Ever get the feeling that you are 1 or 2 days late?

Despite a swathe of the Côte de Nuits being untouched, indeed needing at least another week in some areas, I see the pictures of Jadot’s Musigny rolling along the triage table (today…) and can’t help thinking – ‘oops!’

Yesterday some excellent producers in Meursault already finished their harvest – think Javillier and Fichet. Patrick Essa has some lovely millerandes in his Meursaults that have helped bring his sugar levels to something over 13° of potential alcohol. Coche-Dury started picking their Corton-Charlemagne this afternoon, and Dubreuil-Fontaine started picking yesterday. Still there is still plenty to cut in Chassagne and Puligny. A few domaines began harvesting their Beaunes and Pommards in the autumnal foggy mist yesterday, but today was a blue sky day. Reports on those grapes are that the fruit is relatively easy to triage, so what they will make wine with is good quality, but it is a rare plot that reaches 20 hl/ha where it was hailed…

Anyway, enough of these second-hand photos and experiences, with the weather set fair, tomorrow I will have grapes in my own hands – not to mention an occasional glass!!!

Photos from: Faiveley, Jadot, Caroline l’Estimé, Nicolas Rossignol

Nicolas Rossignol’s Clos des Angles

JN Gagnard’s Chassagne Caillerets

Faiveley Cazetiers

Jadot’s Musigny!

Whilst the overwhelming majority of red grapes wait on the vines, the chardonnay cutting is now in full flow; many were the domaines that started at the end of last week, more-so at the weekend, and now practically everyone has started.

There is a little to triage in some vineyards, almost nothing in others, interestingly the grapes are far from uniform in size – whilst the average size is relatively small, each bunch seems to have its fair share of canon-balls! The quantity of ‘millerandes’ is helping the potential alcohol levels, if not the potential yields – I’ve seen plenty of musts already with 13°+…

Reds will slowly but surely come into focus now – I’m there from Thursday, can’t wait! So-far, at least, the weather remains benevolent…

The Facebook images of various producers:

A warm week – it’s started with 22-23° but could be over 30°C by the weekend – but there’s a tricky storm forecast to get through on Thursday…

William Fevre will start picking on Thursday, same as many in Cote de Beaune. Other Chablis growers more likely next week

— Jasper Morris (@justjasper) September 24, 2013

Although they are in a minority, things are starting to get serious now; Olivier Lamy has already picked his first vineyard, and Patrick Javillier will also start now for some vines. As Jasper notes (above) many white wine producers will start before the week is out, though many wait, still assembling their pickers, chewing the cud – or making sugar readings. But many are also building up their arsenal of facebook pictures for their fans – nobody said wines were just made in the vineyards 😉

Of-course, some are more photogenic than others!
Pics ex: Bouley, Chicotot, Grivot, JN Gagnard, Roy

My local spy tells me that the first grapes are being cut in Meursault today. They also tell me that sugar may still be needed for those that wait until October to pick!!!

Pic. from Patrick Essa. Reds in Meursault yesterday

That’s how the harvest projections are still going. Whites grapes that were anticipated to be cut ~27th have now mainly been put back to the 30th-plus. One vigneron told me that it looks a little like 2008 for the whites, i.e. they may need to wait and wait but then pick very quickly before botrytis exerts any control. I did hear of some pickers who might pick some chardonnay next week – but they will only be able to make cremant I expect, as the grapes are not yet ripe.

As for reds, more and more are expecting their peak picking to be 3rd-10th October – doubtless there will be many domaines on either side of that window…

Let’s see, here are the current thoughts of Patrick Essa…

I chatted with the ‘home domaine’ today to get a better feel for how things are running:

It seems that, despite great weather in August and (so far) in September, the harvesting timeline has been extended a little further. Whites and the first Côte de Nuits reds will probably arrive at the winery around 27-28th September, but this year will not be the usual concentrated 10-day blast, probably the Côte d’Or harvest could easily last 3 weeks (the Hautes Côtes is often a couple of weeks later).

