Louis Latour Agencies

Domaine Louis Latour 2019 Vintage Report

08 October 2020

We’re delighted to share a report from Christophe Déola, Director of Domaine Louis Latour on the 2019 Vintage in Burgundy. Please see his full report below:

 

2019 was a volatile year with numerous climatic issues. Small yield but good quality grapes allowed us to have fresh and balanced wines.

 

2019 Vegetative cycle:

• Budburst: 15th April
• Flowering: 9th June
• Veraison: 9th August
• Harvest: 11th September

 

Climate overview, France – 2019:

• Mild winter (+1,5°C from November to March compared to average).
• Higher temperatures than average mid-April.
• Low temperatures from end of April to May 20th.
• Fresh and rainy month of June followed by heatwaves end of June and mid-July.
• August and September were hot and dry.
• Annual rainfall: 90 millimeters - lower than average.
• The sun shined 275 hours more than an average year.

 

After a very mild winter, the vines slowly started waking up in April. While buds still mostly unopened, first spring frost affected the vineyard on April 5th. Even if we were able to protect our Grand Cru appellations (Charlemagne, Bâtard, Chevalier, Chambertin) our vines in Premier Cru and Village appellations were harshly affected. We will only notice the effects of the frost later on. On the 14th of April, when the second frost wave arrived, we realized that our vines from Volnay, Beaune Vignes Franches, Pernand-Vergelesses and Aloxe-Corton had not begun debudding unlike the others. In the meantime, we had to go back to nocturnal vigilance in several areas using candles to prevent the vines from frost damage.

Few of us were in the vineyard during the night of April 5, the first episode of frost. However, the morning of April 14th the Côte d’Or was fully illuminated by candles.

After this alert, the weather turned fine with temperatures above average for a week around April 20. The vines grew at a steady pace and stayed on average regarding previous years.

However, temperatures started lowering as soon as end of April and stayed low until the 20th of May approximately. In this particular scenario, the vines grew slowly and displayed contracted leaves. We observed a mismatch between the development of the leaves and the flowers. Flower buds split on average 2 weeks after the emergence of the sixth leaf, this year, those two elements occurred at the time around May 21th.

 The first flowers bloomed on the 9th of June and the flowering unfolded until June 20th in difficult conditions (temperatures lower than average and 8 days of rainfall during this span).

Starting June 24th, a summer climate had set in. It was the first heat wave of the year and the highest temperatures only went under 29°C on the 8th of July. During this period, the fruits evolved and form a definitive size that creates a compact and dense grape. From July 16th to 26th, a heatwave returned (with the highest point of temperature on the 24th of July at 38,7°C); if the vines didn’t show any particular signs, it still suffered from the heat. As expected, the ripening started 4 days later than usual.

August and September were hot and dry as well. We started harvesting on the 11th of September. Harvest took place under a radius sun, at a quick pace to end on the 20th September.

Surprisingly, despite the climatic conditions and small yield, the reds are fresh, delicate, elegant and gourmet.

The whites are lively with a good acidity. The wines display a lovely balance and a great aromatic purity that reflects our very traditional and Burgundian style.

 

Christophe Déola,

Director of Domaine Louis Latour

July 2020