The last days of the last week delivered a lot of rain for some – but the growers say not too much – but further north it waned. Maranges and Santenay had approaching 50mm, in Meursault it was closer to 30mm and by the time the weather-front reached Beaune there was a deposit of only 15mm. The Côte de Nuits saw much less. It was enough to dissuade almost everyone from entering the vines with their secateurs, though I did find the team from Domaine Boisson-Vadot (Meursault), on Saturday afternoon, in some of their Meursault villages – mud clinging tightly to their boots! For this parcel they estimated at least 60% was lost to the frost. Mud or not, the grapes tasted great!

Sunday, which a few days earlier was forecast to be dry was clearly a washout – heavy rain starting before first light (now about 07h15) – and continuing to about 6pm. All is now dry and the forecast suggests sun and a modest 20-22°C at least until next weekend. Look out for many starting their whites on Monday – or Tuesday with less mud! – and the reds starting to commence from about Wednesday onward.

For my home team, anticipating the lack of grapes and the (quite probably) ridiculous price that they will fetch, we will commence on Wednesday – but with 7 tonnes of Morgon!

Let’s see how that goes 🙂
 

Yesterday evening about 10pm we were treated to lots and lots of lightening, and occasionally heavy, but essentially modest, rain.

Today, it’s been dark for most of the day, with a little rain here and there too. Just now, however, Beaune erupted with thunder, rain and even a little sunshine and rainbows – pretty, if short-lived – still, it’s nicer in than out 🙂

Translated from today’s news email from Inter Beaujolais.

The progresses of the grape maturity in Beaujolais (16,000 hectares between Lyon and Mâcon):

The first secateurs will be used in anger at the end of this week – for the earliest maturing areas.

In terms of climate, the ideal conditions of recent weeks, with hot temperatures and dry weather, has allowed the grape maturatity to progress while maintaining good sanitary conditions. Note, the high amount of sunshine in July and August (more than 100 hours) and approaching records in August, with 20 days of full sun versus an average of 10 days.

The volume (and outside the areas damaged by hail in the spring, which was about 2,200 hectares affected by 50% or more), the harvest should be above the average of the last 5 year’s yields – a more classic harvest of between 700 and 800,000 hectolitres. The weight of the berries is below average, but the average cluster size is quite larger this year – despite the plot-to-plot variablity.

The rains of last night and those announced for the weekend will be beneficial after several very hot, dry weeks. The weather forecast for next week suggests normal seasonal temperatures and sunshine, which should help the vines to achieve their maturity ‘serenely.’ The winemakers whose plots are in the later maturing should also benefit from these weather forecasts.