The Chardonnay is the grape variety for the white Hautes-Côtes de Beaune wines:
- Density: 10,000 feet/hectare.
- Pruning: Guyot, Cordon de Royat.
- Harvest: Manual
- Yields: allowed 66 hl/hectare (59 hl:ha in high vines)
Serve at a temperature of about 15 °C. (59°F).
Ageing potential: 2 to 4 years.
As their name suggests, these vineyards lie on higher elevations, to the west of the Côte de Beaune; they spread across 926 acres in Côte d’Or and 370 acres in the Saône-et-Loire region, at altitudes ranging from 340 to 450 meters above sea level.
The vines of this appellation are located on the edge of the plateau dominating the Côte de Beaune. It is a relatively recent vineyard, the vines having been replanted only in 1970.
- Clay-limestone soil. Some marl formations, slopes covered with limestone scree.
- South-eastern exposure.
- Steep incline.
- Altitudes between 280 and 450 meters.
This 2022 vintage promises to be one of great quality.
We had a rather rainy November, December and January, and February and March were rather cool, which slowed down the emergence of the buds and in turn prevented the frost problems that we had last year.
May was very, very hot providing great flowering conditions. June was then a little chaotic weather wise, as we had some warm mornings and then with violent storms after midday, sometimes with hail. However, at least nothing really bad in our Burgundy.
The harvests started in Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits around 29 August, which is still relatively early and we had to deal with diverse levels of ripening. Some parcels really stood up to the heat and have given wonderfully ripe grapes. Of course, everything was conditioned by how the vineyard was managed and the amount of exposure. But overall, we had wonderful wines from these parcels, from other parcels which experienced more dehydration. The very high temperatures meant a greater halt in ripening, giving grapes a little less ripe, so we had to wait to harvest them.
By the end of August, we already had fabulous colour extraction and the acidity was very well balanced. All this allowed to be very confident, heading for a great vintage.
In the Chablis area, some winegrowers started harvesting as August was ending, but most of them started harvesting in the first days of September.
The harvesters were relatively unaffected by the rains, which fell either in the late afternoon or at night. The foliage, which was still in good health, benefited from it. Thanks to the rain, juice concentration was limited and the bunches of grapes were able to provide a good balance between sugar content and acidity.
The harvest concluded the third week of September with a smile: neither the frost nor the drought prevented the vineyards from producing close to normal yields. However, the volumes harvested varied from one domain to another, with some estates easily reaching full production while others were below the appellation's yield.
Wines in the making are expressing notes of ripe fruit, pear and peach, while keeping their freshness. They are generous and have a good balance. Quality is definitely there as well.
After a year 2021 disturbed by a poor harvest, this 2022 vintage is a real breath of fresh air.
PDF file