One of many clos…
towards the 1er crus…
what’s in the back garden?
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a bit of meursault yesterday evening…
harvesting – but will that be in september or august?
Oïdium today in the Côte de Nuits…
The harvest date: Some people are mentioning the 5th of September as a potential harvesting date, which is entirely possible, but as of today, it’s still too early say whether the 5th of September will be the start date, or the finishing date!
We seem to have the potential for a record early vintage, or just a modestly early vintage – though there’s still time for even that to change.
The weather has been so dry that:
- The vineyards look resplendent…
- There is no rot to be found anywhere….
- But it’s becoming very stressful for the young vines – those suffering the most having yellow leaves nearest the ground, it’s really time that they were allowed to drink
- The humid conditions of 2014 allowed fruit flies to multiply late into the season – so-far it looks like that won’t be the case for suzuki and friends in 2015. Fingers crossed!
- The dry heat hasn’t stopped the oïdium though. Usually the pinot noir is more robust than the chardonnay to this problem, but not so in 2015, indeed, this year, the problem is currently most prevalent in the Côte de Nuits, mainly in the Nuits to Morey vines. Right now, this is the single-most important issue for most vigneron(ne)s in that area.
Of-course it’s been a hot year so-far, but as veraison (except a few outliners) is hardly underway, the weather has not yet decided if this will be a cool vintage or an année solaire – cooler weather and maybe storms are forecast for the weekend, but afterwards more hot weather is indicated. Any meaningful rain will be welcomed with open arms, particularly in the Beaujolais and Mâconnais where they didn’t get the same soaking in early and mid June as the Côte d’Or. But, a little welcome rain combined with the hot, but not too hot weather, could see the first chardonnay already being picked by 25th August!
Oïdium excepted, the vintage still looks on course for a good one. The potential yields, despite great flowering conditions, seem good, but not on the high level of 2009. Those vines heavily hailed in the last years, not surprisingly, have a poorer fruit-set, particularly the older vines. Many growers in the Pommard to Beaune axis are talking of possibly 20hl/ha – of-course if it rains a lot, then the grapes will expand and add weight (yield). But honestly, many of those growers will happily accept 20hl/ha!
Note: There are some roasted looking grapes to be seen (there was a photo in my diary yesterday) but look more closely, and they seem not to be the result of sun-burn, rather the result of chemical (sulfur) treatments in the heat of the day, rather than in early morning or late evening. Heat, direct sun and sulfur powder is a bad combination!
last sun in grands-echézeaux…
I’d planned to go for a run yesterday evening, but at the last minute there was an errand – so it was a run to the Côte de Nuits – in the car!
I took some pictures about 9:15pm with the last rays of the sun, mainly in Grands-Echézeaux – and despite all the images on the interweb, no sign of veraison yesterday – here anyway. One or two late sprayers were dosing their vines with sulfur and copper – I assume to avoid the peak heat of the day, these seemingly preferring to spray before bed, rather than at 5am!
Just treated GE…
Les Quartiers de Nuits with Violettes beyond
Roast GE!
GE
The wall of Clos de Vougeot…
Inside the wall…
only bottles, no writing…
one (special) day in the climats…
Yesterday was a celebration of the successful entry of ‘Burgundy’ into the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. If you have seen some/most of the coverage since this was announced on Saturday, you will have mainly noted that Champagne, also a new ‘inscription’ has taken the headlines, and that only the last paragraph mentions Burgundy.
Truth be told, it’s really a sub-set of Burgundy, one that we Anglo-Saxon’s refer to as the Côte d’Or, but the locals will quietly correct you and say that the inscription is actually for the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits – and in this instance, the definition used was Chenove to Maranges – inclusive. And the ‘grounds’ for inscription?
- To bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared.
- To be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change.
Beginning in 2007, it’s been a long road to achieve this local enhancement of ‘status’ – if it was ever required – and make no mistake it has been both resource intensive and requiring strong leadership. Clearly Aubert de Villaine was the symbol of the bid concept, but not merely a symbol, he was a driver and tireless promoter; his goal now achieved, don’t be surprised if Guillaume d’Angerville takes over what will inevitably now become a more symbolic rôle. One major positive of the successful UNESCO bid will be the greater attention to the fabric of the vineyards themselves – many have ramshackle walls and boundaries, sometimes shored-up with ugly daubs of concrete – I think (and hope) that maintenance will now be more ‘considered’ – after-all, ignoring weather traumas, the inflow of cash into the cellars of Burgundy has never been higher…
I had a special day of visits yesterday, arranged by the BIVB, to the most emblematic corners of Burgundy (sorry, I mean the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits!) – fundamental showcases of the cultural fabric of the region – and in much more bearable temperatures too; let’s say 28°C. We finished with a press conference and a garden picnic with a band and then fireworks in the grounds of the Château de Meursault – about 3,000 other people joined in the celebration too!
