"Summer in Spring and Spring in Summer" was how almost every grower I spoke to described the 2011 vintage during my two week tasting marathon in Burgundy earlier this month.
Flowering was early and pointed towards a mid August harvest. A rainy summer started off cold and heated up considerably from mid August onwards, the mercury reaching 38 degrees at one stage. These mixed conditions did their best to slow down ripening, but nonetheless the majority of growers had started picking by the end of August as many felt the vine had already completed its cycle and had ripened grapes to their maximum. Waiting any longer was a question of either benefiting from September's cool north wind and increasing grape concentration or allowing grapes to lose freshness and precision, depending on who you talk to. Patrick Javillier started on the 23rd August, the earliest of his 38 vintages, yet produced grapes of good sugar levels, with 12.5 degrees of potential alcohol, and excellent fruit ripeness. An extraordinary feat. Thanks to disease pressure, poor flowering in some sectors and heterogenous ripening, the crop is a small one, though on average slightly bigger than 2010. Over three vintages, 10,11 and 12, vignerons calculate they have lost a whole year's crop. Fortunately, though, it sounds as if the vast majority of growers are sufficiently concerned about not alienating the loyal customers actually drinking their wines to limit any price increases to a minimum. Lets hope this holds true.