A year for the vigneron?
The 2008 growing season commenced with damp and cold conditions, with Spring slow to start and the vines slow to get into their stride. By May, plenty of work was necessitated in the vineyard, there was plenty of vegetation. For flowering, the phase when the young grapes are formed and fertilised, the weather remained wet and unseasonally cool. These conditions reduce the potential crop and can lead to uneven eventual ripeness within and across bunches, when the fruit finally ripens in September. For the grower, this increases the workload, making the harvest more tricky and requiring stricter selection of fruit on reception at the cellars as much as in the vineyard.
Growers found themselves wishing for sunshine largely on account of the fact that if you endure a cool summer, so much then hinges on the later season conditions, when the sunlight hours start to diminish. To compound things further, under damp conditions, mildew remained a threat – a threat that was well- navigated by attentive growers, allowing the crop to continue its progress towards ripeness. Some hail was witnessed in pockets around Volnay, further testing growers resolve. Hail can be devastating, cutting into leaves and breaking open unevolved berries – it remains a serious concern to growers. Fortunately for those affected, the hail hit before the final ripening period and thereby its damage was limited.
C’est comme toujours, Août fait le Moût
(Just as always, August makes the must)
Changeable conditions met the start of August, with perfect sunshine igniting growers’ hopes towards the end of the month. So often it seems that favourable late season conditions build a sense of expectation after a cooler than ideal Spring and Summer. August is a crucial month, it is the month of veraison, when the skins of red berries gradually change from green to red and those of white grapes move from green to a translucent shade. This is crucial in terms of the development of the skins, where colour and flavour components build, and for reds it is the start of the accumulation of tannins.This developmental period dictates the nature of the must (the freshly pressed juice that contains skins, seeds and stems) and shapes the winemaking likely to be employed.
When the north wind blows…
These conditions needed to continue well into September if full ripeness was to be achieved. Though September started mixed, literally idyllic conditions emerged from the second week of the month and led to an incredible harvest period, with most harvests commencing between the 24th and 29th of September. The conditions were much aided by the dry north wind, and the sublime sunshine that had picking teams reaching for the suncream! The benefit of the north wind cannot be underestimated as it dried out the vineyards and aided a rapid accumulation of sugars in the berries. Such a turn-around is really quite astonishing, and tasting the wines reveals no sign of the trials and tribulations that many growers experienced.
Certainly a year for the vigneron and judging by the quality of the wines we tasted, one in which they can take immense pride.After all, this rollercoaster of a growing season has resulted in an impressive range of wines, revealing appealing ripeness with vibrant acidities.