A day to remember!
Climats and the emblematic Hotel Dieu
Kitchen of the Hospices
“No, only I have the key to this cellar!” – Christophe Bouchard
1947…
The view to the church of Notre Dame in Beaune
(Part of) The statue of a famous Vosne domaine…
Romanée Saint-Vivant
Looking down on La Tâche
“And that bit over there isn’t as good…” 😉
2010 RC…
“We’d best finish this” (La Tâche 1990)
Climats…
Clos de Vougeot
In the Clos de Vougeot…
Back-slapping over, now time for the garden party…
“Ouf – excellente!”
“No, mine is better…”
“Have you tried this one?”
Let the band commence…
Some said there were 3,000 people…
Très Meursault…
‘He said what?’
Soizic et Denis
David et Jean-Yves
Thibault…
End of a great party…
99 volnay clos des ‘xxx’
Age shows the difference! My two wines from the Elégance de Volnay:
As young wines, i.e. the first year or two from release, this Potel was qualitatively on the same level as the Lafon Santenots and the d’Angerville Clos des Ducs – I really can’t say that anymore. Today the Potel is wild, complex and interesting, but also a little rustic – but the d’Angerville is a wine of grand cru interest and a fabulous silky texture – differences that really weren’t apparent when young. I didn’t bring a bottle of the Lafon to compare, because I know I have only 1 more…
1999 Nicolas Potel, Volnay 1er Clos des Chênes
Hmm – this smells good: complex, faint forest floor yet still with fine fruit notes too – super complexity. In the mouth it’s rather young, still showing plenty of grainy tannic teeth. Tasty wine and long too – in isolation a very good wine too – unfortunately for this bottle, it wasn’t drunk in isolation…
Rebuy – Yes
1999 Marquis d’Angerville, Volnay 1er Clos des Ducs
Aromatically this is similar to the Potel – complex, a little earthy development but with flashes of fine fruit too. In the mouth – wow – still young, direct and intense but with a cool sophistication and the purest of silk textures. Ouf! Gorgeous. Special wine.
Rebuy – Yes
relocation, muscle ache and 99 volnay (as a starting point…)
It was a quiet week in this Diary – eh?
Not so for me, in general, the above was my transport for part of the week. Full-power house-moving this week, and the refrigerated truck was just for my wine relocation. Although all my wine would have (just about!) fit into the truck, apparently I was not allowed to fill it with more than 1.5 tonnes – so I had to split the journeys. One trip to Bern and another slightly bigger parcel for a trip the Beaune – and fortunately no complications by customs/douane/zoll along the way – phew!
Did I say phew? Maybe phew what a scorcher – and getting warmer every day. I did note one design fault on my truck – yes climate control for the load, but no air-conditioning in the cab – oh-well only 3+ hours to Beaune with a coffee stop!!!
I can honestly say that I had a few aches afterwards – one case at a time (I’m something of a weakling) up the stairs from the cellar, up the steps into the truck, then back down the stairs for the next. Then reversed for the offload – fortunately in Beaune, the ‘reception’ was a little more professional – two palets piled impressively high, wrapped in saran and then transported to the cellar by forklift followed by lift – I gave thanks…
Friday was about catching up with a the wall of email, and today, Saturday is a very relaxing day – almost without muscle pain! Tonight the there is there is the dinner of the ‘Elegance de Volnay‘ the weather is warm with a medium breeze, but fortunately, unlike last year, all is calm…
I’ve two 99s lined-up to take to the dinner, I’ve just opened them and they seem fine; Potel’s 99 Clos des Chênes and d’Angerville’s Clos des Ducs. I’m anticipating ‘YUM!’
The 1st half of the first load!
A Porsche Moron – who would have thought?!
Sustenance along the way…
Sustenance along the way…
Sustenance along the way… (2012)
Hot day in Beaune, a #bagnum, a banette and paté from the market. Life is good…
l’éphémère…
你好 – こんにちは – bonjour…
Over 10 years ago, I had multiple language options as standard on these pages – but after a few alleged updates, they didn’t really work well. But after a long pause, there’s (potentially!) a more elegant solution, so…
Okay, it may be that the bottom of the page isn’t the first place that you’d look – I understand – but everywhere else looked just too scruffy to place the new ‘choose your language’ option. I’m happy to add other languages – as requested by you – but didn’t add German (so-far) as I find the translations pretty terrible. French looks not too bad to me, though don’t even bother asking me what I think of the accuracy of the (simplified) Chinese and Japanese translations 😉
The main problem with translation ‘engines’ for a wine site such as this, is that they also try to translate the vineyrad/wine/producer names – that will always be a bit of a mess, but:
这就是生活 / それが人生です / c’est la vie!