2003 vintage

Anne's
vintages comments...

Here are a few comments on our 2003 vintage:

A mild spring, followed by a hot spell provided pleasant working conditions. The soil was friable and clean. Small bouts of frost somewhat reduced our harvest potential at the end of April. However, our greatest worry was the ever-prevailing water shortage for our young shoots which had just been planted out.

Flowering occurred rapidly, but steadily until the 8th June, thus setting the harvest for the 6th September - a good omen for an early harvest.

The few cases of rainfall bore no impact on the sanitary conditions of the vine. Therefore, we halted the treatments on the 10th July.

Under the pressure of the intense heat that ensued as well as the increasingly worrying drought, there was acceleration of maturation.

On the 15th August, I took stock of the situation and decided to harvest on the 25th. I just had the time to organise things and everything went very smoothly. The grape picking was completed in just 4 days, starting early in the morning and finishing at 1 pm.

It was at this stage when I became aware of my miscalculation in volumes of juice... It was worse than I had predicted. Yield of the parcels was very irregular (between 17hl/ha for the Vosne and 42hl/ha for the Hautes Côtes blanc).

Taking the upmost care, vinification went well.

The white wines are fatty, very rich and even creamy - but probably lack liveliness. There is not a lot of potential for keeping, but was roundness!

The red wines are tannic, colourful, ample and hold their own. A short vatting time enabled the wines to maintain their elegance. The aromas are spicy and very defined by the black berries. In certain wines, there are hints of mocha and torrefection. Could this be the signature of the vintage ?