Page 6 - HS vendanges english
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NUITS-SAINT-GEORGES
                         Back-to-front harvests







                The harvests

       They began with the reds ripening before the whites.
       The harvest was very disease-free but we had to
       eliminate sunburnt berries, especially in the case of
       the Pinot Noir vines as the Chardonnays had coped
       better with the heat.
       A noteworthy statistic this year is that more than half
       of the 40 ha (98.84 ac) harvested at our winegrowing
       partners’ properties was picked by our own grape-pickers.
       21  August: official start of the harvest, beginning
        st
       with the Grand Cru Corton Renardes.
        th
       25  August: Meursault Le Limozin.
       11  September: the last red grapes from the Hautes-
        th
       Côtes de Nuits are brought in.                 Initial tastings
       Quality was definitely good, but relatively low juice   ‘Lots of lovely colour in the reds, with very high
       yields has resulted in Pinot Noirs with high colour and   polyphenol content, firm tannins and excellent levels
       aromatic intensity. On the other hand, the Chardonnay   of acidity. Looks set to be a year with great cellaring
       vines produced adequate yields with a good balance   potential. Summer fruit coulis notes definitely have
       of sugar and acidity.                  the upper hand in this year’s vintage!
       This optimal ripeness enabled us to harvest the red   The whites are nicely-balanced, but it’s too early to
       grapes in certain plots according to the ‘vendange   be more precise. Watch this space...’
       entière’ approach, where stalks are fermented along
       with the grapes. We’ve continued with vinification   GRÉGORY PATRIAT
       using no added sulphur – a technically challenging
       approach which we started several years ago!




   6   Boisset La Famille des Grands Vins - www.boisset.com - Special Issue - The 2020 Vintage
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