Introducing "En Primeurs" by My French Cellar

/

Bordeaux 2016: a great vintage in the making

As My French Cellar is preparing actively the "En Primeur" season for its customers, please find below some technical information about the very promising 2016 vintage.

The 2016 vintage unites all characteristics required for giving birth to a great vintage !

  • Uniform flowering at the origin of good pollination
  • Substantial lack of rainfall during the summer combined with abundant sunshine
  • Ripening took place in bright sunshine accompanied by wide ranges in temperature.
  • Eventually, the Indian Summer led to optimal ripeness in each plot and grape variety; harvesting was conducted very smoothly.

Quality

It is worth noting the outstanding quality of the 2016 grapes: crispy, both full of sugar and fresh, with intense aromas of small black berries. The skins are rich in sweet tannins; the seeds have a nutty taste.

The vintage's first red wines: intense color, very high concentration of anthocyanin, nose of small black berries (blackcurrants, mulberries, blueberries), powerful and structured length, round tannins. Superb potential!

Harvesting began around September 24th, on the earliest for the Merlot grape variety. They continued with Cabernet Franc and around October 12th with Cabernet Sauvignon being harvested the latest.

Volume

The 2016 vintage should be a great vintage with no lack of quantity either. The 2016 harvest should amount to over 5.5 M hectoliters (estimate because harvesting is still ongoing to date). The actual figures will be released in the official harvest announcement, in late November.

[For info: 2015 harvest = 5.30 M hl; 2014 = 5.27 M hl ; 2013 = 3.84 M hl]

 Climatology

Jan - March : The first quarter of 2016 was mild and especially rainy.

April: Temperatures close to normal and rainfall 25% lower than the 30-year average

May: Several storms – a rainy month, in particular over the last ten days.
In the vineyards:
violent hailstorm from Saturday to Sunday, May 28th-29th with damage to the vine leaves and branches. The hardest hit appellations were those along the Dordogne river. The Graves de Vayres AOC suffered damage ranging from 20% to 60%.
Very first blossoms appeared in late May

June: sunshine shortage; rain and few very warm days.
In the vineyards:
flowering truly began in the first few days of June. Flowering occurred quickly and evenly.


July: Perfect Summer, with substantial sunshine, a period of heat and scarce rainfall.
In the vineyards:
the very first berries changed color in late July.

August: a dry, warm and sunny month. 
This August, it rained only 2 days instead of the usual 7 days. The whole month was sunny, with the sun shining 71 hours more than usual.
In the vineyards:
veraison was late and uniform (August 10th: start of veraison - August 23rd: end of veraison)

September: the first 13 days of September were in keeping with August: warm, dry and sunny. 
After weeks of drought, rain finally came on September 13th in the Bordeaux vineyards where 30 to 60 millimeters of rain fell. Then the sun returned with mild temperatures. Ripening continued in a very sun-filled context associated with wide temperature ranges. These ideal conditions foretell a very promising 2016 vintage.

Harvests Conditions
Very healthy conditions and bright sunshine for the harvests

source : Vins de Bordeaux