Vintage 2008

2008 harvest, lowest since 2003…

By billn on February 17, 2009 #other sites#vintage 2008

A bookend on 2008 from the BIVB:

The 2008 Burgundy harvest is down 5.3 % on the 2007 harvest, and 4.4% against the average of the past five years. It amounts to the equivalent of 193 million bottles for a virtually unchanged production area (-0.2 %) of 27,626 hectares.

With the exception of the small heat-induced 2003 harvest, it is 10 years since the harvest was so low. As for red wines, with the equivalent of 60 million bottles (-6 %), there had not been such a small harvest (with the exception of 2003) since 1984.
White wine production is also down by 6 % at the equivalent of 116 million bottles, with regional AOCs and Mâconnais wines the most affected.
Only Crémant de Bourgogne is continuing to grow with a new record of nearly 17 million bottles (+2.6 %), or nearly 9 % of the Burgundy harvest, with 29 % for red wines, 1 % for rosés and 60 % for whites.

And from Domaine Joseph Drouhin:

The vintage report: 2008 Burgundy blessed with another great vintage

Autumn and winter were rather dry and mild; spring was cool and humid,
followed by a summer resembling 2007. By mid-September, the weather in
Burgundy turned extraordinary and allowed harvesting to take place under
ideal conditions.

Depending on the areas, the overall quantity is lower: 5% to 30% less than
in 2007. On the other hand, the quality level is high – and in Chablis even
exceptional.

Summary of the 2007/2008 growing season
Burgundy experienced a severe cold spell in mid-December but milder
conditions were prevalent in January and February. The average monthly
temperature was actually 2°C higher than normal. It didn’t rain much and
there was a water deficit during February.

But the rain shortfall ended in March and the long sunny period that
Burgundy had enjoyed that winter came to an end. In fact, it was probably
the sunniest winter of these last ten years.
Winter made a last-ditch intrusion at Easter: it snowed that day.

April was cool and wet, with little sunshine. By then, the amount of
rainfall received was twice as heavy as usual. The vine seemed to take its
time to grow: in some vineyards the buds were barely swelling on the branch
whereas, in better exposed areas, they were already sprouting and open.

No sooner had spring arrived that summer-like conditions became the norm.
The month of May was warm, with temperatures reaching 25°C (78°F) at times.
The vine took advantage of these conditions to develop rapidly. By mid-May
there were already 8 to 9 leaves out on the vine, the same level of
development seen in 2005.

The weather was rather cool and rainy for June. The flowering took place
over a two-week period, causing some coulure here and there (failure of the
grape to develop after flowering). Those vines planted in late-ripening
areas benefitted the most: when the temperature started to rise, the
flowering took place rapidly and uniformly.

At the beginning of July, the berries were well formed and distinct. By
July 15th, the grapes had assumed their final shape. The amount of sunshine
was close to normal, except in August. The change of color (véraison)
occurred in Beaujolais around August 15th. . It quickly spread to Côte d’Or
and Chablis as the climatic conditions improved dramatically.

The weather was cooler and wetter at the beginning of September, with
outbreaks of botrytis noticed in some areas. Maturation was progressing
slowly and the picking was due to begin September 22nd.

The weather turned beautiful by mid-September and stayed that way for the duration of the harvest: bright skies, dry and windy days, marked difference in temperature between day and night. The vines kept ripening under ideal conditions and all botrytis infection disappeared.

Style of the wines:
Chablis: In Chablis, 2008 may be one the best vintages of the last 25 years: great minerality, concentration, balance, aromatic intensity, liveliness. These wines are now developing under excellent conditions.

Côte d’Or: In mid-August who would have thought that these wines would turn out to be so good?

White wines: The wines have well developed aromas and their level of acidity is higher than usual. Stirring the lees gives the wines nice volume. We are waiting to see what influence the malolactic fermentation will have. It has actually started in a few of the cuvées. The quality level is overall excellent.

Red wines: Beautiful ruby-red color. As with the whites, the acidity level is high. The wines are therefore lively but their malolactic fermentation has not yet started, which is a good thing in our opinion. The wines have good stuffing, tannin and a discreet finesse which should become more apparent as the élevage goes on.

Frédéric J. DROUHIN
January, 19th 2009

arlaud vendanges photos (4) le fin…

By Marko de Morey et de la Vosne on October 24, 2008 #vintage 2008

The last picture selection from Mark:

The first four pictures all coming off Bonnes Mares looking towards Morey:

The last four are the team at the end ! Me bottom right front row in 111 & 112 next to Amy Winehouse look alike Sandrine.
Mark de Morey

arlaud vendanges photos (3) birthday of serge…

By Marko de Morey et de la Vosne on October 23, 2008 #vintage 2008

Serge is in the grey hoodie pening the large format bottle and with the cake. Lovely man.

