This ‘fancy yellow’ is often the first iris (it was the second of about 14 varieties this year) to flower in my (Swiss) garden – you can compare the precocity of the flowering dates here too:
09 May 2018
23 May 2019
05 May 2020
23 May 2021
14 May 2022 (above)

Now is a good time to start looking more closely at the 2022 vintage for grapes too!

2022, as in most recent years, began with warmer temperatures in February and March but these temperatures at least followed a ‘proper’ winter with many frosts and even some occasional snow.

Young vine Puligny Combettes 28 March 2022

Of course, the biggest issue with warm weather in February and March is that the growth starts quite early in the vines such that Spring Frosts are more worrying events than was previously the case. The perfect example of this was last year, 2021, when the temperatures at the end of March were above 25°C, pushing the buds to start opening – but one week later, most of Burgundy was hit with overnight temperatures of -4 to -8°C – and for the best part of 10 days. Typically, this impacts the whites the most, as chardonnay tends to start its growth cycle a week, or more, before the pinot noir. White-centric domaines in 2021 lost 50-80% of their crops because of the frosts.

Electric ‘trace heating’ cable being laid in Charlemagne

Electric ‘trace heating’ cable connections for the generator

New wood-pulp heaters in Lafon’s Montrachet

‘Windmills’ in Meursault

Exhausted candles in Chablis…

The situation was virtually identical this year – only the March temperatures were lower – ‘only’ 2-3° lower though, with 23-24°C – but the timing of this year’s frost was almost identical to that of 2021. Candles, newer wood-pulp burners, windmills and for the first time this year, quickly deployed trace-heating cables (Bonneau du Martray’s Corton-Charlemagne and Jobard’s Meursault Genevrières – powered by generators in the vineyards – which seems much more environmentally sustainable) were deployed. Many producers looked glum after the frosts had passed but the majority chose to bite their tongues, saying that we should wait for the flowering before commenting on ‘how bad’ the result might be. I waited too!

Rape-seed pollen everwhere!

Chardonnay flowers first, the pinots and gamay maybe a week later. We are currently seeing the debut of flowering in the Hautes Côtes, mid-flowering in the Côte de Nuits (Romanée-Conti, right) with some parts of the Côte de Beaune chardonnay already done – the smiles on the faces of the growers are currently broad – there are, it seems, plenty of grapes – which can often be the case after a frosted year – but nobody wants to think about consecutive frosts! Other than some wind and rain last weekend – storms were forecast but hardly materialised and this was a relief for growers because many of the shoots were long but not yet supported/restrained by the wires which will hold them in place – the wind can rip these fragile young shoots from their branches! The flowering has been in optimal weather; hovering around 30°C before the modest weekend wind and rain. It has been around 10°C cooler this week but with not much wind and fine blue skies.

Last week, the growers were in the vines treating them with sulfur against maladies; mildew really needs to be controlled before, or very early in, the flowering and seems rare for now, but oïdium is more of a worry in dry conditions. At the end of last week, Meteo France were proclaiming 40 consecutive days across France that exceded the annual average temperatures for the time of year – and herein lies the explanation for the (development of the) current stage of growth in the vines:
20th April 2022: estimate for growth – 2 weeks behind 2020 and 2014 at the same stage in those years
24th May 2022: estimate for growth, same as 2020 at the same stage that year*
*Chambre d’Agriculture for the Côte d’Or

Unlike 2021 where cooler, wet weather, prevailed for weeks after the frost, 2022 has seen warm weather and almost no retardation of growth. At the end of last week, coupled with some much-needed rain, one vigneron told me that it was hard to keep up with the growth of the vines – anywhere between 5-10cm (right, image from Pommard yesterday) of growth per day! For this reason, the vignerons are, this week, making their first rognages – trimming the tops of the vines – and are already marking their calendars for another August harvest in the Côte de Beaune and possibly in the Côte de Nuits too.

Without weather accidents, the potential yields look okay – assuming, of course, sufficient rain – which was an issue for many domaines in both 2019 and 2020 and there is already a rain deficit versus the average year.

Of course, I’ll keep you posted!

Blagny – last Wednesday – they were everywhere.

Less than one week ago, it was munching caterpillars that were the main cause of ire for vigneron(ne)s – of course, for the moment, they have been forgotten.

Looking at things from afar, it doesn’t look good: Part of the départment of Champagne (Marne) registered the lowest (non-alpine) April temperature since 1947 when French records began: -9°C, with more than 90% of France being touched by the frost of Sunday into Monday – seemingly it was only Paris that escaped it.

Look closer – at least in (greater) Burgundy – and I’m more optimistic:

1. Although the frost has arrived at the same time as in 2021, the vines in 2022 are generally a few days behind their position in 2021 – the buds are mainly in their ‘cotton’ stage and few of them are open – just a few in the most precocious locations and/or very young vines – and, as ever, it’s the chardonnay that is the most precocious.
2. Although it makes for dramatic photos (see the tweet below) there are generally fewer candles in the vines right now than was the case in 2021.
3. Unlike the black, Winter, frost of 2021, we have seen a more classically Spring-frost this time – so the wind turbines have some utility this year.
4. The frost lasted multiple (7-10) days in 2021 – it looks like no more than 2-3 days this year.
5. The lowest temperature on Sunday/Monday in Chablis (which was slightly colder than the Côte d’Or) was around -6.5°C – though one domaine has told me -9°C also in Vaillons – more generally -3° to -5°C. The positive for the growers was that it was quite dry in the vines (except where they have been using water-sprays!). They have a little more concern for Friday and Saturday night where temperatures were closer to -2°C but the buds were wet from snow and rain. Today there was zero evidence of snow on the hills of Chablis – I arrived at lunchtime to a sunny Spring day.
6. I have heard, however, that Courgis may have fared less well than the rest of Chablis – let’s see – I’ll be there on Thursday!

So losses for sure – the fertility of even the unopened buds can be affected by low temperatures. Other than a potentially cold night next Saturday, the worst seems now to be over and certainly no frost is forecast for the next days except for the caveat for Saturday.

As always, I’ll keep you posted.

Intense nuit de lutte contre le #gel cette nuit à Puligny-Montrachet et Chassagne. Des milliers de bougies allumées dans les vignes ! pic.twitter.com/4F3sOEgONc

— Thibault Simonnet (@ThibBPBeaune) April 4, 2022