2013 is truly a winegrower’s vintage. It was the first time since we established our estate that we had such complicated conditions.
After a cool, wet spring, it rained often and the weather was cold in June. This caused a lot of flower abortion at the time of flowering and above all it led to considerable lateness in the vine’s growth cycle. These difficult conditions meant we had very few grapes appearing on the vines.
July began with a first surge of heat that continued into the month of August. This hot, dry summer allowed our hopes to rise again and catch up some of the lost time that had built up. Veraison occurred on around 15th August, indicating harvests at the beginning of October.
Fortunately the sunny month of September enabled us to reach October with the vines in good health. We started the harvests on 3rd October in the Crozes-Hermitage plot and then the next day we gathered the grapes in the plots of Condrieu. We had just one day of rain during the whole of the harvests and we finished calmly on 18th October with a magnificent sunny day.
All the plots of white grapes were harvested between 4th and 13th October; the fruit was very healthy but quantities were low (approximately 20% less compared with 2012). The wines are quite aromatic, but the malolactic fermentation has not yet begun (25th January 2014), so it is still a bit too early to give an opinion. However, we note some superb balance in the wines.
For reds, the harvests were gathered between 3rd and 18th October. Lower quantities (30% less for our Saint-Joseph) allowed us to have marvellous concentration and excellent ripeness. When tasting them, the wines are very concentrated; the balance between powerful aromas and tight tannins lets us foresee a great vintage.