2014

Structure et elegance

The 2013-2014 winter was especially mild, with a lot of rain and almost no days of frost: despite our temperate climate, this was unusual.
Fortunately, no cold snap occurred in spring, the stressful time when buds burst. Contrary to 2012 and 2013, none of our parcels suffered from frost.

Spring was also rather mild and rainy, with the exception of the month of May which allowed blooming to be fast and homogenous. All indicators pointed to a crop with comfortable yield and healthy conditions. June was hot, the vines were ahead in their cycle, the young grapes looked good.

Alas, in July and even more in August, it rained a lot. Downy mildew was a constant threat throughout the summer, and we had to apply treatments almost every week. Good weather never came (an anticyclone weather pattern, located over the Azores islands, has to stabilize to insure dry, sunny weather over Western Europe) and low pressures episodes were constant, with rain and low temperatures. At the end of August, we were pretty morose, as we felt we were re-living a repeat of the wet summer of 2013.

However, a miracle of sorts happened at the beginning of September, when weather patterns changed to extraordinary conditions until harvest. Almost no rain for a full month and exceptional sun allowed us to start the harvest on September 29th under much better conditions than in 2013, with healthy and sugar-rich grapes.

Our 2014 wines are magnificent in their fresh and balanced character. Aromas of red or black fruit, depending on how concentrated the wines are, mingle with good acidity and supple tannins. These wines are truly charming; their richness reminds us of 2009, but with more acidity and more vivid color. We are very happy with this vintage, and relieved to have a good crop after such a mediocre summer and two vintages of very small crops.
Thanks to September, 2014 turned out to be a really excellent vintage.