The success of any vintage is first and foremost one in which vines are skilfully taken care of during the entire growing season.

Fortunately, some vintages, difficult in the vineyard and requiring all the talent of the vignerons, reveal themselves as promising vintages once in the cellar. The 2019 vintage is one of those.

After a particularly short winter, the months of February and March are almost spring-like, dry, with even a heat record for the season on 27th February. The vines registered the message of nature, woke up early and started growing. However, the weather returned to seasonal cold days from April 5 with a first morning frost followed by four other episodes lasting until 7th May.

The lesson of the late frosts of the 2016 and 2017 vintages has been well learned: this time the vignerons have collectively fought against frost by burning candles, burning straw, using wind turbines and laying covers on the vines to retain some heat. Not all methods are equally effective and straw burning, however spectacular, has not proven effective.

The summer of 2019 was one of the hottest to date with two heat waves: one at the end of June and the other at the end of July. It exceeded 40°C in some places and signs of burning appeared on some bunches. Fortunately, the month of August was cooler with rain on the 10th and 12th August, allowing the vines some relief.

The cool weather early September warmed up and the harvest began on 11th September.