2015 is already hailed as a great, even a magnificent vintage. Unlike the two previous vintages, it is the earliness and excellent health of the vines that we will remember about this year. It was indeed the first time since the estate has existed that the grape harvests were finished in September. (For information, in 2013 we began the harvests on 3rd October).
Winter was not too harsh, but quite long and rainy. Plenty of water was stored up. Springtime was very sunny and hot, which really sped up the vine’s growth. Early flowering went well and the heat accentuated the head start we had.
July began by a first surge of heat and a few weeks of heatwave. Despite high temperatures, the vines did not suffer too badly, but went into a state of dormancy. The month of August continued in the same way. We all remembered the 2003 vintage that was extremely early, with harvests that began mid-August. Thankfully, some rain showers, especially on the Côte-Rôtie, enabled us to get to September to start the harvest.
2015 is a vintage that splits winegrowers into two categories: those who, seeing the potential degrees of alcohol rising and levels of acidity plummeting, decided to harvest very early, even though the skins and pips seemed hard, and phenolic ripeness was not fully reached. And those whose waited, taking the risk of having high degrees of alcohol.
We made the decision to harvest without taking into account the usual order of events which consists of starting by the whites and then continuing with the reds. We began with a plot of young vines for reds on 4th September and then on 7th September, we pursued with Condrieu grapes. We harvested again on 15th September, a plot of Côte-Rôtie; afterwards we gathered white grapes again and we finished our harvests with our Saint-Joseph reds on 24th September. The rainy spell we had at the weekend of 20th September did not spoil the grapes’ good healthiness.
Quantities are quite small for the whites because the skins were very thick and yields of juice very low. For the red, quantities are quite good. The juices are very concentrated and aromas of black and red fruit are very perceptible in the vat house. The colour is vivid and the tannins are already supple. Although total acidity is not very high, the balance of the wines seems very promising.