Vintage 2015

hail update & get ready for the léproserie

By billn on May 21, 2015 #travel pics#travels in burgundy 2015#vintage 2015

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 La Léproserie de Meursault…

So, late yesterday afternoon we had the first hail of the growing season. I linked Thibault Morey’s hail video (on Facebook) yesterday, and today I spoke with some growers and looked at the vines.

The spread of hail was a little wider than was first reported (by me), with vines also in Blagny and Meursault touched – mainly high on the hill – I even heard that a little Pommard was hit but I couldn’t verify it.

Essentially it was the canopy that was peppered with holes, and that canopy overwhelmingly protected the latent clusters of flowers below, I did see a few damaged parts to the clusters but it was minimal and will have no impact on either volume or quality – this time. You see the extent of the ‘shot’ in the images below.

As it turns out, hail is not the only concern just now; it’s much colder this week, but cloud-cover ensured that temperatures didn’t drop below 6°C yesterday evening, though in Arnay le Duc (on the plateau above the Côte d’Or) the ground was white with frost this morning, after a 0°C night. Nobody wants to see that! I did a small tour of the wall of Meursault Clos des Perrières this morning as the south-facing part had the first flowering I found last year, but still nothing yet…

Lastly, The Léproserie in Meursault is very soon to open its doors to tourists and I find the combination of the old with the new visitor reception to be really excellent – maybe it helped the sky was quite moody today!

opening hail season :(

By billn on May 20, 2015 #vintage 2015

https://www.facebook.com/thibault.morey/videos/856586747755715/

For those of you with a Facebook account – you might be able to see this video. Hail today in the area of Chassagne and St.Aubin recorded by Thibault Morey. Not too much damage – a few perforated leaves and the odd (latent) cluster touched, but basically minimal damage.

If the same was to come in another week or so, then we might have a different story – but so-far, we’ve no flowers…

Generally the weather is much, much cooler than last week – we hardly reached 15°C today – the wind has a little bite to it too – what a difference to last week! Still, there is as much sun as cloud – it’s just a matter of timing with the camera!

bonnes-mares…

By billn on May 15, 2015 #travels in burgundy 2015#vintage 2015

Well, mainly…

A visit in Morey on Thursday afternoon, and unusually, I was early! So I stopped off for a wander around the vines of a particular part of Bonnes-Mares, just outside the centre of Morey. The ground was very dry, though today’s rain – luckily without storms – should have helped in that department.

Thursday’s weather was still hot in the sun but cooler with a strong wind. Today, the rain and cold hit. I suppose we needed a bit of balance, as 30°C for three days running is a bit unusual for the first half of May. Before the heat the vines were basically ‘average’ versus a normal growth cycle – but the heat had the vines growing incredibly fast – the cold (About 10° and wet) may have just kept them in the ‘average.’

early starts…

By billn on May 13, 2015 #travels in burgundy 2015#vintage 2015

The days are long for some.

Such is the heat (& sunburn) this week, that many are already starting their day in the vines at 06h00. Some balancing with a long siesta, others not.

Today was ‘second treatment day’ for some, though given the forecast for storms tomorrow or Friday, I’m not sure if it will have been worth the effort – but let’s see who’s right, them or the forecasters…

Two tastings this morning that were a world apart – Felettig and Le Moine – the traditional and the new, yet both characterised by a myriad of small parcels and/or cuvées.

A small collection today – from Chambolle and Beaune:

windless…

By billn on May 07, 2015 #vintage 2015

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The first spray in Beaune…

I was shaking my head watching a tractor deliver it’s treatment in the vines yesterday – or not deliver as it turned out. A reasonably strong wind was sweeping across the vines, and with it, their treatment was swept away. Not just a waste, but what price bio or organic certification when half of your neighbours’ treatments end up on your vines? Oh-well.

But today the wind is just a fraction of yesterday and the sky is clear and blue. I see that Guillaume Tardy and Charles Lachaux are making their first treatments of the year in Vosne, and further south, Nicolas Rossignol (the Beaune/Volnay version!) is doing the same. Of-course, there are many others too…

These first treatments (powdered sulfur mainly, some with copper too), despite modest growth of the vines so-far, are mainly due to the early pressure of rot – oïdium mainly – after the strong rains of the last weekend: I assume that must also have been reduced by the wind of the last days, though…

the scent is in the air…

By billn on April 24, 2015 #harvests#vintage 2015

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Beaune’s wisteria (today, above) is just a couple of days behind the Mâconnais, where every small village hangs heavy with the scent of the those blooms.

The growers in Mâcon are quite happy with the year’s progress – so far – as the vines are just about perfectly ‘average’ in terms of their growth cycle versus ‘the average.’

But. It could be as cold as 2°C on Monday/Tuesday evening and plenty of rain is forecast too – that will hurt after a few days of 26°C+ – and I’m sure it won’t be great for Beaune’s wisteria population!

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