« Année en un, Année de rien »

An old saying in Champagne which means basically that this year would be all or nothing !  For us, 2021 was fortunately an exceptional year.

 

Spring started hot and sunny which got the vines sprouting only to be followed by two frosts which caused much damage to our Chardonnay vines. 

The rest of the summer was a complete washout, with 318mm of rain from mid-June to mid-August, compared to 98mm in 2020 ! Not surprisingly, growth was slowed down by the low summer temperatures and the vines suffered from mildew which damaged some of the grapes.  As post-covid sales had picked up, we were allowed to pick up to 10.000kg/hectare but we were unfortunately far from that quota.

We started harvesting on the 15th of September and even though the overall quantity of grapes was low, the quality, however, was excellent.  This year is all about quality and the wine has fine aromatic concentrations and, above all, a strong acidity.  All the conditions have been met for a Grand Millésime !