Sunday in NSG – harvest is moving on… although it has become relatively quiet in the vineyards.
The harvest is not necessarily a time of hyper stress with many harvesters in each vineyard… It’s more the combined effort of many teams populating the many different plots spread out all over Burgundy!!
But for the vignerons … this is a time of extreme stress … and pressure … If they care about the wines they make … and the people drinking them.
Burgundy is all about connections and business relationships these days … but to me, I need to have the passion to fuel and rule this game.
I need to feel the passion and the energy in the wines … I need to see a vigneron that cares … and rule the game … the harvest.
When I see Pierre-Olivier Garcia exhausted on the 14th day of the harvest – still fighting to get the very best from the grapes of the numerous plots … I know that it is this passion I taste in his wines … year after year … vintage after vintage.
Behind the scenes, it is a struggle to run a harvest … and 2026 is not a walk in he park, with a very early start … with Burgundy not ready to start for at least a week … sometimes the ignorance of this region is equally carelessly idiotic, and charming. No wonder so many hopeless wines are made … and why Pierre-Olivier Garcia gets frustrated in his quest to make top-end wines.
Burgundy is always a struggle … to make greatness … vin d’émotion… no one makes all winners and truly flawless wines every time… but they try to reach excellence as often as humanly possible …
They are vignerons that move your soul, your heart, and enlighten your smile … and make me follow yet another harvest.
So yes, rating wines is personal … and yes, reviews can be biased …
My friend Pierre-Olivier Garcia
Being a wine writer is a friendless game, as you, in theory, can’t be truly impartial if you are on friendly terms with some vignerons and on average or even bad terms with others.
I am, however, not claiming to be impartial … I do my ratings and reviews out of my passion … and passion is the full package: the wines, the plots and the persons behind the wines. I think that I am on quite good terms with many vignerons… but I could not really say, as no winemaker wants to be on bad terms with the winepress!!
People who claim they are not personal in rating wines and estates are often extremely uninspiring … sorry to say this bluntly … it’s the talent, the passion, and the effort of the vigneron that ignites my love for the wines and estate. If you add great terroirs, then we have ignition and a potential explosion of emotional wines.
Pierre-Olivier Garcia has this passion … it makes him extremely talented, annoying, and perfectionistic to an irritating degree … but also fascinating, producing some great wines with his baie-par-baie technique.
PO did not jump the fence at the lowest point … making baie-par-baie wines is a struggle and very demanding for the vigneron and the team.
I did quite some harvesting at Domaine Garcia over the years, apparently to the great irritation of some other vignerons in NSG. This is after all Burgundy … it is often easier to focus on others’ work than to improve your own doings.
I am not a winemaker … I don’t have the work ethic and the stamina to pull through and make the wines in the difficult times … I know the passion and the survival instincts you need to continue year after year as a small vigneron without owning most of your own vineyards.
2026 could well produce some very interesting wines … the potential is there, but it is not a winner in financial terms … as the yield is 50% below normal … or even 60% or 70% lower in the worst examples … this is a financial struggle for the small vignerons in Burgundy in the times of global warming.
I therefore salute Pierre-Olivier Garcia for his fight for great wines every year … it is a treat to drink your wines and a pleasure to know you!
Photos taken by Dr Chua Yang … 📸 @drchuayang
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Harvest time … Forecast
| Forecast date | Harvest Côte de Beaune | Harvest Côte de Nuits |
| May 18th | August 15th | August 22th |
| June 20th | August 15th | August 22th |
| July 5th | August 15th | August 22th |
| August 7th | August 12th | August 18th |
| August 9th | August 7th | August 9th – early start small plots |
| 2025 Harvest Final | August 17th | August 27th |
Weather – forecast
I will follow the weather in the harvest reports; start date August 12th – base level is Nuits-Saint-Georges,
Yesterday’s Harvest View
Harvest articles
- Harvest 2026 – passion and bias
- Harvest 2026 – a rising star
- Harvest 2026 – a common passion
- Harvest 2026 – the effect of rain
- Harvest 2026 – then the rain came
- Harvest 2026 – the final run
- Harvest 2026 – lower alcohol in Côte de Nuits
- Harvest 2026 – the big harvest days
- Harvest 2026 – and vin d’émotion
- Harvest 2026 – in the mood
- Harvest 2026 – lacking pickers
- Harvest 2026 – the alcohol in the room
- Harvest 2026 – avanti … Avanti!!
- Harvest 2026 – a fair bit of rain!
- Harvest 2026 – here we go … but no rain
- Harvest 2026 – Burgundy is now in harvest mode
- Harvest 2026 – possible panic is lurking
- Harvest 2026 – Friends, free and Fee
- Harvest 2026 – preparing for harvest next week
- Harvest 2026 – preparing the start
- Harvest 2026 – the harvest unfolds
- Harvest 2026 – has started
- Harvest 2026 – less than two weeks to the start
Contact – mail me a tip or a photo
Send me an email – if you have some harvest news
- A true vin d’émotion – a Burgundy of passion
- A truly hedonistic wine – lively and enjoyable
- A vivacious wine for pure indulgance
- A potential vin d´émotion - frais et léger
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