Yquem-Sauternes 2008 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48

Yquem-Sauternes 2008 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48

After a mild and relatively dry start to the year, the lows cooled in March, leading to late budburst. 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 On April 7, the thermometer fell to -1.3°C under shelter, and the vines were already developed enough to suffer damage. 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 Fortunately, this frost, the heaviest since 1991, did not affect the property only at the southern limit of the gravel plateau and at the bottom of the slopes, but it had no effect on the characteristic clay "croups" of Yquem. 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 On this same date, a particularly rainy phase began. 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 It lasts until mid-June with 3 days of rain out of 4, i.e. 50% of precipitation above average! 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 The temperatures until May 24 are well above the norm (+ 1.8°C) and this "tropical" climate requires significant and careful work from all winegrowers and winegrowers (suckering, lifting, chipping or ploughing). 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 A first alternation then occurs with the sudden transition to a very cool phase (- 0.6°C) until mid-June. 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 This humid cold on the flower leads to a slight sagging on certain sectors that are a little vigorous, thus reproducing a natural thinning. 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 These regular hot/cold changes occur curiously throughout the summer, punctuated from the end of May to mid-September by 3 times 3 cool weeks interspersed with 3 times 2 hot weeks. 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 The rains stop abruptly in mid-June. 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 Four wet days until mid-August (80% dry days and – 40% rainfall), these conditions definitively remove the risk of mildew and provide the vintage with the essential dose of sunshine. 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 A new very disturbed beach is set up in August, with 2 rainy days out of 3 and 50% excess, coupled with 2 hot weeks at the end of the month (+ 1.3°C). 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 These conditions raise fears of too early an onset of rot on a harvest with heterogeneous maturity. 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 Fortunately, the new temperature shift (towards the cold) which then began (25 days at -2.2°C below normal) also combined with 17 days without rain. 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 This coldness and this dryness will block any risk of development of sour rot or gnats while allowing a perfect and slow ripening of the berries. 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48 These 3 unexpected weeks are a miracle. 4df5d4d9d819b397555d03cedf085f48