Thomas Calder Selections

June 2016

6/29/2016

When it rains, it pours »…and it also hails. More destruction in the vineyards

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Friday, June 24 Beaujolais, the Lyonnais, and the Roannaise were hard hit by hail. The hailstorm in the Beaujolais went through the same corridor as the storm one month earlier, but was more widespread as approximately 3,000 hectares were damaged this time (2 times as much as the storm one month ago).
Vauxrenard, Beaujeu, Quincié, Régnié, Morgon, Chiroubles, Moulin-à-vent, Fleurie and Lancié were hit with the last four particularly affected.. In Fleurie 80%of the vines suffered damage, with losses from 50 to 100% of the future crop. Some of the secteurs which were spared a month ago- “ la Chapelle des bois”, “Les Moriers” and “Champagne” - were struck this time. In Chiroubles, more than 90% of the vineyards were damaged.

In addition to the hail, heavy rains (2 to 3 inches in 20 minutes) created torrents in the vineyards and lots of erosion, such that not only were the vines damaged, but lots of work will be necessary to restore the vineyards.

As if the damage from hail and frost in many regions were not sufficient, because of the humidity of the past months, the difficulty of entering the vineyards to treat the vines, and the frequent rain which washed away any treatments that could be applied, there is an explosion of mildew occurring in vineyards, particularly in Burgundy and Champagne.
Thomas Pico noted earlier this week, that the part of the future crop which was spared frost and hail is being lost to mildew.
In champagne, a survey of 600 parcels spread through 175 villages in the Marne, L’Aisne and l’Aube indicated that 85% showed the presence of mildew.

"And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.”

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May 31st, 2016

5/31/2016

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DEVASTING HAIL IN FRANCE MAY 27
A little over a month after frost caused considerable damage to buds in Chablis, Burgundy and the Loire, and two weeks after hail ravaged vines in the north of Chablis around Maligny, on Friday, May 27 a violent hailstorm struck Préhy, Courgis, Chitry, and St Bris.
Hail also did considerable damage over the weekend in Chiroubles, Fleurie, Régnié, and Morgon…as well as in Cognac and Madiran.
Olivier Morin in Chitry had already lost 70% of his 2016 crop to the late April frost; on Friday he lost what was left. The hail fell for 20 minutes and when it stopped, “there was not a single baguette left”. He will not be harvesting in 2016 and the damage to the vines was such that the 2017 harvest is severely compromised. Olivier said he did not know what wood he will have on the vines to prune for 2017. His 88 year old grandfather told him he had never seen a hailstorm of such intensity. After the storm, there were almost 10 inches of hail on the ground.

Thomas Pico of Somaine Pattes Loup, who two weeks ago was relieved that he had escaped the hail, was devasted when I spoke with him yesterday. “Catastrophique” was the word he used to describe the situation. “The next two years will be a question of survival. There will certainly be domains that go out of business.” He has already laid off many of his vineyard workers.

I was in Chablis on Saturday morning to visit a new Chablis domain with which I have started to work. Of their 14.4 hectares of vines, only 1.20 hectares escaped the hail.

In Saint-Bris, Marie Goisot Bellot reported that of their 30 hectares, there was less than one hectare in which there were still some leaves on the vines. To make matters even worse, as it has been raining steadily since Saturday, they have been unable to get into the vineyards to treat the damaged vines.

The constant rain is increasing the risk of mildew and the risk of poor flowering in June.

In the Beaujolais, between 1,000 and 1,500 hectares were hit by hail over the weekend. Paul-Henri Thillardon said “there is nothing left in my vineyards of Chiroubles. “ Vineyards in Fleurie, Régnié and parts of Morgon were also badly damaged.

"I was desolate and afraid, and full of woe and terror".

"We were...living in a world of doom and gloom...where storms raged and wolves scratched at the door."