The rest of the party are Herve Arlaud, Romain Arlaud (dark curly hair & plaster cast on wrist) and my domaine resident fellow vendangeurs including Sophie, la belge.
Mark de Morey

arlaud vendanges photos (2)

By Marko de Morey et de la Vosne on October 22, 2008 #vintage 2008

More photos from Arlaud. These are all from our first day, 27/9, picking Bourgogne Rouge grapes below the RN74. Herve Ar;aud is the grey haired guy in pale polo shirt on the right in No 12.

No 29 has one of the great larger than life characters amingst our crew, local Jean-Pierre Feral, with patron Herve Arlaud – the latter with atypical cigarette. J-PF & HA kept up a continual , ongoing banter about all & sundry even whilst we were in the vines which was the source of much constant amusement (except fully to me as I couldnt understand it unfortunately !!).
Mark de Morey

arlaud vendanges photos (1)

By Marko de Morey et de la Vosne on October 21, 2008 #vintage 2008

Photos of cuverie and triage table.

Very impressive new build modern set up – must have cost a bit. 3 or 4 yrs old. The fork lift takes the metal ‘tub’ from under the sorting table and is able to rotate it to tip the grapes into the tanks.

In photo 20 Cyprien Arlaud is facing the camera foreground in the pale beige fleece. Stagiste Peter is in the black vest type T shirt and ‘above’ him is patron, Herve Arlaud – a really great guy.

Typical end of day wind down drink in the ‘refecture’ – the local vendangeurs before going home for the day. The collages on the walls behind are collections of photos of previous vintage vendanges.

The second two photos of 4 here, 16 & 15, are from the 3rd Oct just after we had ‘escaped’ the worst rain of the vendange that afternoon. I’m in the right foreground with green fleece over my waterproofs trying to stay warm – note my damp hair !! Next to me is Georges, one half of the incredible duo of two septagerian (? – seventy + yrs old both) brothers , Georges et Fernand.
Mark de Morey

arlaud vendanges – the reprise!

By Marko de Morey et de la Vosne on October 20, 2008 #vintage 2008

‘Mark de Morey’ was eventually found – not at the bottom of the destemmer, rather with a full inbox in his Blackberry – de rigeur for pickers this year you know! Trying to fix both that and his cherished camera slowed him down a little, but unbowed, here’s the continuation of his story…

Domaine Arlaud Diary

Monday 29th Sept
My notes, now, several days later, tell me we did Morey Les Blanchards premier cru this morning and afternoon we did Morey Les Milandes premier cru although has been suggested we did the latter yesterday – your writer now confused.com !! By checking the Morey map in Coates latest tome am sure doing ‘Blanchards’ morning was correct – supported by one or two photos taken, including a couple of my fellow vendangeurs (male) pisse dans les vignes ! Recall the grapes looked very healthy indeed – large pendulous, clean looking, bunches from Milandes. Read more..

wednesday 8th update

By billn on October 08, 2008 #vintage 2008

Posts on this are getting fewer and farther apart as the harvest is all-but completed. My home domaine reports that the Gevrey grand crus that were harvested at the beginning of this week exceeded expectation. The Latricières from this grower is frankly always ‘poor looking’ and this year a full 20% was discarded during triage (that’s a lot!) but what remained looked better even than in 2005! Considering the winemaker thought he might turn down the fruit 3 weeks ago, he was completely amazed. Actually there is still some fruit to harvest, and that’s in the Hautes Côtes – this will be done at the end of this week in sunshine and the warmest temperatures for a month – 23°C is forecast.

What of what went before? Well the whites are just starting to ferment, though most of the reds are still ‘cold soaking’ – the Pommard however, has almost completed its alcoholic fermentation. When fermented to ‘dry’, maybe they will be drawing lots for who has to taste, given the high pre-malo acidity – still it will be cheaper than visiting the dentist for tooth whitening 😉

A short report from David Clark in Morey:

“We picked everything in good conditions on Wed and Thursday last week. Very little rot and sugars ranging from 11.5 for the Passetoutgrains to 12.9 for the Vosne. Acidities are a little high, but it seems that will be the hallmark of the vintage. Fermentations are just starting now.

The Vosne looked very nice indeed – had a bit more rot than some of the plots, but the average berry size was tiny. Just a shame there isn’t more of it!!”

I’ll also add the last three updates from Domaine de la Vougeraie:

monday 6th update

By billn on October 06, 2008 #vintage 2008

It’s a little too early to check with the ‘home’ domaine, but I can provide you with the reports frm Domaine de la Vougeraie as I had some trouble getting them from the site:

A further update this tomorrow.

Burgundy Report

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