Back from the summer pause and now it’s time to concentrate on content – oh, and there’s a harvest coming too !!

There are already a few outlier domaines who are in the vines, picking grapes – more on that later. The crémant harvest kicked off in a more concerted fashion, with a new record early harvest, they are almost a week underway. Likewise, parts of Beaujolais – even in the crus – are following suit for still reds too.

Although we had a wet first quarter – lot’s of standing water in flat areas of vineyards that were reminiscent of 2024 – this year has panned out very differently to 2024. So much so, that before further posts on the harvest itself, I wanted to compare this 2026 vintage with other recent hot vintages:

The 2026 vintage based on official vineyard assessments of ‘heat-sum monitoring*’ versus other benchmark warm years

*base 10°C tracking, base indicies from the Chambre d’Agriculture (Bourgogne Franche-Comté):

The Key Thermal Comparisons

• 2026 vs. 2009 & 2015:
  2009 and 2015 are known for warm, sunny, and stable ripening periods. In contrast, 2026 has been defined by unprecedented, indeed volatile, thermal anomalies, such as a historic May heatwave featuring a weekly average temperature 10°C above the monthly normal for May, and additional June/July canicule events featuring daytime peaks of 38°C to 40°C paired with tropical nights exceeding 24°C.
• 2026 vs. 2018:
  While 2018 was characterised by a generous, warm summer and swift ripening, 2026 demonstrated significantly more extreme early-season spikes. 2026 achieved growth milestones (such as bunch closure and initial véraison) roughly 10 to 15 days ahead of the trajectories seen in the late-2010s vintages.
• 2026 versus the recent precocious benchmarks of 2020, 2022 & 2025:
  The 2020 and 2022 vintages are well-known for their early vegetative starts and high heat sums. 2026 tracked closely to these two years during bud-burst and early spring, but moved ahead of even those vintages by the summer. By mid-June, 2026 was outpacing 2020 and 2025 by at least 8 days, and by late June, it confirmed an advance of 5 days compared to 2020.
• And the one that you’ve been waiting for – 2026 versus the historic heat standard of 2003:
  The 2003 vintage has long stood as the gold standard for intense summer heat in Burgundy. However, by mid-July, the 2026 vintage surpassed 2003’s heat accumulation. Specifically, as of Jul 12, 2026 recorded 940°C in accumulated temperatures since Mar 01, compared to 91°C* for 2003 at the exact same date.

A different comparison:

But what is the phenological impact of all this heat?

This concentrated thermal mass created a “flash” cycle. While previous hot vintages like 2015 or 2018 allowed steady, sun-drenched development, 2026 forced a lightning-fast flowering period in under a week, pushing the earliest parcels toward potential harvest dates as early as Aug 20 to Aug 25.

A newly Michelin 2-star (grapes!) producer has already told me that they currently see the 2026 vintage more like an (even more) extreme version of 2020, than a 2003-style vintage – of course, that’s just one data point, and before picking too…

However, the heat in 2026 has been so intense that it hit a ceiling: unlike 2018 or 2020, where in those vintages heat consistently advanced maturity, the extreme thermal and hydric stress of 2026 has triggered physiological blockages (‘blocages de maturation‘), causing a sharp divide between maturing plots and those entirely stalled by the heat.

And what about differences between the Côte de Beaune and the Côte de Nuits?

The peak summer weeks of 2026 delivered both a thermal and hydric parting of the waves between the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune. While both sectors experienced historic heat sums, the Côte de Beaune experienced more early-season hydric stress and heat spikes. Conversely, the Côte de Nuits experienced more localised weather anomalies, including a severe mid-July hailstorm around Marsannay and into Dijon.

Effectively, the climate of June and July 2026 created two distinct ripening environments across the Côte d’Or:

Côte de Beaune: Early Stress and High Acid Degradation
The Côte de Beaune entered the peak summer weeks under significant hydric-stress. While it received an exceptional maximum of 52 mm of rain in early May (centered around Meursault), subsequent weeks dried out rapidly.

During the mid-July heatwaves, the Côte de Beaune recorded extreme daytime highs frequently touching 38°C to 40°C. This sustained thermal ‘attack’ led to a rapid degradation of malic acid in the grapes. However, total acidity remained structurally stable because the lack of rain prevented potassium uptake, preserving high tartaric acid levels.

Côte de Nuits: Severe Localized Storms and Hail Damage
The Côte de Nuits experienced a volatile meteorological pattern during the peak summer weeks. The northern sector entered July as the driest zone in the region (recording only 23 mm to 24 mm in late spring/early summer). A drought was that broken broken between July 15 and July 18 by intense, localised storms, e.g. A major storm tracked through Premeaux, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Vosne-Romanée, and Vougeot on July 15th, quickly dropping 25 to 30mm of water. In the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, Meuilley even recorded 53 mm of rain.