St Bris streets after the hail storm May 27 and vine ripped up by hail

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May 17th, 2016

5/17/2016

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FROST follow up

When you have damaged buds or none, or few, left upon the vines, the vineyard work is changed. A Burgundy grower told me that since the frost two weeks ago none of their vineyard employees have been in the vineyards.
There is nothing to do, but wait to see if by any chance new buds will form. Some domains have already started to lay off workers. In the summer, there will be lots of work re pruning the vines for the 2017 harvest because after the frost damage, with the buds destroyed, the vines will have a tendency to grow in all directions.
Loire up date
Of the 144 hectares which compose the ACs of Jasnières and Coteaux du Loir, half were impacted by the frost. But not only is the 2016 crop affected, but 2017 as well since Pineau d’Aunis and Chenin often produce bunches from the same place as the previous year.
In Côteaux du Vendommais the losses are estimated at 50-90%

Chablis: after the frost, hail.
The northern part of Chablis was hit by torrential rain and hail on Friday May 13. 400-500 hectares, representing 10% of the surface of Chablis, suffered hail damage. From the damaged vines, the branches will grow in an irregular fashion and without grapes. The pruning in 2017 and the harvest of 2017 will be impacted, “c'est la double peine".

Burgundy :
According to a report of the CIVB, in 23% of vineyards in Burgundy (6.800 hectares), the losses due to the frost reach 71 to 100%.

...Bare ruin'd choirs

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weather report

5/10/2016

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“C’est la catastrophe !». APRIL FROST IN FRANCE
After an unusually mild winter, which included some glorious spring weather in February and March, the weather was cool and wet for much of April. The warm weather led to early bud break and growers had their fingers crossed that the temperatures would not drop below freezing.
The critical period of the season occurs during the “lune rousse” which begins the first day of the new moon after Easter. This year the “lune rousse” started on April 7 and finished May 6. It is generally considered that once past this period, there is little danger of frost.
The name comes not from the color of the moon, but from the fact that young buds which are frost damaged often have a reddish tint to them.
The night of April 26-27 the worst fears of the vignerons were realized in much of the Loire, in Chablis, the Côte d’Or, to a lesser extent the Côte Chalonnnaise, and in the Aube.
In some years, a second bud develops which, while less fruitful than the first, may still produce grapes. But this year, after the mild winter, in many places the second bud was already developed when the frost struck.
In some places both the main bud and the "back-up bud" ( contre-bourgeon) had already burst. In instances where both suffer frost damage, it will be difficult to get any harvest at all.

Burgundy: Few vineyards were spared and what was most unusual was that nearly every part of the vineyard – the plain and the hillsides; vineyards treated chemically and those where the soil is worked – was impacted. According to the first estimations, of the 29,250 hectares of vineyards in Burgundy, approximately 6,700 hectares suffered losses from 30-70% and 6,800 hectares had losses ranging from 70-100%.
In the Cote d’Or, out of 9,000 hectares, 7,000 suffered frost damage.
Jean-Michel Aubinel, the president of the Confederation of appellations and vignerons of Burgundy, (CAVB), noted « This year there was frost damage in zones where there had never been frost before."
In Chablis, the temperatures were below 0°C for three nights, but on April 26 dropped to -3.5°. Chablis is used to frost and many of the grand cru and premier cru parcels are protected from frost with firepots or spraying water to encase the buds in a protective igloo. But, this year, even in “protected” vineyards, there was frost damage.
In the Côte d’Or, the damage was more important in the Côte de Beaune, as Chardonnay buds earlier than Pinot. Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, Chassagne, Monthélie, and Auxey-Duresses, seemed to have been hit the hardest. In Meursault approximately 80% of the vineyards suffered some frost damage with losses from 10 to 90% of the future harvest depending on the parcel.
In the Chalonnnaise, Bouzeron and Rully suffered the most damage. The Maconnais was largely spared by the frost, but had suffered some hail damage a few weeks earlier.

Loire: “C’est la catastrophe !». The frost was as severe and as damaging as in 1994 or 1991.

The president of the AOC Chinon, Jean-Martin Dutour, reported that a good part of the appellation, where temperatures dropped to -7°, suffered losses of up to 50%
Pierre Alliet thinks that of his 7 hectares most affected, the loss is between 60 and 90%.
In Bourgeuil and Saint Nicolas de Bourgeuil, were the temperature dropped to -6°, 60-80% of the buds were lost.
In Saumur, Antoine Foucault estimates he lost at least 40% of the harvest.
In Touraine Azay-le-Rideau et Touraine Noble Joué, losses are estimated at 85%.
In Cheverny, Philippe Tessier estimates his losses at 70-80%.

