“À point” in 2026 … flowering has begun”

The 2026 harvest is now on the horizon and people are – or at least should be – counting the days and hours, and be ready to spring into action when the grapes are ready, or “à point.”

The last vintages have shown that harvest timing is becoming increasingly important and complex as the optimal harvest window seems to have decreased significantly within the last 5 to 10 years.

If you, as vigneron, want to harvest wines that have optimal phenolic ripeness … then a few days or even hours can make all the difference … and many producers do apparently not have the understanding and or ability to harvest with this kind of surgical precision.

Improvements are definitely needed.

À point – at just the right time; at the peak of ripeness; at the perfect degree of doneness and optimal phenolic ripeness.

Flowering has started …

The flowering has started in Côte de Beaune … Olivier Lamy reported two days ago about flowering in Santenay Graviere.

The old rule harvest 100 days after mid-flowering … is still very crude … and in reality it should perhaps be replaced by 80-90 days after mid-flowering … to build in some flexibility in the harvest setup.

Harvest … the Winehog forecast

The original rule of thumb is, however, that harvest starts 100 days after mid-flowering – in theory, at least. Floraison (flowering) is underway as we speak … but perhaps we do not quite have reached the mid-flowering in some areas … but let’s just fix May 22 as a calculation point in 2026.

The forecast will be adjusted when needed …

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