Across both regions, the extra heat has degraded nearly all the malic acid. Of course, the producers are monitoring individual parcels closely…

It’s the start of July, so time to take stock…

Last week it was super hot, with temperatures that are usually reserved for August. This week it’s ‘quite’ warm. What rain was in the last days’ forecast for the Côte d’Or hardly materialised, and the prognosis for the next two weeks is largely dry and getting hotter again – but for some light relief, at least the nights are forecast to be cooler…

So the domaines are mostly trying to avoid any stress for the plants. Few are ploughing or even moving the soil right now as the soil will dry out faster, and likewise, the trimming of the vines has been significantly curtailed to avoid ‘stress.’ So far, there’s no indication of ‘blocking’ in the vast majority of soils, just a few yellowing leaves on flat gravelly (draining) soils or very stony soils without much earth (right)…

It’s a vintage where I’ve never seen so much watering of recently planted vines. As you will know, it is against the rules of AOC to irrigate vines, or they will lose their right to this appellation d’origine contrôlée – the resulting wines become, for example, Vin de France instead of Clos de Vougeot. Young vines, under 3 years old, are the only exception to this rule.

I wonder if we are witnessing a modern 1976 in the making. A vintage in Burgundy where the drought was more marked than the heat of some other regions/countries. This year, it seems that we have both !!

As for the Côte d’Or hail of Wednesday 17th June, significantly hit were Beaune to Pommard, and hail cannons were not used as the storms ‘came from the wrong direction(!)‘ The insurance assessors were in the vines during the last week of June, as much as 30% losses were forecast – but today, 30% ‘of what’ is the fair question. The effect should be less in the pinots, but there was already some coulure in the whites of Beaune, so it could be a ‘real’ 30% here. Then this week (Sunday evening), multiple violent storms came through Beaujolais, mainly bringing some much-needed water, but hail came too. There was some significant damage on the hill of the Côte de Brouilly and the nearby valley of Brouilly Saburin… Too early to say for sure, but vigneron(ne)s are suggesting 60-80% losses, see the images…

Back to the Côte d’Or, Frederic Mugnier told me yesterday, “I’m surprised how the vines currently look – they look fine – but I don’t like this period of heat, we need rain, but there’s nothing in the forecast. The vines looked great 1 week ago and will still be great if we get some rain.”

And where are we in terms of maturity?

Well, already in the last days of June, there were photos of the first (red) veraison – potentially the earliest in a sequence of very early vintages. Assuming no blocking to retard maturity, the crémants will already be harvesting around 7 August and the still whites only a week later, then the first (young) reds only a few days later – but it’s usually the case that the combination of heat and dryness causes the process of maturity to stall and is usually ‘unlocked’ by events of rain…

“The season is clearly ahead of schedule. We have compared 2026 to other great early-ripening vintages—often characterised by heat and dry summers: with mid-flowering on May 24 and bunch closure around June 20–22, it is hard not to recognise the hallmarks of an exceptional season. However, the water deficit since the start of the season is among the most severe ever recorded. Also noteworthy is that June temperatures were 4.4°C above the 30-year average.
Apex Vineyard Consulting”

The hail on the Côte de Brouilly, Sunday 28th June:

Whilst trying to avoid any sense of voyeurism, I have to report the hail of yesterday…

After the wonderful weather of flowering – and at least 95% is finished in the Côte d’Or – this week, it’s really cooled and become intermittently rainy – it hardly peaked above 16°C yesterday.

I was in Premeaux about 13h15 when the next rainstorm came through – and this one was big; lightning, oh, and some hail too…

The Premeaux hail was very short-lived – hardly a minute and had only very small, half-centimetre ‘stones.’ There was no obvious damage to see in the vines afterwards. It wasn’t like that in the Côte de Beaune.

The ‘best’ images come via Nicolas Rossignol. I’ve seen others with plenty of damaged ‘berries’ too. Of course, at this stage, berries is too large a descriptor – these are tiny, hard grapelets – and with the weather returning to hot and dry from Saturday, yield excepted, there should be very little consequence in terms of quality, or the earliness of this year’s harvest…

But of course, my fingers are crossed…

14 May – my first flowers, Meursault

May 25 mid-flowers – Pinot, Volnay

Chevalier-Montrachet

Chevalier-Montrachet

Corton’s pigs 😉

Absolutely delicious

For later…

Impressively young, but rustic

Best wine of the last 10 days…

Simply excellent…

Well, didn’t that weather change quickly !!

A week ago, we were barely seeing 20°C and the heating in my apartment in Beaune was working to keep a steady 20°C. This week it’s been wall-to-wall 33°C – and at least for the first half of the week, humid too – I now have 26°C in my apartment – and that’s without my heating!

I spotted my first flowers – of course, in the chardonnay – on the 14th of May. That’s the earliest I’ve ever personally seen flowers. It’s always in a wind-shaded but sunny-reflective part of a Meursault 1er Cru. That was, of course, an outlier, but by now we are into mid-flowering in pinot and quite some way through the chardonnay flowering phase.