While Vouvray was largely spared, on the other side of the river in Montlouis, things are grim. One estimate puts the loss for the entire appellation at 70%, but in the commune of St Martin Le Beau the figure is closer to 95%. Franck Breton thinks he has lost 80-90% of the 2016 crop.

Pouilly Fumé and Menetou Salon were also hit hard. Anne Pellé said the entire appellation suffered heavy losses and predicts that they will be lucky to harvest 10hl/ha this year (vs 50hl/ha or more in a normal year).

Sancerre escaped with losses of only 20-30%

In the west, there were losses in Anjou and Muscadet, in some places as much as 50%.

Champagne: Approximately 7,500 hectares suffered losses. There was some damage in the north, but compared with other regions, the growers were happy to get off relatively lightly. When I asked Pascal Agrapart if his vineyards had been affected, he replied “No…well, just one hectare”.

In the Aube, it is a different story. Between 75-80% of the vineyards suffered some damage. Of note, as in Burgundy, is the fact that areas which usually never suffer frost were damaged this year. Parcels which had not suffered frost damage in over 40 years were struck.
Jérôme Coessens estimates he lost between 25 and 50% of the crop. Cédric Bouchard thinks he lost under 30% in the Aube, but in the Chatillonais where he is developing his new project, he lost between 80-90% of the crop and will not bother harvesting at all in 2016.

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September 03rd, 2015

9/3/2015

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DROPPING ACID -Harvest 2015

Whereas one of the themes of the 2014 harvest was the presence of drosophilia in many of the vineyards of France, in 2015 the concern is low acidity (in particular malic) in almost every region. A vigneron in the Maconnais told me on August 21 that if he based his picking date solely on acidity levels, he would have already started picking, but based on sugars, the grapes were still at least 2 weeks from being ripe. He thought he might be obliged to acidify for the first time in his viticultural career.

The first remark from nearly every vigneron with whom I speak is that the grapes are healthy and, because of little rain over the summer, concentrated – a promising harvest. An article in Figaro three days ago announced the expectation of “un grand millésime 2015”. But when I mention, “I’ve heard the acidities are a bit low”, every vigneron admits that is a concern. As one vigneron described it, ‘the year of every danger…but the grapes are healthy.’

July was very hot throughout France and apparently the malic acidity was “burned off”. It was a dry summer which means that the skins are rather thick and there is not much juice in the grapes. Most potassium in grapes is located in the skins and stems. The level of tartaric acid this year is fairly high, but when it combines with potassium and becomes potassium bitartrate it will precipitate out (tartrate crystals). Therefore, wineries will need to be very careful in handling the grapes with light pressing to avoid introducing too much potassium into the must and losing more acidity. This will be especially tricky for the reds where the potassium will be extracted during maceration and alcoholic fermentation.

In these first days of September, the sugars are relatively high and the grapes are healthy, but phenolic ripeness has not necessarily arrived. The danger is wines that are rich, but rather flat due to lack of acidity and phenolic ripeness. At this point, a little rain could be helpful to increase the amount of juice in the grapes (better ratio juice to skin) and cool nights to maintain the already low levels of malic.

The night of September 1, just a few days before many wineries were to begin harvesting there, a hailstorm ripped through Chablis, mostly in the Premier and Grand Cru sections. I spoke to Thomas Pico the morning of September 2 and he described it as “a massacre”. He sent me photos of vineyards in which there was not a leaf left on the vines. Since, I have heard that between 10-20% of the vineyards were hit.

The Jura and Alsace have begun harvesting, mostly precipated by concerns of low acidity.

In Champagne, harvest has started in the Aube and will start next week in the north. Low acidities are less of a concern in areas with lots of chalk (ie Côtes des Blancs/Montgueux) which gives freshness and minerality. However, in the Montagne de Reims, with more clay soils, one vigneron told me that the grapes, while fairly rich in sugar, seem aromatically “flat” – he said smelling and tasting the grapes there is hardly any flavor. He hopes with the changing of the moon and a little more ripeness the flavor profile will change.

