At this time it’s the grapes that have been affected – see image right – rather than the leaves.

The preference would always be for the grapes because you lose those grapes that have been affected – they dry out and drop off. But if the leaves are affected they will also dry and drop off and you lose the ability to have photosynthesis and, hence, can’t ripen any remaining grapes. There are obviously some yield losses in Chablis as the image I show was, a few days ago, quite consistent across the villages, 1er and grand cru vineyards that I visited…

Harvest timing remains consistent for now – the cremant grapes already in the last days of August – perhaps the odd domaine in Meursault too. Côte de Beaune producers largely looking at 05-09 September and the Côte de Nuits 09 September onwards with many still looking to start around the 12th.

Keeping fingers crossed.

I didn’t expect – or rather hope – to be making this short addendum but such is the life of farmers.

Storms were forecast – violent too – but it came to pass that there were a lot of hailstones – and images of golf-ball-sized hailstones too coming from across the Côtes d’Or and Chalonnais yesterday evening. For now, it’s dry and cloudy.

I’ve seen pictures of damaged grapes but no pictures of stripped vines – the growers that I’ve spoken to indicate patchy damage – 0-20% – perhaps and more generally 5-10% in the southern Côte de Nuits – Gevrey seems to have, largely, escaped.

As usual in such cases, I’ll wait some days for sombre reflection so that the emotions have chance to cool and become more objective. At this stage, it looks like it could have been much worse in the Côte d’Or and fortunately for Chablis, they had no hail. I’m still waiting for feedback from the south of Burgundy…

Dropping some bunches in Montrachet…

What a year we are having – so far…

From flirting with frost – though practically without damage – followed by a slow, almost leisurely start to the year’s growth. The first estimates for harvesting suggested mid-September – maybe later – but the speed of growth has, by far, outstripped those early projections.

The flowering dovetailed with very good weather conditions – the previously cool nights (always under 10°C) warming up significantly during this important period. The yields and formation of the grape clusters was excellent in the pinot though for the chardonnay there was some coulure – though still, the chardonnay had plenty of crop. The pinot with more time looks very uniform but with rather large bunches…

So many vignerons commented to me that the June weather resembled more that of a normal August but with the benefit of regular, largely not too heavy rain – a little hail was experienced around Vosne to Chambolle on the 19th June but it was minor and versus the apparently large yields in the pinot, could be considered inconsequential. The lasting concern remains that of storms. Sunday 19th July seeing some hail in the crus of Beaujolais – more than experienced in the Côte de Nuits but still not a large drag on the yields – and there is time for the affected grapes to dry and drop to the ground – which is already the case in the Côte de Nuits.

For now, there are no concerns about drought; to date, there has been a little more rain in the Côte de Nuits than in the Côte de Beaune.

Returning to the theme of yields, many domaines are discussing green harvests and some have already begun. Most domaines prefer to wait until veraison before cutting any grapes – seeing what the forecast storms may bring – but veraison is iminent. I’ve seen one image of veraison already today – which is a timing similar to 2007 and 2022 – but the major colour changes will be in another week…

So what does all this warm weather – estimated to be 3°C above the average for the month of June – punctuated by ‘enough’ rain, mean for the harvest? Mid-September harvesting will now be a rare thing. Many domaines are suggesting starting around the 5th September for reds and a few domaines in Meursault are keeping a sharp watch but also preparing to be ready for the last days of August.

What was once – in the context of the last 10 years – expected to be quite a late harvest, is now looking to be another quite early one. A relatively clean one too (for now): oïdium is the major worry in hotter, drier, vintages but, perhaps, due to sufficient rain, the concern about this particular fungus is on a lower level than most other recent vintages.

Let’s start with the important stuff – my garden!

The irises are later this year – no surprise – sunny weather in the last weeks but still rather cold in the nights – only in the last week have the overnight temperatures risen to something of a seasonal norm. A few flowers are still missing but it looks like a similar timing to 2019 (iris vintage) in my Swiss garden…

Now to Burgundy:

Like at home, the nights (until quite recently) have been cool here too, but the sunshine has been pushing the growth. We have recovered a few days – despite zero rain in the last 10 days or-so – so it’s a vintage whose stage of growth is now 4 or 5 days ahead of 2019 and just a little behind the vintages of 2014, 2015 and 2017. The vignerons are speculating of a harvest commencing around the weekend of 09-10 September.

And there have been the first flowers in the last few days too – so we can expect mid-flowering in the chardonnay next week and maybe a few days later for the pinot noir.

And some of the iris in question:

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!