A season punctuated by heat and storms 

We were worried about the winter's water deficit. April and early May were not particularly warm and the vines did not grow much. Conditions changed and became very summery by the end of May. Vegetation then «exploded», leading to very rapid flowering, in less than a week, in the first days of June. Heat became a concern, as did drought, but the 2023 season was by then marked by spaced, significant and regular rainstorms. So much so that the drought damage feared ultimately was non-existent; indeed, our young plants, particularly at Clos St Philibert (our back photo), fared very well. On the other hand, the amount of the water accumulations (fortunately without hail), increased the frequency of treatments.

Harvest potential was therefore very high.

Mild winters, a rainy start to spring, warm temperatures during flowering, abundant water at the beginning of July during fruit set: all these factors translated into a very high harvest potential at the end of July. Once the diagnosis had been made, we set to work to regulate this increasingly unusual harvest as it drew closer to completion. It took three weeks of work with a full team to achieve a serious green harvest, and thus return to a load compatible with our required quality.

A heatwave during the harvest

The end of the season was characterized by extreme heat, never so intense after August 15. A heavy thunderstorm at the end of August tempered its effects, but allowed the grapes to swell. The end of August and the very beginning of September were gloomy and did little to ripen the grapes; that was before another heatwave at the beginning of September, unprecedented for this period, caused ripening to soar. We began harvesting on September 5-6. Despite the trying conditions, our aim was to complete harvest as quickly as possible. We finished around the 15th, with our teams exhausted!

A Careful vinification

Marked by extremes, this harvest required considerable sorting: there were a few areas of rot and quite a few raisins; no under-ripeness though: the green harvest must have been effective. Sugars were high, and concentration appeared correct, even if some « saignée » were necessary. Juice monitoring was even more rigorous than usual, for fear of aromatic deviations; cold maceration was a little shorter, vinification temperatures slightly lower and extraction normal. Only a few acidity corrections were necessary.

A serene ageing and a bright future!

At the start of evolution in the cellar, the wines appeared well-colored, a little easy perhaps and still marked by maturity; a volatile acidity slightly higher than normal at this stage prompted us to be vigilant. The vintage was not yet set in its character.
One year on, the wines have retained their beautiful color, acquired fleshiness and recovered freshness. The 23 vintage appears rich and very appealing, without the slight touch of severity of the 2022s, which suggested this vintage needed a longer evolution.

Tasting in the final stages

For our wines in 2023, the different phases of ageing followed each other quietly, with progressive malolactic fermentations; in the end, these wines proved to be very stable and posed no particular problems for us, perhaps because we were on our guard? Or because their tension and deep structure are greater than we initially thought, contributing to their balance? Their future looks promising, and what's more, they're already very good! They're currently revealing plenty of flesh and appeal, but they'll stand up to long cellaring, which will allow them to fully express their potential and personality.