A challenging year with torrential rain until late June, followed by a drought that lasted from July until the end of the harvest. The maturation was slow, very slow, but eventually happened and the grapes were fresh and crunchy when harvested. Turned out to be a great vintage!

Twenty seventeen was first characterised by a mid-April frost that devastated half of the vineyard as the sprigs were already quite grown. An intense drought followed, concentrating in the remaining grapes all the sun received by the leaves. The challenge was then to keep the freshness and acidity of our wines, which we managed to do, and it resulted in powerful yet digestible wines. A good year, with a good long-keeping potential for the great cuvées.

Twenty nineteen was a surprising vintage from many perspectives. Firstly, we had three frosts in a row that shrivelled the buds, and about 20% of our vines were severely damaged by early May. We had a nice spring, but the summer turned into a heat wave and a historical drought--nearly 60 days without rain. Things weren’t boding well: The grapes were extremely concentrated as the harvest was getting close, promising the dreaded imbalance between tannins power and fresh flavours. Thankfully, generous rain started pouring down three days before the planned beginning of the harvest, delaying the harvest date and allowing the grapes to find more equilibrium. It turned out to be a success, with a nice yield, and a voluptuous and powerful wine. You can already drink this vintage, or wait for a few years to uncork the bottles.

2021 was a capricious vintage: first marked by a very strong frost episode (up to -4.4°C in our vines!) and lasting more than fifteen days, the vines held up relatively well against all expectations with around 30% loss of buds. The start of the vegetation was late, and followed by a cool climate with incessant rains which continued to delay the good development of the buds. This very particular weather continued until the harvest with sometimes small episodes of heat, systematically surrounded by rain. Fortunately, a warmer climate set in at the end of August and in September, allowing for good final maturation. The wines are therefore less sunny, fresher and chiseled: in a word, more Loire!