The 2018 Harvest
Certain vintages get a reputation for greatness almost before they are picked and 2018 looks like joining that elite group. The frost risk was minimal after two tricky years, though a deluge of rain in the spring caused worries in the first part of the season. However apart from a few storms in the first half of July – which were serious and included hail in southern Nuits-St-Georges and the Côte de Nuits Villages vineyards of that sector – there was effectively no rain from 15th June until Halloween.
There were two big surprises when the grapes came to be picked: much more juice in the grapes than expected, as evidently the root systems were able to pick up the water supplies provided by the spring rains, and the acidity levels were more or less adequate – no malic acidity admittedly, but enough tartaric to provide some balance.
Result: plenty of wine, especially in white, and properly ripe grapes. We may need to watch out for a few cuvées which may be over-ripe, and indeed I hear that in some cases it is proving not so easy to complete the fermentations. Details – the big picture is very much upbeat.