The hailed Côte de Beaune vines lost about 2 weeks of maturity (versus the unhailed), and whilst you might expect them to catch back up (as there’s less fruit to ripen) there’s no sign of that yet. Another domaine that I know of in Morey isn’t planning to start until ~4th October, so I guess Laurent Ponsot will be penciling-in a Halloween party to coincide with his vendanges, but whether that aligns with his start or finish is yet to be seen!

Given the awful news of hail for Côte de Beaune vignerons, many people (even the French!) have fixed in their mind that 2013 is going to be a difficult/poor vintage, yet they lose sight of the fact that hail hit from the Meursault/Volnay border to Pernand-Vergelesses, but no more. The whites largely look magnificent, and the Côte de Nuits still has the potential for a Great vintage. Disease pressure was only very early in the season due to the wet spring / early summer, thereafter, the weather has been dream-like. Let’s see how that weather treats them over the next 4 weeks.

Meanwhile I’ve culled a few ‘Facebook bunches’ for your delectation: As always, Alexandrine Roy leads the field with her photogenic clusters(…!), but for balance, I’ve include a few from Pommard too.

Can’t wait!

[Photo credits: Jeremy Seysses, Thomas Bouley, Nicolas Rossignol, Alexandrine Roy]

Claude asked yesterday ‘What are current harvest date estimates?’, and given the amount of permutations it seemed worth making an additional post…

As a sidenote, earlier today there was a report that the vintage for the whole of France would be bad due to hail, so Philippe Bouzereau of Meursault, posted a picture (right) taken today to show just how terrible his hailed vines really are 😉 I also read that of France’s 900,000 hectares of vines, ‘only’ 37,000 hectares have been hailed – Alsace was also hit by hail this week – but that was clearly quite enough for Olivier Thiénot (director of l’école du vin à Paris) to declare the vintage a ‘fail’!

Focusing on the Côte d’Or; I showed the picture of veraison in Richebourg yesterday, but my contact in Beaune tells me that Beaune Cent-Vignes had a few coloured berries already 2 days ago – they are competitive these growers! Whilst some of the vineyards were dealt a very heavy hand by the hail, there is no real consistency; generally, losses range from 10-70% – sections of Savigny’s Liards and Lavières may be at 90% – higher parts of the Pommard/Beaune border were, likewise, decimated. A quick view of one grower’s holdings suggests the following losses: Corton 5-10%, Corton-Charlemagne 30%, Savigny 20%, higher-slope Beaunes ~60%, lower-slope Beaunes 20-30%. For their total portfolio the losses are estimated at 30% – but let’s not forget the Côte de Nuits wasn’t affected, not so far, at least – they still have a very special vintage to conjure with – likewise mid-Meursault (where most of the 1ers are) and south into Puligny and beyond.

But why all this talk of hail when we want to know about harvesting? Well the hail will play its part in when to harvest. Except for the hail of the 23rd, the Burgundians simply couldn’t have had better weather in July. August has started a little cooler and with rain, but it’s becoming warmer again. Already there was a feeling that some of the Côte de Beaune vineyards might be picked concurrently with, or even later than those of the Côte de Nuits – though those vines that have been hailed will almost certainly be picked after much of the Côte de Nuits – estimates are that the hailed vineyards have lost about 10 days of ripening – so would need 110 days from flowering. Growers of Côte de Nuits Grand Crus are currently estimating (August/September could of-course make changes) 27th or 28th September for harvesting, the Côte de Beaune reds were looking at the 25th, or were before the hail. The first whites are currently anticipated 20-25th September – let’s see – but it certainly looks like the 2013 harvest will compressed in to a few less days than usual.

And for those of you still unsure about what hail can do, take a peek at this short video from quite close to the Côte d’Or, you don’t need to speak French, the feeling of shock and awe is universal!