Côte de Beaune

Conclusions are almost lined up in Côte de Beaune as the ripeness levels are relatively clear for the good producers … alcohol should in many cases be at 10.5 to 11.5 and some 1er crus even slightly over 12%.

Yes, a moderate chaptalisation will be good and necessary in many cases, but the vintage is not a complete disaster.

That being said …. there are most likely serious ripeness issues amongst the lesser and poorer producers.

I had the pleasure of meeting Thibault Morey and he was quite happy with the ripeness level … positive given the terrible conditions of the vintage.

Matthieu Colladot, Pierre-Henri Rougeot and Bastien Duvernay had the same thing to say … as they clearly expected worse.

This is however not a great year as the ripeness levels are too low and too variable. Vinification will show if the wines are truly enjoyable in the short run …

Côte de Nuits

And now to Côte de Nuits where the mildew issues will take a dominant role. Firstly, yield will be strongly affected by the mildew … with a loss of yield between 40 – 90%.

Many factors can explain the variation in the effects of the mildew and I will try to cover this topic a bit later this week.

Then there is the effect of the low ripeness … again, it seems that sugar will be needed in limited amount for quite many wines … to lift them into place … 12-13% range.

Again not a disaster … but a great vintage …. hardly

And then the damage of the mildew… all the dried berries that ideally need to be removed before the grapes reach the fermentation tanks.

The next week will show how well the dried berries are handled and how much influence they will have on the fermented wines.

The key question indeed … and this is a pretty scary one to be honest.

Harvest wines …

Harvest also include pleasure and nice times with fellow geeks … here are a few nice bottles …

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Yesterdays Harvest Vie

2024 … it’s a wrap

September 25, 2024