*ONCE MORE A FANTASTIC VINTAGE ! *

The weather during the last 5 months have been exceptional.
June has been very sunny alowing a very fast flowering.
July dry and sunny.
August very sunny and dry…maybe too dry.
September and october sunny with just enough water to eliminate the hydro stress of the vines with cool nights, keeping the berries healthy.
Alcohol degrees will be higher than average.

Dry whites: harvest starts as early as aug 27th for the sauvignon blanc, followed early september by the semillon.
Naturally, wines are very aromatic with length and a good acidity.
Volumes are below the average due to important hails in april.

*Reds *: the harvest of the merlot is ended. Low acidity, matured skin, high alcohol potential and perfect health condition give to the merlot a great future.
As an example in our Bordeaux estate, we harvested a parcel of merlot at 15.2°!

Cabernet Franc and Cabernet sauvignon should be finished by the end of next
week. Again, berries are nearly perfect and will give a high rated vintage to the premium Claret.
Better than 2005?????why not.

Sweet White : normally a top red vintage is not a top sweet white vintage.
The Botrytis needs some humidity that the red s don’t like.
This year could be an exception as the morning mist we have is good for the
Botrytis but the heat during the day avoid any attack on the reds.
What has been harvested is very concentrated and very aromatic.

Still an atypical vintage ! The 2 0 0 8 currently upsets all references in
our possession.
Whereas until September the harvest seemed compromised for
its quantity as well as its quality, beautiful dry and fresh weather settled
for a good period, on the two banks of the Garonne.

This true oasis weather will last for thirty days long!

It was the chance Bordeaux was waiting for, and the occasion for the growers
to take their time to collect until the end of October, each parcel with
optimum grapes maturity.

Low volumes, intense work in the vineyards and the patience of each one, made
it possible to collect perfectly mature and healthy fruit.

In the cellar the goals were clear, not too much maceration to produce
fresh, fruit forward and elegant wines.

Mission accomplished, cheers to all!

Benoit Calvet.

Quel été !
De la pluie et de l’eau depuis le mois de mai! 80mm de pluie le 20 août.
Moral en berne pour tout le monde….jusqu’au début du mois de septembre
miraculeux. Chaud et ensoleillé le jour, frais et venté la nuit. Du coup
les maturités avancent, les mauvais raisins se desèchent et tombent, les
peaux s‘épaississent et le moral remonte.
On pourra appeler ce millésime “ cuvée de l’Arche de Noé”.
Les sauvignons blancs déjà en cuve sont très aromatiques, les semillons
sont corrects. Quantités : – moins 20 % par rapport à une année moyenne.
Les rouges : on ramasse les merlots cette semaine. Les grappes ne sont
pas totalement homogènes.
Terroirs et sérieux dans le vignoble feront la différence.
Trop tôt pour s’avancer sur les cabernets.
A ce jour on pourrait prédire un bon millésime type 1999 ou 2001.

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