2011, year of the extremes ?
2011, year of the extremes ?
Every year, I get carried away as the soon as the vineyard wakes up... All those twisted vines, one might thought asleep forever during the harsh winter, are coming back to life as soon as temperatures rise again.
Spring is no doubt my favorite season. The air is filled with earth smells combined with the scents of flowers and plants. The sun is back, days get longer, and nature is on the march.
At 5am, I wake up at the sound of the birds chirping, celebrating the births of the young ones. I feel so blessed as thousands of people have to wake up to the sound of traffic and klaxons.
As I get to my vineyard, the first sunrays hit the slopes and give a soft and pink light. The morning air is fresh and humid from the dew. It is most probably the best part of the day.
At the end of a row, a startled hare springs and runs away. On a leaf, a ladybug gets its morning walk. In the sky, larks are singing. This is where nature lovers meet. Those little “every day miracles” do not cease to amaze me.
One of the first undertakings of the season is disbudding, where extra buds on each vine are removed by hand to control the number of shoots which will be allowed to grow. Bent over for hours at a time, this is truly a painful task. Nevertheless, I do enjoy it as it allows me to shape up the vine, improve the airflow in the future canopy and ultimately manage the yield. It is also a good chance to check how healthy each vine is and “get a feel” for the season ahead.
All across the growing season, I will hoe by hand the young vines to aerate and lighten the soil in the rows. I will pull out the weeds which dodged the plough. Like a perfectly manicured english garden, the vineyard needs to be attended daily.
As the shoots grow, it is time to lift the set of wires that trains the vine up. First, they are raised in between the fruiting wire and the top wire and a few weeks later, moved up a few inches below the top wire. In that position, the vine will stand straight and tall, its shoots protected from the occasional strong winds. And, as I walk through the vineyard, tidying up the last of the unruly shoots, I take great pleasure to look behind me and see the rows of vines neatly lined up.
It has been an early season and we are about three weeks ahead in the vineyard compared to an average year. It is usually a good thing because an early start to the growing season means that the grapes will have plenty of time to reach optimum maturity and harvest will happen before the start of the rainy season. However, I know that Mother Nature is full of surprises and things can change…
After les “Saints de Glaces” (May 11th to 13th), the temperatures got really hot and I was fairly anxious that spring thunderstorms might cause great devastation as the vineyard was not hedged yet.
Then came the magical moment: The future inflorescences opened up, releasing that particular fragrance, intoxicating and delicate at the same time. Flowering. During this extraordinary short time, the vine needs to be left alone. As the old saying goes: “Flowering vine does not welcome neither vintner, nor master”.
This year, it was relatively hot when flowering took place; which leads to the same result as when the temperatures are too cold: grape shatter; meaning that not all the flowers will turn into berries. Another consequence is a condition called “hens and chicken” which produced a certain proportion of small berries in a bunch. Although reducing the yield, those small berries have a higher skin to juice than the normal size berries and can potentially produce richer wines.
So, 2011, year of the extremes?...Quite possibly. After a hot and dry spell where some bunches got sun burnt, rains came down on the vineyards starting mid-July. Although it was reassuring to get some badly needed water for the young vines, it became worrisome as some precipitations turned into absolute downpours. Some parts of Burgundy were devastated by violent hailstorms, notably at our friends’ vineyards in Rully. Mother Nature can be cruelly violent as we watch helplessly the result of months of harsh labor being annihilated in a few minutes. Sadly, this is part of our job, or more precisely our jobs: Alternatively agronomists, viticulturists, landscapers, gardeners, technicians, enologists, winemakers, accountants, sales and marketing representatives, wine stewards; those are all the aspects of the career we chose to bear.
My late grand-father used to say: “A vintage is never really won till the fruit is in”. I quickly realized how right he was. Despite being an early season, we are still weeks away from harvest and we know the weather will play a key role in what lies ahead. So let’s keep fingers crossed for ideal ripening conditions and perfect clean fruit.
Each year we are forced to adapt to the different weather conditions, resulting in each vintage being unique. Fruits of our land and our work, the wines we are producing will also vary from one producer to another based on our specific winemaking techniques, extraction level, aging regime, but always made with the same fervor and energy.
So, I am eager for harvest to be here and to create wines, which I hope, will enchant your palate, will make you appreciate Burgundy even more, and create a special bond with its winegrowers who every day craft their wines with passion.
Wishing you all a fantastic 2011 vintage!!!
Alexandrine Roy
