From mid August to September the hot weather returned, peaking at 38 degrees centigrade on the 24th August. There was malic acid degradation and withering berries, especially on the most exposed vines. A strict sorting and selection was essential. Most harvested between the 5th and 13th September under warm sunny skies with intermittent light showers.
Picking at different stages enabled vignerons to use grapes with varying acidities, ripeness and concentrations, which ultimately contributed to the overall complexity of their wines. Morning harvesting ensured that the fruit arrived into the cellars cool, otherwise equipment was deployed to drive temperatures down to 5 degrees.
A mixture of whole bunch fermentation and crushing for flavour extraction were practised alongside part new oak maturation, steel tank or inert ceramic amphorae to manage fruit and tannin expression. It’s fascinating hearing the varying philosophies adopted, each with their own merits in accordance to the conditions faced.
The best of the 2023 white wines are delicious and well structured, showing intense ripe citrus and stone fruits, mineral tension and vivacious acidities. Their classic finesse and balance are reminiscent of the 2017s but with more substance. They should age well.
The 2023 reds are still maturing and will be bottled in early 2025. There are plenty of wines displaying fleshy, ripe red and black fruits with textured silky tannins. Generally they are less concentrated and more approachable than the 2022s but the best are as good and will age.
The 2023 is a generous vintage for yields, up 30% on the previous year with 1.9m hectare litres in total. The 35-45 hl/ha permitted yields were pushed to the limit allowed within the appellation rules. ‘The size of each grape was twice the normal size (180g vs 90g). This is why we have higher yields for this vintage’ mentioned Caroline Parent-Gros of Domaine AF Gros. Growers had record crop levels which was welcome after several small vintages.
The larger production should hopefully stabilise prices for collectors and investors. Certainly we intend to offer wines from those Domaines that don’t raise their prices, even though we know the proceeding 2024 vintage is another tiny harvest, down 50% to 80% on the 2023s for the reds.
We will be offering a broad selection from our favourite Domaines as they are released. Please subscribe to receive our latest offers. Note that the most rare and desirable allocations will not be offered on the site.
