- Wet spring with rain at time of flowering indicates uneven ripening
- Even within the same vineyard plot some bunches of grapes are ripe and others are not at all! This is happening even within the same bunch!
- Wet spring and early summer has meant risk of mildew has been high and necessitated more sulphate spraying than usual
- Attacks of mildew on the leaves and more so on the grapes themselves means lower yields but no effect on quality if controlled
- Once the veraison has finished (when the green grapes turn to red – at the very last stages now in St Emilion and Fronsac) the risk of mildew is pretty much eradicated on the grapes.
- Yield will be smaller this year than usual, with fewer bunches on the vines (frost in some areas did not help)
- A heatwave where temperatures were over 40°C during several days in august scorched some grapes blocking the ripening cycle
- Overall the summer has not been very sunny with a cool first two weeks of July and warmer finish and month of August but changeable
- The Quality of 2012 is yet to be determined and will depend on the autumn sunshine to ripen the grapes and to enable producers to leave the grapes on the vine for as long as possible. Any rainfall will encourage rot (grey rot/botrytis cinerea) – most producers spray once 3 weeks or so before harvest for this.
- Sunshine is predicted for the next week or so, perfect for ‘la rentrée’ when all the kids go back to school and life in France gets back to normal for a few weeks. Already the nights are cooler.
- Harvest will be later than usual around start first week of October for example in the deep sands of St Emilion (predominantly Merlot) whereas last year harvest started around 20th September. Will be delayed as long as possible if the weather allows.
Discussion
No comments yet.