The weather is ideal for flowering, just a light breeze and over 30°C – all should be finishing in the next few days before the weather changes, cooling and becoming wet – all of which could be true by the middle of next week.

In the Côte d’Or, things are looking very bright after two small volume vintages…

Montrachet

Puligny

Romanée-Conti

Fleurie…

It’s started to get warm, but it’s only 10 days since the candles, windmills and burners were doing their thing in many parts of Burgundy.

The worst of the frost seemed to be, as usual, in Chablis. Temperatures as low as -6°C were seen near Chichée – and that’s not a place that’s afforded much protection; Their premiers are quite distant from sources of water (for aspersion) and the village wines can’t really support the cost of using candles. I know that the assessors from the insurance companies have been on site this week – with early estimated of 25-40% losses – in places. In other places, mainly the higher value vineyards, where candles and water sprays were used, the damage seems to be much, much smaller – but we will see – it’s how the flowering and grape development goes that counts…

In the Côte d’Or it has, so far, been another year of prophylactic vine protection measures. Yes, temperatures hovered around -3°C one night, but the weather was also dry and windy. The next day was also supposed to be minus 3°C, but turned out cloudy and closer to zero. Again, we will have to see how the flowering goes, but damage seems rarer than in Chablis – which was already ahead of the rest of Burgundy in growth.

The Hautes Côtes de Beaune had a few losses – particularly near Paris l’Hôpital in the south of the Côte d’Or, but the Côtes Chalonnais, Mâconnais and down into Beaujolais seemed to have avoided damage.

The next days are forecast to be cooler again after some days hovering around 25°C – but nothing close to frosty, indeed many domaines have already cleared away their candles…

Of course, it’s very early, but the current stage of growth is already indicative of a late August harvest !!

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Although, to an extent, already deployed in Chablis, the last of the candles, ‘smudge-pots,’ trace-heating wires, heat-cannons and windmills were put in place in the Côte d’Or during Wednesday and Thursday.

For the last two nights, they have been put to use with temperatures well below zero Friday-Saturday, after the night before showed roughly 0°C. It seems tough in the Mâconnais too…

The frost of recent years has arrived around the 10th April – it’s 2 weeks earlier in 2026 – but with enough early growth that there will certainly be some yield-reducing damage.

For now, all we can do is watch and take stock – these are sleepless nights for the working vignerons…

It was the Grand Jours de Bourgogne last week – so the town was very busy – I don’t think that there were many free hotel rooms as 2,700 people were registered….

Actually, since covid-time, I stopped going to very large tastings with (literally for the GJB) over 1,000 tasters in a room better suited to 2-300, and with so much spitting too 🙂

I anyway prefer to meet one-on-one in a quieter place – the producers’ actual domaine, for instance – and I’m already up to 223 domaines since the (roughly official) launch of my 2024 (vintage) tasting campaign on the 1st October. But the GJB does have a number of tastings outside of the official 2-3 regional tastings per day of the official program – here you can also find interesting things – so I found a couple of those to go to 😉

I also managed to tour around the vines – mainly in the Côte de Beaune last week. Much of the standing-water (in the flats of the vineyards) has receded, so it’s starting to look a little less like 2024, even though I was met with lots of rain on Wednesday !!

Thursday and Friday were sunny days, the views Spring-like, with the flowers blossoming between the vines – the almond blossom is already a memory. You can see that much of the pruning is done, and a large part of laying the bagettes (the main shoot) onto the metal wire is complete. The buds are starting to bulge at the end of the shoots, but I didn’t see any single leaves yet – which hasn’t stopped the caterpillars from starting to eat the buds!

I saw only one vineyard where candles have been deployed in the Côte d’Or – to counter frost – and that was in some villages Santenay, but I hear on the grapevine (literally!) that candles were lit over the weekend in Chablis – maybe some water-sprays too !!

This week, I was in the Mâconnais…

Beaune pizza time

High up in Pommard

Beaune Clos des Ursules

Beaune Bressandes

Corton

Corton

Great tasting

Montrachet on Friday

What a lovely week – first, I love the 2024s that I’m tasting and secondly – the weather!

Whilst it’s been chilly and close to 0°C in the mornings, every afternoon touched 20°C. Even my jogging has been well-served by shorts and a t-shirt.

Of course, we’ve had, what just about everyone will was agree, was a proper winter season. Though the pessimists will certainly say that it was too short…

The cool/cold weather ended abruptly about 10 days ago and the countryside is already blooming – the trees, even the magnolias, are close to full bloom. Of course, the pessimists (again) only point to the fact that their vines are about 15 days ahead of the average – about 2 months ahead of the St.Glace – about the same as they experienced in 2020 and also 2021 – but those vintages brought two very different results.

The candles are largely stockpiled and waiting for deployment – April 8-10 has been a common timing for frost in recent years, and that’s still a long way off !!

This week in Chablis: