The white grapes were harvested from the 2nd to the 12th of September under perfect conditions. For nearly five years, in partnership with our R&D teams, we have been working on our vineyards to adapt yields to our terroirs, while maintaining the hallmark style and quality of our Pavillon Blanc. Size was naturally a critical factor in achieving our goals. The number of bunches was thus adapted for each vine, and two passes were made during the harvest to pick each bunch at optimal maturity.
The sanitary state of the vineyard was very good and despite the summer conditions, the vines showed few significant signs of hydric stress. We simply needed to carefully and meticulously monitor the balance between sugars and acidities to decide on the best harvest date.
The Pavillon Blanc 2019 is an elegant, delicate and fresh wine, and in some ways resembles the 2017 vintage. The aromas are similarly precise, intense and complex. Over the remaining few months of ageing, the Pavillon Blanc will become denser with a full-bodied attack which, combined with long acidity, is typical of the best Sauvignon white wines. Almost half the harvest was used to produce this very good Pavillon Blanc vintage. (April 2022)
Margaux
Climate
Globally, 2019 was the warmest year on record. In France, the average temperature was 13.7°C, 1.1°C to 1.2°C higher than usual.
In Margaux, the winter of 2019 was mild at 1 to 2 degrees above the 30-year averages, with limited rain (30 mm less than the 30-year averages) and only three days of frost. Under these conditions, the date of bud-break ranged from March 29th to April 4th.
Spring was mild and temperatures were near-normal for the season, with abundant rainfall at the end of April and again between June 5th and June 18th. Flowering occurred between the 1st and the 9th of June and went relatively well. Only some older parcels of Merlot showed some signs of coulure. The rain, which risked causing occasional outbreaks of mildew, had no sanitary impact and the vineyards remained in a very good state throughout the year.
The summer stood in sharp contrast to the rainy spring. Anticyclonic conditions prevailed and only 64 mm of rain fell between June 21st and September 21st. However, the summer of 2019 will be best remembered for two heatwaves at the end of June and then from July 22nd to 24th when the temperature reached 39.9°C in Margaux!
The red grape harvest began on September 18th in ideal conditions, and the Merlot grapes were perfectly ripe and concentrated when picked. A weather disturbance between September 22nd and the 29th did not affect the health of the grapes and allowed them to ripen more slowly under conditions that were less aggressive for the vines, better preserving the acidity levels, with ultimately not too high levels of alcohol. The grapes picked between the end of September and the beginning of October benefited from the concentration developed after veraison (August 5th to the 10th), without being significantly affected by low slight dilution from the rain.
The harvest ended on October the 10th.