While Burgundy growers are claiming 2009 is going to be a good year, it could potentially have been ruined by growers picking too early.
Christophe Chauvel, chief viticulturalist at Albert Bichot said, “The vintage looks beautiful but just because the grapes looked nice that didn’t mean they were ripe. On 17 August the white grapes in Corton Charlemagne were already golden. The black grapes were already turning blue and looking ripe on 3 August.”
It is claimed the regulatory body in Burgundy, the BIVB, was too hasty in declaring an early start to the vintage and growers rushed to pick. Although sugar levels were sufficient, the seeds and skins were still unripe in some cases and there will be some producers with some ‘green’ wines and hard tannin this year.
Check out my youtube video of Philippe de Marcilly, commercial director at Albert Bichot, and his thoughts on the early harvest. I’ve just set up my you tube wine channel Check it out. I’ll be posting videos from my travels and tastings around the wine world. Need to steady my filming hand but I’ll be tracking down top names in the industry and asking them tricky questions.
