Burgundy 2006 - Vintage Report

Burgundy 2006 - Vintage Report

The weather during the year was fairly up and down. After a long, cold winter, June was dry and sunny for the flowering. July was also dry and hot and did much to accelerate ripening which then suffered during an unsettled cool and showery August. Thankfully September provided a window of fine weather for the harvest which rapidly came to maturity.

The white grapes had to be picked early to retain acidity as alcohol levels went shooting up. It was the first time in living memory that Chablis harvested their grapes before the Côte d'Or. Those growers who left it a shade too long may even have had to add back a little acidity - fairly unusual for such a northerly, cool area and evidence of the effects of global warming!

The picking date was crucial for the red Pinot Noir grapes too and there was a trade-off between waiting for optimum maturity of skins and pips and losing acidity. Some growers picked early, others late. In general winemakers did not opt for heavy extraction, preferring to make elegant, softer wines that can be enjoyed earlier than the heavyweight 2005s.

Burgundy - a green revolution?

The 1970s and 80s witnessed the widespread use of chemicals in the vineyards. Herbicides meant growers no longer had to plough the soil to keep the weeds down, the pesticide treatments were wonderfully effective and the fertilizers resulted in bigger yields which pleased the growers.

In the late 80s/early 90s, some growers, often the younger generation coming through, recognised that this wasn't good for the soil or for the quality of the wine. Gradually a movement started to make greener, better wine. Nowadays, the amount of chemicals used has dropped significantly. At the very least, growers now only spray when they have to, rather than automatically every fortnight. Many growers are also using organic fertilisers, starting to plough the soil again and use 'sexual confusion' methods to curb pests as opposed to chemical pesticides.

A few growers also use the lunar calendar to decide when to do certain vineyard tasks (eg. pruning in a descending moon when the sap is falling rather than rising) and for certain processes in the winery (eg. racking, bottling). There are also some who shun the use of laboratory-prepared enzymes, yeasts, fining agents and let the wine settle and clarify itself naturally.

Some notable vineyards also use biodynamic preparations in the vineyard. These consist of homeopathic quantities of natural products such as cow manure, nettle tea, quartz, chamomile etc, diluted by stirring vigorously in water to 'dynamise' them and applied on special days. The practice is still rather controversial but is gaining recognition.

Growers who have been using these techniques for a number of years now are seeing an improvement in soil quality, their vines are developing a naturally greater resistance to disease and the wines themselves are better balanced. The process is labour intensive and consequently costly and is often only afforded by the top domaines.