2023 vintage
Another very special year but that’s what makes the charm of the winegrower’s profession.
The winter was mild and reasonably wet. The spring was cool, the season not too early, so we escaped the spring frost and maintained our second late pruning. The flower therefore passed quickly in very good conditions around June 10.
The summer alternated between cool and milder periods, regularly irrigated by stormy rains. It has been rather cool with us compared to recent years.
However, we experienced three periods with significant heat peaks, one in July, one around August 15 and the last at the beginning of September. The maximums were close to 38 degrees in the afternoons. A record for the end of summer after August 15.
This capricious weather could have benefited diseases, powdery mildew but especially mildew of exceptional virulence. It took rigor from our cultivation manager to respect a flawless processing schedule.
We have managed to preserve a generous harvest for our old vines with an average age of 60 years.
At the beginning of September the vines had difficulty ripening all their grapes. When we returned from vacation at the end of August, the vines had grown very little to supply the grapes with sugar. But we had to fight with the grass which had exceptional development. The vines spent the summer well, keeping all their leaves, a sign that they had a sufficient water reserve.
We decided to push back our harvest start date to September 11 and waited for the extreme heat to stop to preserve our harvesters.
The last week the grapes went from 11.5% potential degree to 12.5 or even 13 potential degree, following the concentration phenomena which took place. The acidity has even increased because the grapes have lost juice and concentrate the sugars and acidity.
The first grapes that we taste have a nice balance, a stable acidity with a good share of tartaric which has been preserved due to the rather cool summer.
The first musts were all cooled to 15 degrees to prevent fermentation from starting too quickly.
We are crossing our fingers that the predicted storms will spare us because the sugar and phenolic maturity being there, the quality of the harvest could quickly deteriorate..
The winter was mild and reasonably wet. The spring was cool, the season not too early, so we escaped the spring frost and maintained our second late pruning. The flower therefore passed quickly in very good conditions around June 10.
The summer alternated between cool and milder periods, regularly irrigated by stormy rains. It has been rather cool with us compared to recent years.
However, we experienced three periods with significant heat peaks, one in July, one around August 15 and the last at the beginning of September. The maximums were close to 38 degrees in the afternoons. A record for the end of summer after August 15.
This capricious weather could have benefited diseases, powdery mildew but especially mildew of exceptional virulence. It took rigor from our cultivation manager to respect a flawless processing schedule.
We have managed to preserve a generous harvest for our old vines with an average age of 60 years.
At the beginning of September the vines had difficulty ripening all their grapes. When we returned from vacation at the end of August, the vines had grown very little to supply the grapes with sugar. But we had to fight with the grass which had exceptional development. The vines spent the summer well, keeping all their leaves, a sign that they had a sufficient water reserve.
We decided to push back our harvest start date to September 11 and waited for the extreme heat to stop to preserve our harvesters.
The last week the grapes went from 11.5% potential degree to 12.5 or even 13 potential degree, following the concentration phenomena which took place. The acidity has even increased because the grapes have lost juice and concentrate the sugars and acidity.
The first grapes that we taste have a nice balance, a stable acidity with a good share of tartaric which has been preserved due to the rather cool summer.
The first musts were all cooled to 15 degrees to prevent fermentation from starting too quickly.
We are crossing our fingers that the predicted storms will spare us because the sugar and phenolic maturity being there, the quality of the harvest could quickly deteriorate..