Another hot year! Another dry year! Another precocious year! That's five of the last six. But if you take a closer look, these hot and dry years all have their own particularities. The periods of heat are not the same, nor do they have the same intensity. And the rains land in different periods. So of course the vines react and act differently, which affects their ripening. In the end, it also impacts the final wines. Let's break down each stage of the :
1- A Cold and Humid Winter that Ended Early
Between the end of the 2022 into February 2023, winter was, generally speaking, both humid and glacial. But as early as February, temperatures became more clement, announcing an early spring. From then on, the temperatures remained appropriate and balanced for their season, provoking in mid-April, which tracks as normal timing in the last decade.
2- A Rapid and Complicated Start to the Vegetive Cycle
At the the end of April, the weather became more capricious; temperatures began to rise and rain started to fall persistently, creating a rise in pressure. Our margin of error was slim to none, as this pressure coincided with the time we usually work the soils, making for complex work.
The beginnings of euphoria began at , which went off without a hitch. The foliage, robust and having survived the trying 2022 season, clearly had strong reserves, and the proved to be abundant. The end of May and beginning of June were rather mild, providing a much needed reprise from the pressures of fungal illness.
3- A Rainy End of the Cycle
Around the 10th of June, the rain and pressure was back right as we were observing the impressive growth of our grapes. Still, the state of the vineyards remained more than satisfactory, with solid potential , particularly remarkable on the . Despite the work done with of the branches in the spring, it was necessary to . The took place in mid-July.
4-Slow but Perfect Maturation
Despite the continued rain and the added complexity this incurred to our work, the vines remained impeccable during the phase of and throughout the ; in fact we were able to pick everything at optimal . A heatwave in mid-September forced us to start earlier than expected, notably on the but also helped boost in the grapes. We began on September 15th. In the end, our tireless efforts were rewarded! The were plentiful and full of juice, both for the and .
5- The First Impressions of the Vintage
The quality of the grapes have given wines with exquisitely pure aromas. For the of the whites, the sugar levels are less elevated than in past years, creating better better conditions. The quality of the wines is incontestably manifested as they begin their ; they are showing balance and harmony.
For the reds, thanks to a meticulous of the grapes, we were able to find a very delicate with fairly quick . The wines are fruit forward but with a remarkable structure.
The 2023 season is not a perfect one: the weather constantly alternated between rain and sun, so we needed to a lot this year. Moreover, a in July didn’t help. The ,, and (already ) were in some parts more dry (because of ), but in the end the crop was better than we expected. But we still have to collect all the reds and the , or rather what we can of the : it was the most damaged by and we lost a good part of the crop.
The first pictures show the the "Sivi" process (100% – 7/10 days on the skins), then the Slatnik (80% , 20% – 7/10 days on the skins) – note Ivana doing the and the skins after the and the press. In the meantime we started to collect the grapes for the Oslavje ( and , half and half). Some panoramas and at the end Ivana and Saša preparing the new for the season.
was good. Long and healthy. No broken things this year. We managed to get our production in 40 000 bottles. Now it just needs to be sold. And we're good :)
2023 was a great year. In Portugal, the winter 22/23 was very cold, and historically very wet and rainy. Healthy soils got good reserves and the vines produced great. Some of the we source saw 30 to 60% production rises. Spring was warm and soft. No massive heat waves and no rains or fogs in the dangerous times. Mild sugar levels with good ripening and satisfying 's and . Overall it's looking great.
Our celebrates 25 years of activity this year. And we would really have liked to dedicate this to all these years of work and sacrifice, but also to lots of satisfaction!
The beginning of spring was good, the vines started their vegetive cycle well and after , the were plentiful, beautiful and well distributed. Then, it arrived with an unprecedented power, the Unexpected: first a flood and then the Landslides. First on May 2nd, then a second, the most devastating, on May 16th and 17th... Everything turned into a river we witnessed an unprecedentedly violent landslide ... it was like nothing we'd ever seen before.
About 30-35% of the vineyards disappeared in the landslides. But for those that remained, it was absolutely impossible to go to the vineyard with a tractor or anything else. In the following weeks we tried to intervene manually with to 'save' what remained. But unfortunately, despite all our efforts, 'She' won... . "She' had dried 50-55% of the remaining . At this point, approximately 10% of the total production remains.
And when we think we're at our lowest... on July 13th we were hit by a whirlwind of . And there is nothing left... not even a of grapes to pick.
Being in the worst situation a winemaker can find himself in, I tried and wanted to "see" an opportunity! Just 1.5km from us, on the other side of the hill towards the micro-fraction of Zattaglia where there was no damage, a young farmer who has vineyards of , and (and obviously does not intervene on the vineyard!), gave us the possibility of selecting grapes and to harvest what encouraged us to 'save' a . An opportunity and experimentation that will certainly help us understand the territory and all of its nuances!
