Another special year … After the too frequent rainfall events from mid-April to end of July, a bright sun shines in August, September and even early October.
The maturation of the pinots noirs is unusually fast. The chardonnays that usually catch up remain with a classic 100 days between the flower and the harvest.
We decide to harvest in two steps. We harvest the pinots on September 21st. Then we wait one week to pick the chardonnays with a full ripeness. The last bunches are picked on October 5th under the sun.
The vineyard is full of surprises every year. This season which started with difficult conditions finally ends far better than we hardly dared to hope.
Part of the harvest has been lost, it is true, but ripeness is good and the bunches benefited from this nice season end. The vineyards are in great shape at last.
October harvests are not easy in our latitudes but thanks to this Indian Summer our grapes are tasty, with great flavours and minerality as we like.
We’re starting to taste, only one thing is for sure: 2016 vintage will be very different from 2015. Being a winegrower is everything but boring.