2008 vintage

The 2008 Vintage got off to a somewhat bad start with flowering finishing around 20 June in difficult conditions of sad and dismal weather, although it lasted about ten days.

 

The months of July and August saw abundant rain and a lack of sunshine.

 

At the beginning of September the state of health threatened to deteriorate whilst ripeness was still slight and the acidity of the grapes was high.

 

And then, once again this year, September saved the Vintage.
The north wind got up, chased away the clouds and brought freshness and light, allowing maturation to continue and drying the few sources of rot that were present. The fresh temperatures concentrated the grape juice.

 

Green harvesting was carried in mid-July, and deleafing at the end of July and the beginning of September. The grape harvest at the Domaine began the last weekend of September. But the vines, tired by the mediocre summer, had already taken on their autumn colouring and the final maturation appears to be due more to the concentration of sugar present in the berries than to classic photosynthesis. The musts attained a sugar concentration of 12% to 12.5%, after picking out 20% of the grapes, which were not sufficiently ripe or healthy. We notice the presence of many under-developed grapes.

 

The first wines we tasted after racking show superb colour, a great deal of purity of the fruit and integrated tannins.
Acidity appears to be somewhat high but it is necessary to await the spring and the end of the malolactic fermentations in order to be able to appreciate the real balance of these wines.