In the meantime, in these long months, we have continued the work to restore the road that leads to the house and everything that surrounds the vineyards. You, even without knowing it, have helped us a lot and we will always be grateful for this! There is still a lot to do in the vineyards and unfortunately not everything will be recoverable. But we hold on and remain confident.
It is the second winter in a row with extremely dry conditions. We had basically no rain from mid-December to April. Lake Garda, which is a 40-minute drive from our winery, had the lowest water level ever recorded in 2023. The consequences on flora and fauna were dramatic, with the liveliness of nature feeling reduced. My ski season cost me two pair of skies, as even the northern couloirs on glacier areas were full of stones. Continuous hard times for my beloved winter-alpinism in the .
Then everything flipped: May, June and especially July were extremely rainy. The lack of water in the winter season was recuperated by end of September. In terms of temperatures it was quite a ride: the winter was very mild, summer cold and September and October surprisingly hot. These conditions had a strong impact on vegetation and on the vines. was our main concern (15% loss of production) with added damage on a part of the Foradori Rosso vineyards. All in all, we had 22% less production compared to 2022, which which felt like a normal good .
All the white varieties reacted quite well to these conditions: we have more than 2022 and less opulent fruit. The reds, which are still , are less consistent and more obscure in their evolution at the moment. was regular, but the fruit is not as bright we'd hoped. The lack of light during the summer season is showing the more herbal and spicy side of .
started August 28th and finished October 2nd; quite long for us. The was hit by twice: once in July and once in August. The damage felt negligible in the first instance, but, when it came to , we saw the result on the . Many berries were dried out or not fully because they were touched -even slightly- by the storms. Our is planted in the , so leaves protect grapes from more dramatic damage. Still, light scoffs still reduce significantly. We had to sort these berries out carefully. The result was reduced quantities but, after , the wines are bright and straight as arrows.
We decided to pick Manzoni Bianco quite early, in the beginning of September. were still nice around the end of August. September stayed quite warm. We succeeded well in choosing the moment of to have a good balance of and freshness. were very regular. Nosiola was more complicated to interpret: We decided to proceed with the picking in two with almost two weeks of pause in between. The aim was to keep freshness by picking early and search more complexity with a later . Today the first picking shows more energy and tension, which I prefer at the moment. It will be curious to see how both trials will develop.
By the end of July, the was unbalanced and showed an irregular . This was the consequence of the extremely rainy month. We decreased the on average by 20% -by cutting down green fruit- to get the rest to ripen regularly. It was a good decision. Unfortunately the hit plots for the Foradori Rosso and Sgarzon lost an additional 20% with later storms. was slow even with a warm September and some rain in the first half of the month. The first pickings showed a crunchy fruit. Morei, picked later this time, reminds me of cold from . The Granato vineyards (especially Regin and Noval) were very healthy. Sgarzon, affected by and , is having a harder time this year, a bit like in 2021.
The 2023 was strongly affected by extreme weather conditions. I think we will see more of this kind of years in future. Plants were stressed and reflect this trend in the fruit. Similar stress levels as 2022, but almost flipped conditions. We have to understand which are the right varieties to interpret such extremes.
Our team was really formidable and the rhythm was constant and pleasant. During Spring and Summer many interventions were needed, due to the constant occurrence of ’s favorite weather conditions. It was a particularly work intensive year and we feel deeply thankful for everybody’s sacrifice.
We began our 2023 on September 25th and wrapped up on October 7th. June and July were overcast and August was very hot, which certainly had an impact on the vines' cycle. We had a team of 32 pickers and ideal weather throughout the .
For the first year ever, we picked some of the before the , as some were taking longer than usual to reach full . 2023 will be a year with lower than 2022, with nice and balance. We also more than 2022, which is always a good feeling!
A Stressful but Ultimately Good 2023 for Jean Manciat
After a Spring without and a smooth that announced a generous crop, Summer was much more complicated, with a variety of climatic challenges that kept us on constant alert. The first was a constant humidity maintained by small episodes of rain that led to pressure. Then we saw a bit of in late July/early August and finally a storm in mid-July that damaged some of the more exposed but didn't really affect the crop, save for a small sector more in the Northern that was devastated.
When the sun was out you could really feel the heat, but it was certainly cooler overall than the last few years. Late August did however catch us by surprise, with temperatures soaring from 104 to 112 during the day; as the vines are not shaded, this caused sun damage to vines on the edges of each row as well as blocking . Then, from one day to the next, the weather radically dipped to the high 60's (with snow in higher altitudes!) in a moment when the crop was struggling to ripen. By being patient, summer "returned" in September with more pleasant weather that got the grapes where they needed to be. Despite all these challenges, we maintained a good crop.
