2020 Vision: Harvest in the Swartland 

Domaine Bruno Clair today concludes its grape harvest, one of the earliest in living memory. Like the rest of Europe, Burgundy has sweltered in the hot and dry summer of 2018. 

Reports suggest that less than a millimetre of rain has fallen since early June. Hot weather has really been the only concern though, coming soon after a series of complicated vintages marked by frost and hailstorms which posed far greater challenges for Burgundy’s vignerons. Nevertheless, thirty-three degrees centigrade in mid-September poses problems and the need to keep the freshly picked grapes as cool as possible is a concern. In Bruno Clair’s words though, “better too hot than wet.” 

The team at August Kesseler share their news of the latest vintage direct from the domaine.

“Once again, the time has come! This year our harvest team set off rather early and we have actually already started harvesting the grapes.”  “Over the coming weeks our sole focus will be the grapes and the weather. Will it hold? What vineyard do we harvest first? What grapes will we let hang for a couple more days?  These are the decisions we take on our daily trips through the vineyards from Lorchhausen to Eltville and we are not just thinking of the refractometer (that measures the weight of the must) but also taking a good look at the grapes themselves.  Above all, we give them a try! The most important resources for any winemaker are his taste buds and his experience.”     

Thomas Jorez of Champagne Philipponnat shares the harvest report with Justerinis, straight from the vineyards of Clos des Goisses.

“The harvest started at Philipponnat on Thursday 31st August, with Les Cintres plots in Le Clos des Goisses. We gathered 3520 kg of grapes, after careful sorting in the vineyard during the picking, our estimation is that we had to discard around 10% of the crop. This is quite a low yield in the region, and a lower yield than last year’s on the same plots.”

With harvest completed at the end of November, 2016 is shaping up to be a delicate, precise and well-balanced vintage at Schloss Lieser. 

They share their first impressions of the new vintage with us. "we had quality and quantity, but this was an intense harvest time." "May and June were very wet and we did not expect such healthy grapes."  "The weather turned in June - August and after a warm, sunny September with no humidity, we began harvest on the 10th October."