“We don’t inherit the earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
I’m not going to give a list of good and bad years, which may disappoint some people. You must understand that the wine-grower puts their whole heart into obtaining their wines, and they cannot be such harsh judges of their own vintages which, like children, each have their own qualities and faults; they are sometimes the memory of a Summer that was too hot, or a rainy season; sometimes they have a difficult youth or an uncertain future — but the wine-grower will never disown them. Of course, there are some they will be more proud of than others, but those are also the ones that will stay the shortest time on the estate, victims of an impassioned popularity among lovers of great vintages.
That’s why I won’t judge them, but you’ll certainly find this information from the critics, who don’t usually fail to sing the praises of the great vintages, in order to better relegate the more discreet years to oblivion.
You will nonetheless find in this section a description that we make at the end of each wine-growing year.
A good year with no hitches, with good palatability and with no worries in the vineyard
A good year for the wine-grower, more generous production, and wines with good richness
A fine vintage!
Complex, concentrated wines with very good keeping potential thanks to low yields.
A stormy Summer, complicated harvesting with a great deal of sorting
180 mm of warm rain on the grapes at the height of ripeness diluted the aromas of the fruit
A small, very early vintage
Stormy winds in Spring broke man shoots and the very hot, dry Summer caused ripening to stop and drove the vines to draw water from their own grapes to remain green. Two reasons that explain the very low yields of 15 hl/ha
Picking started on 13 August!
Very fresh wine, hints of menthol, with elegant tannins and a long, fresh finish. (Zaccharie 2003, tasted in 2016)
A tropical year with a stormy Summer and warm rain during the harvest; a year that was difficult to vinify....
Fine, elegant wine with a great deal of finesse, silky, spicy tannins, a real pleasure! (Zaccharie 2002, tasted in 2016)
