2015

The great year of my career

This harvest is my 28th on the family estate. Five were done together with my father Roger until his death in 1991, and 23 have followed since. None of them gave me the feeling of perfection that we experience with this great 2015 vintage.

The hot weather in April meant that the year got off to an early start. The summer temperatures in early June allowed the flowers to develop in very good conditions from the first week of the month. We are already expecting the harvest to take place around 8–10 September. From 20 July onwards, the drought began to take its toll and the physiological development of the grapes stalled. In many plots, water stress limited the progress of veraison, and in the first few days of August, many vines had not yet begun to ripen. However, heavy rain without hail on 7 and 8 August broke the deadlock. In two days, we received some 80 millimetres of rain in Santenay and the surrounding area. Our vines were once again able to work and ripen their grapes! This was all the better as seasonal weather set in with plenty of sunshine, but without too much heat and with beautiful evenings. Rain returned on 23/24 August, with hot weather and plenty of sunshine until the end of the month.

FRIDAY 4 SEPTEMBER: we set off with a team of 32 harvesters and beautiful weather. We start with the vineyards of LADOIX and ALOXE CORTON before returning to MEURSAULT, CHASSAGNE MONTRACHET and then SANTENAY. In just seven days, we harvested some 18 hectares in ideal conditions: no rain, sunshine and a north wind keeping temperatures at 6-8°C in the morning and only 18-20°C in the afternoon.

The grapes are perfect: a few rare rotten or shriveled berries that will be removed during sorting (which requires few people this year), beautiful thick skins that break down easily during fermentation, berries bursting with sugar that produce beautiful black beads on top of the fermentation vats; and further proof, if any were needed, the seeds are dark brown, a sign of very good phenolic ripeness.

Predictions are already rife about the equivalence of this vintage in red wine: 1976, 2003, 2005, 2009? Certainly not 1976, which suffered from drought until September, something we were spared by the rains of August 2015. Nor 2003, with many wines lacking in acidity, whereas the acidity/alcohol balance is perfect in 2015.

But ultimately, 2015 must be considered a benchmark year that will eclipse all others! This is especially true at the estate, as this vintage saw the entire family involved in the harvest. Yvette and Jean François's experience complemented the dynamism of their children, who were all involved this year: BORIS picking grapes, SIMON working in the winery as an intern as part of his training at the CFPPA; MARJORIE replacing me in the vineyards at weekends while I was busy with the people from GOURMET ODYSSEY; Fan and Romains, some in the vineyards, some picking grapes; and even my brother BRUNO came to take a break from harvesting.

A great family moment that will shine through in the quality of this exceptional vintage!

Tasting notes red

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Tasting notes white

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