We began on September 7th and finished on the 22nd, all under a warm sun until the very last few days when it rained. To avoid the afternoon's heat, we only in the morning into the early afternoon. As we continued picking, the revealed itself to be between 13% and 14% but with lower than usual and higher . This was quite stressful, and we were extremely vigilant in following the in order to avoid and accident or blocked . We systematically cooled the juices immediately following , and made sure to separate the ends of , which are always less acidic, in order to keep as much tension as possible. In spite of our fears, particularly that the would start before the was finished, everything went well. The are however slow, with some wines having not started their at the time of this writing.
The wines are rather pleasant, round, true to form but marked by their lower , giving the wine an unctuous quality without feeling heavy or flabby. It should be a an easy to drink ... let's wait a few months to find out!
Through Climactic Hardship, A Satisfying 2023 for François Cazin
From to the , extreme climate once again put us up against major challenges. April was fresh and humid; we avoided any but this weather persisted with regular rainfall up until early June, forcing us to be very attentive to the vines in regards to . By mid-June the weather had gotten warmer, which was favorable to . It also felt like 2023 was going to be more precocious than the last few . The summer was very dry up until mid-August, but the weather became very stressful for the second half of the month, alternating between brief rainfalls and really hot days which complicated the grapes' .
The red grapes suffered most from this capricious weather, but we had to wait as the the sugar levels were still too low to pick. We began the 2023 on September 11th with the , which required a tremendous amount of work in the vines and in the to salvage usable grapes. Things did however go a lot more smoothly with the white grapes: the were low but very ripe and the were generous (40 to 50) and very balanced, with between 12% and 13% depending on the . ended in early November for most of the .
By September 25th, we were ready to pick the . We prioritized the young vines: the sugars were showing of 13% but the is still nice and present. As were the , which came in around 40 to 50 . We ended with the old vines, which of course were low . The juices are very promising, and they too finished in November.
After four weeks of , everyone is tired but we feel satisfied with the . I'm waiting to see how the reds evolved by the Spring, but for now things are rather promising.
A Demanding but Generous 2023 at Domaine du Closel
Following a Spring with balanced weather conditions and a generous output from the vines, we were caught off-guard by uncertain weather marked by frequent rainfalls as of mid-June, followed by alternating hot and cool periods. The combination of these factors led to signs of deterioration on some of the grapes from mid-August, and this was reinforced by heavy rains in early September. These conditions forced us to go into a deep reflection to better understand the and to be able to bring the grapes to .
Faced with quickly deteriorating sanitary conditions for the vines and incomplete ripening, successive , already a practice at the , proved even more essential. The pickers, many of whom we are happy to see come back every year, made the most of their experience in selecting of grapes in an always cheerful atmosphere!
We carried out four five in each block. The first was to remove the sadly rotten bunches and to leave the others to ripen. The next enabled us to pick healthy, crunchy, or golden grapes little by little. took place from Monday, September 11th to Wednesday, October 4th.
In the spirit of research and innovation we have always had at the , this year we experimented with new regiments. Gentler and longer, they enabled us to extract finer juices with great satisfaction. The the quickly. They revealed wines with a nice and fresh aromas that we had almost forgotten with the roundness of recent years. Now it’s time for the slow process! While the was very demanding in the vineyard, it was nevertheless generous. Thanks to the obtained, we can go back to a wider range of wines, with refreshing in white and red, but also a sparkling called "Les Insolites".
In 2022, after yet another winter that was far too mild, some small bouts of caused some sleepless nights. Fortunately, they were nothing compared to the historic damage in 2021. With a sunny April, began a bit late, around the 12th. Then came May to break all types of records, with temperatures 3° higher than ever, half as much rain and more sunlight than the vines are used to: it was looking like yet another very precocious . Still in May, storms decimate over 400 in the ; our land is spared. By the end of May, has begun.
Then, in June, we have a brutal reversal, with a lot of rain and unseasonably cool weather. This leads to an explosion in the vegetation's vigor, which we diligently and urgently worked on. The landscape is colored by a luminous green and the are formed around June 23rd. By July, the heat is back in full force, very sunny and much too dry. begins mid-July: the are small which will assure quality but also a smaller crop. Around August 15th, some rain salvages the vineyard, refreshing the vines and grapes. Everything is beautiful and in a perfect sanitary state. In the end, 2022 is the second most precocious in the last 30 years, second only to 2003.
We began on August 25th in the and on the 31st in under good weather. The first days of picking confirm low , especially in the . The grapes are indeed low in juice, but the is quite good; it reminds me of 2015.