I spoke too soon in last month’s newsletter when I wrote about the “soggy weather – but no floods.” Incessant rain over the Easter weekend brought the river over the top of my dry stone walls which resisted manfully but couldn’t stop an alternative river flooding through the garden – briefly, and with no lasting damage. There have been a few reports of some flooding in the Côte d’Or but it seems to have been the Yonne department which has suffered much more with the Armançon and Serein rivers overflowing, the latter into the streets of Chablis, though from what I can gather, not into the cellars.
I called a couple of my vigneron friends in Chablis and both were quite relaxed – “we expect this nowadays and know what to do”. “It is more the rain coming down from above that we mind”, said Didier Picq, “rather than the water coming up from below”. It is true all across Burgundy that the main problem this spring has been the difficulty of getting into the soggy vineyards to do the necessary work. The vines seem perfectly happy and have budded early, thanks to the generally warm weather in March. Fortunately, there is no suggestion of frost in the forecast over the next few weeks. Fingers crossed, nonetheless.
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As promised last month, we have sent you several scintillating reports – there are now 30,000 tasting notes on the website, not a bad haul for just over 5 years work! The 40 years of Dominique Lafon was a particular thrill for me, and Jane Skilton’s article on Central Otago has rekindled my desire to visit the beautiful islands of New Zealand along with their vineyards and vines. She reported on nearly 100 wines, pinots along with a few chardonnays, to excite your taste buds – and to keep us in touch with who is making the best wines down there at the moment.
And now, we can introduce you to our newest contributor, Tom Kline, whose opening overview on the pinot and chardonnay producing regions of Australia will be with you this week, alongside an overview of the 2023 vintage. Judging by our interactions so far, he is going to be a star contributor. This is Tom on himself:
Having grown up in Australia’s King Valley wine region with a Burgundy obsessed wine educator father, Tom caught the wine bug early. He began his career in the world of importing and distribution culminating in a role as the Victorian State Sales Manager for leading fine wine importer, Bibendum Wine Co. Now, Tom contributes to the likes of Decanter Magazine, Wine Spectator, and Halliday Magazine as well as various other publications in Australia and abroad. He is on the reviewing team for Winepilot, is a wine show judge, and is also a WSET educator and author of consumer-facing wine courses. In 2023, Tom was announced as the winner of the ‘Best Published Feature Article or Wine Column’ at the prestigious Wine Communicator Awards held by Wine Communicators of Australia.
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My April program includes a visit to the Bien Boire en Beaujolais salon, a couple of days in London for two ‘horizontal’ tastings, a week mostly in the Côte Chalonnaise, along with the joy of fine tuning existing tasting notes for publication. The vines are greening and – for once – the water table is full!
Best regards,
Jasper
