{"id":14620,"date":"2020-05-19T14:00:18","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T13:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/an-exhilarating-year\/"},"modified":"2020-05-19T14:00:18","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T13:00:18","slug":"an-exhilarating-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/home\/cos-chronicle\/an-exhilarating-year\/","title":{"rendered":"An Exhilarating Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”gray-color justify”]2019 was characterized by a thrilling succession of unusual but ultimately favorable climatic events. It was a year in which the ideal location of our magnificent terroir and the ceaseless efforts of our teams in the vineyard proved crucial to bringing our vines to fruition and producing a harvest of exceptional quality.
\nA look back on an exhilarating year.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_custom_heading text=”November 2018 to March 2019
\nA Winter Calm” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_separator][vc_column_text]Winter was a tranquil period, with little rain in November, December and January, resulting in 88, 108 and 70 mm of rainfall, respectively. The estate\u2019s soils were relatively dry and warmed rapidly under gentle temperatures, resulting in early, homogenous bud break starting on March 25.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”6179″ img_size=”1620×1080″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”6181″ img_size=”1620×1080″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_custom_heading text=”April\u2013May 2019
\nThe Estate\u2019s Vines Acclimate” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_separator][vc_column_text]Spring was also quite dry, with only 12 mm of rainfall in April and 37 mm in May. Temperatures were cooler than usual and soil activity was sluggish, resulting in slower vine growth and smaller leaf area. Meanwhile, the estate\u2019s vines began adapting their development to dry conditions by limiting the size of the conduits through which their sap flows.
\nThese concurrent phenomena helped prepare the vines for limited water supplies that would be brought on by heat waves later in the season, by limiting evaporation and encouraging the vine to regulate growth. [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_custom_heading text=”June 2019
\nEarly Leaf Thinning” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_separator][vc_column_text]Flowering occurred later and took longer than usual, with the estate\u2019s flowers appearing during the first two weeks of June. Temperatures remained uncommonly cool. From June 20, however, the situation reversed itself, and the estate\u2019s vines began accelerating development as temperatures finally rose, reaching 35\u201336\u00b0C on June 26 and 27, with nighttime temperatures of 20\u00b0C.
\nIn light of these conditions, the team decided to begin leaf thinning early on the eastern-facing side of the vineyard. The timing and quality of these efforts allowed the estate\u2019s grapes to protect and prepare themselves for the hot summer. [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”6183″ img_size=”1620×1080″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”6185″ img_size=”1620×1080″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_custom_heading text=”July 2019
\nPerpetual Vigilance” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_separator][vc_column_text]We experienced a second heat wave on July 22\u201325, with temperatures reaching the year\u2019s high of 39\u00b0C on July 23. The winegrowing team worked almost incessantly, lightly ploughing at a more frequent pace and more intensely than usual to let rainwater accumulate and reduce evaporation. These techniques proved particularly useful during rains in late July: 27 mm of rainfall delivered precisely the amount of water needed to rehydrate the estate\u2019s gravelly soils without impacting their more inert clay counterparts and allowed veraison to occur more rapidly and in a homogenous fashion.
\nThe hot, dry weather, the effects of which were tempered by the estate\u2019s proximity to the Gironde Estuary and the ocean as well as the precision of our methods, allowed the grapes to eliminate their vegetal aromas to make way for impeccable phenolic ripeness.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_custom_heading text=”August 2019
\nExceptionally Concentrated Grapes” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_separator][vc_column_text]In August, as in July, the vineyard experienced very dry, hot weather. A second rainfall (38 mm) brought some relief to the estate\u2019s gravelly soils, as teams continued their light ploughing efforts.
\nLow water supplies proved optimal, resulting in Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes of a small size, a sign of excellent concentration within the berries. Veraison reached its mid-point on August 4 before concluding in a rapid, homogenous fashion.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”6187″ img_size=”1620×1080″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”6189″ img_size=”1620×1080″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_custom_heading text=”September 2019
\nA Final, Unexpected Event Before Harvest” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_separator][vc_column_text]The weather remained hot and dry, with a fourth and final heat wave on September 13\u201317. Concern grew as weather conditions favored intense concentration within the grapes. Fortunately, the week of September 23 brought moderate rains (30 mm) that, while usually feared at this time of year, reversed the trend: rehydrated, the estate\u2019s grapes were able to complete their ripening process, especially that of their skins.
\nThe rains also marked the start of harvest, which began on September 16 for the Sauvignon Blanc, on September 19 at Goul\u00e9e and on September 23 at Cos d\u2019Estournel for the Merlot planted on gravel, before coming to an end on October 7.
\nThe vineyard was healthy and our team of harvesters worked rapidly to ensure the precious berries were collected at the height of maturity.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A look back on a perfectly timed year between hot weather and timely, moderate rainfall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1749,"featured_media":14628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140,124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-journal-de-bord"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1749"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}