News from the vineyard

July 21, 2020
By Justine Puaud

Lavaux, a stunning terraced vineyard

Mother Nature was generous with the region of Lavaux. Recognized as a world heritage site by UNESCO, the spectacular 830 hectares of terraced vineyards are facing the Léman lake (Lake Geneva) and offer exceptional weather conditions to make fantastic but still discreet wines. In fact, when you talk about the region of Lavaux, you mention the “3 suns”  which are the sky, the Léman lake and the terraces. This unique reflection of the water offers a very large variation of exposure, which give these wines their character.

Decades ago, the melting of the Rhône glacier created the unique terroir of Lavaux revealing different layers of soils which is quite similar of the one you find in Côte-Rotie. It is a diverse terroir composed of schist, granite and some puddingstone ( poudingue in French) which is a mix of cement and clay.

The main grape variety is Chasselas often called the “terroir sponge”. Huge differences can be noticed between plots that are right next to each other. It can be fruity, floral, earthy and delicate. In great vintages, after five or ten years, the wines develops aromas of honey, scents of walnut and a smooth texture which give the wines remarkable personality.

It is just the beginning of the véraison here. The Swiss will start picking the grapes around the first week of September.

In the village of Culy, facing the Lavaux vineyard and the Léman Lake.

News from the vineyard 7/15/20

The height of summer means the canopy management work is finished and all that remains for the hard working crew at Domaine Chapel, in their old vine vineyard Charbonnières in Fleurie, is to pick the wild strawberries and await the ripening that late July and August brings.

Domaine Chapel is a winery started in 2016 by David Chapel (son of famed three-star Michelin Chef Alain Chapel) and his wife, Michele Smith (formerly a NYC sommelier.) Lucie and Eva, foraging below, are their only full time employees (in practice they are actually volunteers and work for room and board!) The old vines of the Charbonnières vineyard are among their top holdings.

News from the vineyard 7/6/20

by Max Goldberg Liu

Veraison - the onset of ripening - is a turning point in the vine’s life cycle when it changes gears from producing energy through photosynthesis to storing that energy as sugar in grapes.

After flowering and fruit-setting, the grapes are hard, highly acidic, and green from the plant’s chlorophyll. Veraison replaces the chlorophyll with anthocyanins (giving red grapes their color) or carotenoids (in white grapes) and pumps sugars and other compounds from the vine into the berries. Over the course of ripening, the grapes swell with juice, their percentage of sugar (measured in brix) increases, and their acidity falls. Choosing to harvest when the sugar, acidity, and other phenolic compounds like tannins are perfectly balanced is one of the most important decisions a winemaker has to make each vintage.

In Burgundy, veraison classically happened in late July, although rules of thumb are obviously out the window in recent years with climate change. This vintage, winemakers are seeing veraison start to happen right now. The precocious vintage continues…

Climate, the Latest Challenge for Burgundy

June 30th, 2020

By Edouard Bourgeois

(inspired by an original article from Wine Searcher)

Once again, this year, many European vineyards are being scorched by high temperatures. In a conversation with winemaker Mathieu Lapierre of Beaujolais (who also did a great Pressoir.wine At Home Session with us!) he was telling me that if the weather patterns continue on the same schedule, he will be done harvesting by September. One month early!

The veracity of the terroir and its classification based on geographical traits (altitude, slope, location) is starting to be questioned among wine professionals. Is terroir immutable?

In some areas, some audacious changes have been made, such as in Bordeaux where it is, since 2019, legal for winemakers to blend Marselan and Touriga Nacional (the main varietal of Port!) into their Bordeaux AOC and Bordeaux Superieur AOC. On the other hand, Burgundy, famous for its thousand-year-old, monasterial hierarchy of “climats” seems really set in stone. But with temperatures rising across the region, many fear the historically warmer Grands Cru sites are going to start producing California style Pinot Noirs. In fact, two Burgundy growers hinted (maybe jokingly) that they were going to do some experiments with Syrah. Ironically, vineyards higher up in altitude like Bourgogne Hautes Cote de Nuits, long considered to be too cold, are enjoying better ripening temperatures and indeed just got “cooler”.

News from the vineyard

June 23, 2020

By Justine Puaud

Right now we are heading into what we call the bunch closure or berry touch (fermeture des grappes in French) meaning the berries are getting bigger and start to touch each other within the bunches. The fruit at this time is about half the size they will be at harvest and it is starting to look like an actual cluster of grapes. While there is no sugar production as of yet, the berries are accumulating organic acids. The bunch closure usually happens between the end of June and the beginning of July. This confirms we are definitely ahead of the average growing season.

Clothilde Lafarge shared with us a snapshot of the bunch closure in the Clos des Chênes.

News from the vineyard 6/18/20

June 18, 2020
by Max Goldberg Liu

Continued warm weather in Burgundy means that the vines are still progressing at a very fast clip. Here, Nicolas Rossignol shows us La Nouaison (Fruit Setting) of his Volnay Taillepieds where the berries are growing rapidly. In some of his parcels, the clusters are nearly fully formed. Winemakers all over France are marveling at the precocity of their vines this year, with some areas an entire month ahead of the average growing season.

News from the vineyard 6/12/20

by Edouard Bourgeois

It is a busy week for the Bordelais as they just started the Primeurs!

As you may know, in Bordeaux a ‘vente en primeur’ is the sale of a grand cru classé wine before the final product has been finalized. The wines are then matured for 18 months in barrels inside the storehouses. This tradition ties the Château to the merchant. The Château ensures that its cash flow is guaranteed and buyers can obtain a discount on the final price of the wine, which is only marketed two years later. 

It's been a rough last couple years for Bordeaux between Brexit, the Hong Kong protests and of course now, Covid-19. The global export has plummeted while, ironically, Mother Nature has been quite generous with around 660 million bottles produced on average in 2018 and 2019. Automatically today, Bordeaux is sitting on a lot of wine to sell. Although received with great enthusiasm by the press and collectors, the 2018 vintage already suffered a weak "En Primeur" campaign. 2019' campaign is not so much more flamboyant with Château Pontet-Canet setting the pace, selling its 5th growth Pauillac 68 euros a bottle, a 30% decrease from the 2018 vintage...

The pandemic obviously is not helping, forcing the Châteaux to plan a different strategy by sending samples all around the world and limiting the number of clients during tastings in their cellar.

Is it the right time to buy and drink more Bordeaux?  

News from the vineyard 5/28/20

Nicolas Rossignol shows us the progress of his Volnay Taillepieds - we see here the flowers transforming into the beginnings of grapes. Henri Jayer used to say that maturity would be reached 100 days after the start of flowering, so Nicolas estimates a pick date between August 28 and September 2 at this point - another early harvest!

News from the vineyard 5/20/20

Due to high temperatures in Burgundy in the last two months, some vineyards are already flowering. Compared to 2019, the vines are reaching the flowering stage three weeks earlier.

As Brice de la Morandière reminded us in last Saturday’s At Home Session, the harvest date is typically scheduled 100 days from the flowering. If this calculation is applied this year, the harvest would start in August.

Photo courtesy of Nicolas Rossignol

News from the vineyard 4/22/20

In Burgundy, the vines are growing quickly. An early growing season especially in the Cote de Beaune means that some vines are already showing mini grapes. Winemakers are now hoping for some rain for the vineyards. After an élevage of 18 months, most domains of Burgundy are bottling the 2018 vintage in their cellars. Domaine Matrot, in Meursault, finished bottling the 2018 on 21st of April.

Domaine Yvon Clerget, Volnay 1er Cru Carelle sous la Chapelle