It’s been a complicated season…
Following a very mild and very wet winter, the budburst (when the buds emerge) was early. Unfortunately, the rain didn’t stop with the spring, and it is still raining today! In the 40 years they’ve been working in the vineyards, the oldest members of our team have never seen so much water and especially this constantly humid atmosphere.
Inevitably, the mildew pressure is significant, even exceptional!
The Grand Mont, our young vine, was magnificent, but today, most of the leaves are attacked. For our older, less vigorous vines, the impact is much more limited, but no vine is unscathed!
N.B.: The intensity of mildew largely depends on the vigor of the vine.
We are trying to contain this fungus with copper and plant-based preparations (horsetail, willow bark, and garlic).
Another consequence of this humid weather is that the grass grows at a crazy speed. We note, dismayed, that glyphosate is making a notable comeback among many of our colleagues… At Larmandier-Bernier, we have hired seasonal workers to help us with hoeing.
The flowering started at the beginning of June, but due to these autumnal temperatures, it is prolonged. This is not ideal…
Happy End?
Despite the difficulties, we cannot predict the outcome. 2012 and 2016 were also laborious years, but in the end, these two vintages are magnificent. Hope keeps the winemaker alive…
Vintage 2023?
The 2023 wines are still in our barrels and casks, where we placed them at harvest when they were just freshly pressed juice. After the tumult of fermentation, they spent the winter in calm and have quietly nourished themselves on the lees. This long aging is a key step to release the aromas.
Our tastings of the 2023 harvest and reserve wines are now well advanced. This vintage has been very successful for Chardonnays in general, and particularly in the Côte des Blancs. We are pleasantly surprised by the freshness despite the heat at the time of harvest. In 2023, maturity — as we like it — was reached at lower alcohol levels than in previous years. We are returning to the values we were accustomed to until recently. This slightly lower alcohol level is probably responsible for this sensation of freshness. We love this tension and think that 2023 deserves to be a vintage. We are therefore preparing our favorite single-vineyard cuvées in Cramant, Avize, and Vertus! We will soon simply rack the wines and then bottle them at the end of July. After that, the second aging will begin, which will last several years in our cellars.
Latitude or Longitude?
The confusion is common! We have chosen a new labeling to better highlight the characteristics of each of these cuvées:
The eruption of aromas for Latitude and the relief and chalk of the Côte des Blancs for Longitude
Cheers!
Sophie, Pierre, Arthur, and Georges