Louis Latour Agencies

Rain, rain and more rain, a weather update from Maison Louis Latour

08 July 2024

Côte-d'Or, Bugundy

The 2024 season kicked off to a wet and rainy start, having received the same amount of rain in the last 5 months as we would have had in the whole year! Incredible I know, but we mustn’t complain when we have been in a deficit for the past 3 years.

However, these are the challenges of working in the vineyards – racing and pacing alongside mother nature, despite the turbulent weather in Bourgogne and the Côte d’Or in general, rain met with sunshine, then back to frost in the early mornings, with surprise hailstorms catching everyone out, not least the vines.

Luckily, we have survived with almost no damage on our new sprouts. The vines themselves have been loving the watering – with each new shoot growing well towards the sky and showing us the new flower buds (unopened). Flowering is looking to show in the coming week or so. In full, healthy bloom, each little cluster will be holding 100 to 200 flowers which will fertilize to become the fruits of the 2024 harvest.

Our Domaine has a solid team to tend to the vines as the race begins to tie up and trellis the new shoots. Our cover crops, and the growth surrounding the vines have equally enjoyed the downpour, but now need to be well maintained to avoid harbouring mildew or other diseases during the oncoming humid days. The team juggles between trying to enter the vineyards between rainfalls and keeping up with the growth, maintenance, and ploughing.

 

In Chablis, Beaujolais and the Ardèche

The Chablis region’s situation was far more critical at the start of the year, with frost affecting the lower slopes several nights in a row at the end of April. Forecasted frosts of between -1°C and -2°C also encouraged us to light the candles in our Chablis Grand Cru vines.

At the beginning of May, hail hit the vineyards, affecting 1,000 hectares - approximately 15% of the global Chablis vineyards. Overall, we estimate that 25% of our vineyards were affected by these climatic hazards.

Rain, rain and more rain in the Beaujolais over the last few months. Cumulative rainfall has been even higher since the beginning of May. As a result, the vines need constant attention to prevent diseases.

As in the Ardèche region, the vines are starting to flower and too much water could have a negative impact on the flowering process. We can already estimate that the harvest will be later than in 2023, probably at the beginning of September, just like in Bourgogne (Burgundy).

Currently, we are in the middle of the flowering period, but the weather is very wet, increasing the risk of coulure (flower loss). Temperatures are in line with seasonal norms, suggesting that the harvest should start around 20-25th August.

In the cellars, we have finished racking the vats of our Ardèche 2023 Chardonnay. Racking of the Grand Ardèche 2023 has just begun, expected to finish end of June. Handling over 2,000 oak barrels is no mean feat!