Wineries in Touraine will probably begin harvesting in the next week or so, if the temperatures at night remain cool enough to preserve the remaining acidity. If the weather gets hot, they may have to advance the harvest.

In Burgundy, harvest will be underway this weekend, about 2 weeks in advance of a “normal” year.

The south (Rhône, Provence, Languedoc and Roussillon) seems to be in a similar position. Some have started harvesting the whites, but are waiting for better maturity on the reds.

Harvest of the whites has started in Bordeaux and for the reds comparisons are being made with other hot, early picked vintages like2010, 2009, and 2005. It will, no doubt, be another “great vintage” in Bordeaux.

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12/8/2014

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VINTAGE 2014:

Rising from the ashes, but everyone's talking drosophila suzukii and

acetic acid

Talking to vignerons after the harvest, the mood was generally quite good…but a lot of the happiness was fueled by a sentiment of having come from a long way down. In early August, the mood had been very glum and some vignerons thought they might not harvest at all in 2014.

After a miserable July and first weeks of August in France (cool and damp), the weather finally turned nice and stayed that way in most of France through the harvest - though not so much in the Languedoc and the Rhone which suffered heavy rains in late September. Quantities are good, especially compared to the last few vintages in France.

The fact that the grapes did ripen and that there was a harvest of reasonable quantity was more than enough to make the vignerons happy with 2014.

A brief summary of certain regions…

Champagne: looks to be a good to very good year, but it depends...
Cédric Bouchard described the vintage as "extraordinary, the best of the last 20, maybe even 30 or 40 years, with acidity, sugar, and yields."
However Jérôme Prévost was more cautious, "I am not sure that 2014 is the great year about which everyone is speaking. Even on the same vine, there were often disparate maturities of the bunches, in spite of good flowering."
Conditions in the Marne seem to have been more difficult where the Meunier had problems arriving at maturity, was attacked by Drosophila Suzukii with acetic acid following. (More on that later)
According to two vignerons, Moët did not harvest a parcel of 20 ha in AY because the vineyards stank so of vinegar they did not even enter them.
The piqure acetique (acescence) was fairly widespread - a very rare phenomenon. According to one vigneron, he had not seen such widespread piqure in decades. The Meunier and Pinot Noir were affected, not the Chardonnay. There were also incidences of grey rot, and it was important to harvest quickly because the rot spread fast once the grapes were ripe and bunches left in the vineyard quickly started to smell of vinegar.
The official ‘put-on-a-happy-face’ report from the Comité Interprofessional is that "it promises to be a very good year. The humidity led to some rot, but because of abundant quantities it was possible to throw away unhealthy fruit. Most of the harvest took place in good weather and most producers look and sound very happy."
The CIVC kept prices high for grapes this year and maximum permitted yields relatively low (for champagne), which meant that growers could afford to discard fruit.

LOIRE: General happiness. Vignerons were glum over the summer and then the weather turned sunny just in time and stayed that way in most of the region through the end of the harvest.
From a Muscadet producer : "we benefited from incredible weather with very good maturity of the grapes. Perfectly healthy, the conditions seem to be in place for a very successful vintage. With the sun and dry weather, there was some concentration in the grapes and yields are slightly below a normal year.
Saumur: "The Chenin is clean and aromatic."
Bourgeuil : "Superb. After a lousy month of August, September was warm and we harvested grapes in early October at 11.8° to 13° according to the parcels. I have never seen degrees like that.”
Touraine : "nothing but happiness with rich and clean grapes. I wouldn't have bet a centime in August on having such a good vintage.”

SAVOIE: warm and humid weather after veraison meant fragile, thin skins with a danger of rot plus the drosophila Suzukii which was first sighted in the Alps in 2008 and proliferated this year after a mild winter did nothing to reduce the population.

JURA: a very difficult vintage because there was too much rain from July 2 to August 15. In early October the grapes were still healthy, but only at 10.5°. Growers had to choose between harvesting before complete ripeness or risk leaving the grapes hanging in delicate conditions. Quantity was good which allowed selection of good fruit in the vineyards.

BURGUNDY: Overall, it seems to be an almost normal-sized harvest. Most growers are pleased with the quality, certainly much better than the past two years. There were some problems with piqure and rot, so it was important to do a selection of the grapes at harvest, but the yields were high enough that growers could afford to do so. During the summer there were damaging hail storms centered on Pommard, Meursault and Beaune, which had disastrous effects for those hit.

