A beautiful and bountiful vintage

We may have to go as far back as 1999 to discover another such vintage which has been generous in quantity and very fine in quality in equal measure, and for both the chardonnay and pinot noir grapes. Nature has delivered a kind recompense after the small crop and difficult growing season of 2021.

The vines like to be generous after a short harvest, and there was a plentiful setting of fruit at the outset – as long as there would be no frost damage this year. In fact, though temperatures did drop below freezing once again in early April, particularly the 4^th and 10^th, there was little or no damage in the Côte d’Or. Though not enormous, there was sufficient rainfall also through the winter and spring to replenish the aquifers.

Flowering passed off in good conditions, confirming the potential for a large crop as long as there would not be any weather induced accidents further down the road. Harvest dates could be projected for just about the same time as 2020, in other words exceptionally early, starting shortly after mid-August for the earliest areas. June began mostly hot and certainly dry, raising thoughts of drought conditions after all.

However, unlike the three hot dry summers of 2018-2020, there was much more of a westerly airflow in place, with occasional bursts of heat from the south, notably over the weekend of 18^th-19^th June, leading to storms which were especially violent in the Côte de Nuits on Monday 21^st. The wet weather continued for the rest of the week and through to the following Monday: inconvenient for those who needed to get into the vineyard for their regular spraying problem, but the storms were less violent and the volume of rain which fell an absolute boon, given the history of drought from 2018 to 2020.

The first half of July was mostly sunny, without excessive heat, and with noticeably cool nights for the time of the year. Then came the heatwave which affected much of Europe and the South-West of France especially – but happily, not nearly so much in Burgundy. The duration was really just two days, 18^th and 19^th July, with a reprise on 3^rd and 4^th August, and temperatures remained below 40°C, with a return to more manageable warmth thereafter. Overall statistics suggest a very hot summer, but this was more because July and August were uniformly sunny than that there were damaging spikes of heat. Nights mostly remained cool, which creates pressure from oidium, but treatment through spraying was easy to manage in the dry conditions.

The véraison, when the grapes change colour, came a little more slowly than expected, pushing back harvest dates and enabling the grapes to get closer to the ideal of 100 days of hangtime between flowering (at the very start of June) and the harvest than had been possible in 2018 or 2020.

The Harvest & Vinification

Régisseur Ludivine Griveau appeared relaxed and cheerful on the eve of harvest, which began for the Hospices de Beaune with Pouilly-Fuissé on Thursday 25^th August, with the main harvest following from Monday 29^th. The harvest weather was hot and fine to begin with then cooler with occasional showers which were not disruptive. Picking continued through to 16^th September for St-Romain, making this the most extended harvest for over twenty years at the Hospices, made possible by the slow and steady ripening profile of this vintage.

The grapes remained healthy, so there was less work than usual on the three sorting tables which are part of the meticulous management at the Hospices de Beaune winery. Fermentations got under way without difficulty and have progressed satisfactorily, the red grapes releasing their colour and beautiful aromatic qualities. Sugar levels are not unduly elevated this year, between 12.5% and 13.5% for the most part. Tannins are plentiful but ripe, while the acidity is almost entirely tartaric with very little malic, and thus will remain stable in the eventual wines. The white wines are showing a density of fruit which promises well.

Following the principle introduced in 2021, the wines will be matured in new barrels from a wider range of coopers than was previously the case, so that the style of the wine can be matched to the special qualities provided by different provenances of wood. Tonnellerie Damy remain the supplier for the white wines with François Frères, Ermitage, Cadus, Billon and Taransaud providing the barrels for the red wines.