Wine Traditions ltd
The 2022 vintage was set to be a very big year (then the 2021 frost returns).
We have almost lost everything 3 times.
In the end [in 2022] we had a normal crop, it’s a miracle.
In April the traditional frost.
In June an episode of hail never seen before. Snow removal equipment cleared the roads.
And from June to the end of August, a drought accompanied by heat rarely seen here.
Despite the hot weather, we managed to maintain a good acidity in the wines.
The young vines suffered a lot from the dryness, many will have to be replaced.
But apart from that, it is a year in which we made progress.
The wines seem more precise, without sulfur until the bottling at which time we will advise.
2 small new things this year, for the cuvée Ami-Amis, the Velteliner will be vinified in maceration (1/3), and a new cuvée, Montre moi la Lune, will be a maceration of Jacquère assembled with 50% press.
The 2021 vintage was very complicated. A warm winter, a late deep spring frost (-6°C), a very rainy and cold spring and early summer, rain during harvest. Not very desirable circumstances.
But we held on, we fought against the frost with late prunings, applications of tea made of thyme, oregano and savory to warm the vines, and valerian root tea to relax them and the winegrower. During the short dry period, we dressed the vines with nettle, comfrey and alfalfa manure then applied teas of nettle, comfrey, willow, horsetail and meadowsweet during the wet period.
Vinifications started very late (October), because maturities were delayed. Because of the lack of sun during the growing season, we decided not to make Monduese typique this year, there will only be a light red (Le Coeur en Goguette).
In terms of cultivation, we are going to increase the use of green manure (cover crops) with the goal of stopping systematic plowing. A work in progress.
The 2020 vintage was a vintage of confirmation for us in these beginning years as our understanding and savoir faire evolve. Things were done with more serenity and technical certainty for our 4th vintage (5th but the first, 2016, was not really ours).
As in every year, there were climatic events to remind us that we are but small things (hail on the Mondeuses, half of the Roussette and Abymes) but a very honorable crop in the end. We had a joyous harvest with an extraordinary team who put a smile into all our wines, thank you to them.
We bought an old 12hl foudre for the Mondeuse to try to avoid reduction. New stainless steel vats for the whites to extend the aging on lees a little longer without tiring the wine.
We have created a new cuvée, the 13 Bulles, it is a method ancestral, non-disgorged, of Jacquère, a “natural” wine offering, a little cloudy and almost dry, unaltered. It is to offer the customer the wine as if it were coming straight from vat.
The 2019 vintage was the vintage of confirmation for me (my third year), in spite of being a growing season of all possible climatic accidents.
We had frost, hail, violent winds and 3 months of drought. I was anxious to protect the grapes.In the end, the losses were not too bad, (15 to 20%).
The acidities are for the monent high, a real mountain wine.
The maturities were very good but heterogeneous, resulting in quite a bit of millérandage (mixed sized berries and partial crop failure).
The fermentations are quite variable, according to different parcels. Those that got hail are taking more time.
I really like these wines to come, I think that they will have great personality.
I just finished (end October) putting the wines in tank or in barrel to finish fermentations and for maturing.
Autumn work begins, earthing-up the vines, treating of the soils, replacing certain vines and a bit of commerce.
The 2018 growing season went well, but narrowly so. Spring was very wet, with incessant rains, which is very hard on the vines. However, at flowering, around the 15th of June, beautiful and dry weather arrived, and continued for 4 months. The grapes ripened early (mid September). Harvests took place in very warm weather. We harvested in the morning only (by hand). The grapes are beautiful and very healthy. It is a “sunny” vintage with acidities that are a bit lower than usual. The musts are quite charged with solids and racking is difficult. Overall the fermentations went well, the malolactics too. The 2018 vintage will be ready to drink before the 2017 for the “vins de garde” (mondeuse, rousette). It is charming vintage that is easy to drink.