{"id":27297,"date":"2022-10-05T10:02:21","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T09:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/2022-precoce-et-prometteur\/"},"modified":"2022-10-05T17:03:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T16:03:25","slug":"2022-precoce-et-prometteur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/home\/cos-chronicle\/2022-precoce-et-prometteur\/","title":{"rendered":"2022: Precocious and Promising"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row css_animation=”fadeInDown”][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”custom-intro”]W<\/span>hile no one has forgotten the summer of 2022\u2019s blistering temperatures in the M\u00e9doc and throughout France, it is also worth recalling that the growing season began with the coldest winter of the last ten years!
\nThese harsh conditions proved valuable in preparing the estate\u2019s vines for frost on April 3 and 4, as did the late pruning carried out on many plots, so they finally suffered little damage.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”fadeInDown”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”27125″ img_size=”860×700″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Winter was barely over when hot, dry weather set a new trend for the rest of the growing cycle, which would be characterized by early development throughout. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Bud break began early, on March 24, and was very homogenous in nature. The first flowers also appeared ahead of schedule, on May 16, nine days earlier than the previous year.
\nThe beautiful blossoms on the estate\u2019s Merlot, particularly its oldest Merlot, yielded a large quantity of seeds, which are essential in bringing structure and energy to the estate\u2019s wines.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”27149″ img_size=”860×700″ alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1664960527581{padding-top: 20px !important;}”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1664985745856{border-top-width: 0px !important;}”]A first heat wave on June 15-18 led to concern that the vineyard would suffer from acute water stress, despite the fact that the Merlot grapes were the smallest they had been at the same moment in the growing cycle since 2010, and small berries are a promising indicator of excellent concentration.
\nFortunately enough, rains on June 20-30 fell at exactly the right moment to quench the vines\u2019 thirst and create a more serene context for the rest of the summer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two more heat waves followed, beginning with the first two weeks of July, which, along with those of 2003, were the hottest seen in twenty-two years.
\nAcclimated early in the year to hot temperatures, the estate\u2019s grapes, which had also benefitted from meticulous leaf thinning according to the needs of each individual row of vines, were little affected by these conditions. Veraison followed, twelve days early.<\/span><\/p>\n

The estate\u2019s vines and terroir proved truly exceptional in the face of drought.
\nForty-five years old on average, the vines sought the water they needed deep within clay soils that had fully replenished their water supplies during the winter rains and proved a most valuable resource. <\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”fadeInDown”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”27131″ img_size=”860×700″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]The long-awaited harvest finally began on September 7, ten days earlier than in 2021. Choosing the date of harvest required considering various parameters to estimate the grapes\u2019 maturity: skins, seeds, acidity, and potential alcohol levels.
\nThe experience of the last twenty years also informed the decision but ultimately, the start of harvest was determined upon tasting the grapes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Precious insight also came from the northern M\u00e9doc, where the harvests of Cos d\u2019Estournel Blanc similarly began very early, on August 29.
\nThe same questions had been raised and the same answers agreed upon; it all came down to trusting the team\u2019s knowledge of the terroir and tasting the grapes. <\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”fadeInDown”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”27143″ img_size=”1080×810″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]It is still early, with the harvest finished merely days ago, on September 23, but our expectations seem likely to be fulfilled.
\nAnd if comparisons with other vintages, especially the 2005, which also saw early drought, and the 2003, which also experienced excessive heat, are any indication, then we may dare well say that a great vintage is in the works!<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With an early drought and extremely high temperatures, the 2022 vintage proved challenging indeed! But thanks to the exceptional qualities of the estate\u2019s terroir and the outstanding efforts of its teams in the vineyard, the vintage is already revealing itself to be\u2014dare we say it?\u2014fabulous!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1749,"featured_media":27147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140,124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27297","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\/27297","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=27297"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27301,"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27297\/revisions\/27301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cos.projet-client.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}