News from the Vineyard

by Edouard Bourgeois
September 23, 2021

If, like me, you follow producers such as Domaine Lafarge, Jean-Marc Roulot or Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg, you may have noticed that the crucial time of harvest has arrived.

Among the first to harvest was Domaine Simon Bize on September 12. Domaine Lafarge and their neighbor Marquis d’Angerville both started picking beautiful, small and concentrated clusters of Pinot Noir on Monday. Dominique Lafon picked his first grapes in Volnay last Friday, The Mugneret-Gibourgs started yesterday. Burgundy winemakers are firing on all cylinders.

2021 was marked by a historic episode of spring frost, destroying mostly Chardonnay vines and seriously impacting the production of the famous whites of the Cote de Beaune. Pinot Noir were also affected but to a lesser extent. Anthony Hanson, who writes for Jancis Robinson, notes in an early July article: “The frosts affected Chardonnays in strange ways. Domaine Blain-Gagnard in Chassagne-Montrachet report that they may have lost 65% of a normal crop in the Premiers Crus La Boudriotte and Cailleret, where La Grande Montagne (higher up the hill) is 90% affected. Their Grands Crus and village-level wines were less damaged. Informally, I gathered that Domaine Leflaive may be looking to produce 40% of a normal crop”

Summer was overall rainy and humid, a situation far from ideal, although the water tables needed to be replenished after a very dry spring. Rot pressure is certainly the main concern for vignerons and the sorting tables are in full swing.

Good luck to our vigneron friends!