Vineyard News
2021 Vintage Card – now available
We have recently taken delivery of our 2021 IWFS Vintage Card and which you will be due to receive when you renew your membership for the new year. When sourcing the information from our consultants from around the globe a number of them will provide a summary of the latest vintage. We thought the following report from our specialist for Champagne would be of interest for those interested in purchasing vintage Champagne for future drinking:
Champagne 2019 and 2020 – possibly great Vintage years
James Simpson MW, MD, Pol Roger Ltd reported 2020 being the earliest Vintage ever (with picking starting on 21st August) with, exceptionally, the Pinot Noir being picked ahead of the Chardonnay. This early picking means that the must has retained freshness and acidity; certainly a Vintage year for Pol Roger – possibly a great Vintage year. In addition here is his report for the 2019 vintage which is the basis for his top award of ‘7’ in the 2021 Vintage Card:
Champagne continues to experience the effects of global warming, with an increase in average temperature of 1.1 °C across the past 30 years. This still means that the quality of champagne vintages continue to improve; with the year 2019 no exception.
After a dry and mild winter, there were periods of frost between early April and early May which affected approximately 5,000 hectares. Of this vineyard, the equivalent of 1,000 hectares (some 3% of the entire vineyard area) were severely damaged. This was then followed by several thunderstorms in May, which slowed down the growing cycle.
Despite the later flowering than on average, there was a significant heatwave, especially in June and July, with scalding that burned up more than 10% of the potential harvest and the highest temperature on record, with 42.9°C on 25th July. Further hot and sunny conditions followed in August and September but these were, fortunately, combined with cool nights on the run-up to the harvest – meaning that the vines ripened well and produced musts with a good balance of sugar and acidity plus an impressive aromatic concentration.
Whilst some grapes were picked at the very end of August, the main part of the harvest started early in September, with perfect conditions to pick the fully ripe and healthy grapes. It is worth noting that the time between the flowering and harvest was an exceptional 81 days (against an average, over the last decade, of 92 days).
James has also recently provided us with the summary for the 2020 vintage – “The harvest began on Friday August 21st. 2020 marks the sixth year that the harvest has begun in August since the turn of the century (2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2018).
The harvest began with the Pinots Noirs and Pinot Meuniers of Rilly-la-Montagne, Bouzy, Vandières and Louvois, followed by the Chardonnays of Mesnil-sur-Oger and Cuis at the beginning of September. In contrast to previous years, the Chardonnay was picked at the end of the harvest because of a later ripening than the other two grape varieties.
This protracted picking, from August 21st to September 6th, allowed for a very controlled harvest by managing the arrival of the grapes at the pressing centres.
The grapes were in excellent health with a potential alcohol content of between 10.2° and 10.5° depending on the grape variety.
It is a huge relief that, in spite of the uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this new harvest was a success. The musts tasted during this harvest are promising, well-balanced and characterized by an aromatic freshness. We eagerly anticipate tasting the wine in a few years’ time…
We look to be very fortunate to have had a run of two excellent vintages in Champagne – something to look forward to in years to come.