2006 VINTAGE

An absolute record : a vintage starting on the 8th of September!

WEATHER DURING THE GROWING SEASON

The spring of 2006 was dry, with alternating cold and warm temperatures. Although bud break was late, perfect flowering in early June made up for lost time and led to rapid growth.
Three weeks of extremely hot weather in July sped up ripening, but things slowed down significantly in August.
The second half of the summer was less sunny and much cooler than average, but temperatures warmed up again in the first ten days of September, with an average maximum of 31° C.

HARVEST

The first wave of picking began on the 8th of September. Up until the 12th, pickers harvested superb, concentrated grapes, although they needed to discard some bunches with dreaded sour rot caused by fruit flies. On the 21st of September, another wave of picking was attempted, but without success. It was thus necessary to wait… Thankfully, the sunshine quickly returned, as did very mild temperatures. Noble rot then picked up again beautifully - as did the fruit flies! An enormous quantity of grapes had to be thrown away to ensure quality. The third and fourth waves of picking took place from the 27th of September to the 2nd of October. The quality of grapes affected by noble rot was splendid, even though more than half of the remaining crop was ruined by sour rot and had to be sacrificed. This was definitely a “year of the winemaker” in which experience made all the difference !

THE WINE

Production area: 14, 3680 ha Harvest: 4 successive manual selections Fermentation period : 3 to 5 weeks, in barrel, by indigenous le- vures Production: 12 000 bottles Vinification: 100% barrel aged from one to two years Duration of maturation: 30 months