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!

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!

Saturday morning coffee – with a view…

It’s been an amazing last couple of weeks – over 20°C most days in Beaune and over 23°C for a few of those. Just see the effect on the monthly temperatures versus the average – right – from the redoutable Dr Serge Zaka

At home, I can jog in the mountains in November and there’s no snow right now at 2,300 metres – I did that yesterday – in shorts and a t-shirt – but it would have been the same today, i.e. November! One of my neighbours’ trees has some cherry blossom and returning to Beaune for a moment I’ve seen photos of vines developing new leaves! Of course, that may end with a bump at the end of this week when there maybe a chance of frost on Saturday.

The most obvious result of the year’s weather in Beaune is that the trees in the town are yet to shed their leaves – I’ve never seen so many birds coming to roost at night. It’s a very dangerous place to park right now – and doesn’t smell so great either – such that the local town council are becoming worried about the Hospices de Beaune wine auction in 3 weeks – there are lots of white tents in Beaune at this time 😉 They have reportedly considered trying to shoot some of the birds but there are literally thousands of them so this seems a no-starter. I have helpfully suggested that they could cut down all the trees 🙂

Back to Beaune today but for now, how about some nice (snow free!) mountain tracks/views between 1,500 and 2,100 metres from yesterday:

Our domaine’s last day.

For us, this was the end of the annual harvest that underpins the livelihoods of so much of the region – not just the winemakers but also the ancillary suppliers that support this industry – barrels, tanks, bottles, plumbers and electricians, etcetera…

Generalising about the grapes of 2022:

Speaking of the home domaine in Beaune – though more generally too – in terms of timing we were neither early nor late – today, even 1 week later, there are those who are still active in the vines – today, Wednesday 14th, at least, given the heavy rain in the Côte de Nuits, they might be questioning their later timing.

Instead of the 1-week head start that chardonnay harvesting commonly has over the pinots, the two colours were ripe at roughly similar times this year. Geography has been evident this year with harvesting starting first in the south – Beaujolais – and harvesting is still not finished in the north – Chablis.

2022 is another vintage of ripeness and, so long that they were not compromised by hail, very good quality grapes. The grapes were far from the smallest we’ve seen in recent years but their concentration remains unquestioned. Reds and whites usually lie between 13-14° of potential alcohol i.e. higher than in 2021 and more consistent between colours than in either of 2019 or 2020. We see decent enough acidity in terms of pHs – 3.15-3.35 for the whites and more like 3.6 for many reds – though with extended maceration the acid intensity of the smaller red grapes is slowly coming through, so perhaps nearer to 3.5 will be more common when it’s time to empty the tanks. The quantity, ripeness and easy extraction of the colour and tannins for the reds have been obvious.

As for fauna on the triage table – ladybirds have been only rare visitors, stink bugs and spiders were the most common (as in most years) and in the first few days we saw lots of earwigs but these latter insects became less common as our harvest progressed.

Oh, and there is the quantity! The worries over April frosts are now long forgotten. I previously noted that this is the hot vintage with the most rain in the last years and this has led to gains in volume. Domaines that debudded less assiduously this year after consistently low volumes since 2018 will have been flirting with over-production in 2022 – or perhaps having to decide what to do with their over-production!

There are always differences in timings brought about by viticulture or ripeness preferences – or both – but here lies the middle ground.

Back to our last day:

Grapes from Beaune’s Montée Rouge and Pommard’s Les Vaumuriens brought joy to our triage table. Our north-facing Montée Rouge was one of the rare vineyards where we needed to remove some unripe grape clusters but was otherwise clean and healthy. The Pommard, despite its altitude, had no such issues. There are vintages when the Pommard is only ready after the main group of pickers has disbanded but this year it slotted perfectly into our programme.

So, a perfect finish to our 2022 triage? Not quite, we finished with 2 more bins of the Bourgogne Rouge – triage-table reset to the slowest tempo and a minimum of 6 pairs of hands removing the dried grains as cheering pickers skipped through the cuverie – the pickers keeping our enthusiasm from waning!

Thank you 2022 and my wishes are with Marko who usually provides us with an alternative harvest commentary. At the last moment, he had to cancel his trip to the Côtes for harvesting. I hope he’s well…