MACONNAIS: the harvest took place with great weather, good maturation and healthy grapes. It was the cleanest vintage since 2005 and similar in quality to 2002, aromatic without the over-ripeness of that vintage.

BEAUJOLAIS: From France Gonzalvez' "Ravie, ravie, ravie ! for quantity as well as quality" to Jean-Marc Burgaud's more restrained "a very good vintage I think", growers in the Beaujolais seem very pleased with the harvest.

RHÔNE : a complicated vintage from north to south. There were reports that in some places in the southern Rhône 1/2 the crop was left on the ground. In the north, there was a lot of rain after the first week of September with an alternance of rain and sun. After the mild winter, Suzukii, which arrived in the region in 2008 attacking fruit trees, and first showed up in the vineyards two or three years ago, this year was present in force with a new generation every 10 days. It was impossible to treat against it as there is no effective approved insecticide. Piqure acetique was a problem.

In the south, it was dry most of the summer, but the rains arrived for the harvest, accompanied in some areas by hail.

PROVENCE was spared the heavy rains that fell in the Languedoc and the Rhone during the harvest. Conditions were mostly good, though odium fragilized the skins, allowing the drosophiles to attack the grapes with resulting piqure acetique. In spite of that, most domaines consider 2014 to be a very good vintage.

LANGUEDOC ROUSSILLON : The beginning of the year broke records for lack of rain. The grapes were slow to ripen and then heavy rains fell on September 28 with record precipitations around Montpellier (300mm in a few hours). During the maturation period, there were wide temperature swings between the day and the night which favored the development of aromas. Initial reports suggest that 2014 will be elegant and fresh.

BORDEAUX: perhaps "the vintage of the century”

Drosophila (fruit fly) lays eggs in fruits, liquefies the pulp and generates acid rot which smells of vinegar. In the past, this was mostly confined to fruit trees, but this year nearly all the vineyards of France were affected to a greater or lesser degree.
There was also a problem with mildew late in the season which burned the leaves and made it difficult for the vine to bring the grapes to maturity.
Drosophila suzukii (fruit fly) apparently has the capacity to lay its eggs in healthy grapes as opposed to the more common fruit fly (drosoplia melanogaster )which requires an opening in the grape skin (fragile skins from rain, odium, etc). The explosion in the population of the Suzukii this year was described by one entomologist as "a real fireworks display". His tests suggest that Suzukii is not solely responsible for the presence of acetic rot in 2014. He claims that "there are parcels were the losses amount to 90%, but that tests show that only 10-20% of the grapes contained Suzukii larvae. The other larvae were from the common fruit fly. He suggests that Suzukii is just an aggravating factor. With dry weather until late June, the grapes were rather small. With the rains of July and August they swelled rapidly, provoking cracks in the skin and allowing the fruit flies to enter.

Drosophila has a preference for dark colored fruits and was much more of a problem for Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier in Burgundy and Champagne, than for Chardonnay. Among dark colored grapes, thin skinned varietals such as Meunier and Cinsault were more vulnerable than thicker skinned varieties.
Its presence also seems to have been more important mid slope (where the grapes ripen earlier) and on the bottom of slopes and in the plain where the yields are higher.
The presence of fruit trees near certain vineyards is also an explanation for the presence of drosophila in the vines. There were many problems this year with fruit flies for apricots, cherries, plums and strawberries, and in September, as those fruits were already harvested, there remained only grapes as prey for the drosophila.

Piqure acetique on a grape bunch

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June 2016

When it rains, it pours »…and it also hails. More destruction in the vineyards

May 31st, 2016

May 17th, 2016

weather report

September 03rd, 2015

DROPPING ACID -Harvest 2015

VINTAGE 2014:

Rising from the ashes, but everyone's talking drosophila suzukii and

acetic acid

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VINTAGE 2014: Rising from the ashes, but everyone's talking drosophila suzukii and acetic acid

Archives

Categories

VINTAGE 2014:

Rising from the ashes, but everyone's talking drosophila suzukii and

acetic acid