A Dry, Hot and Precocious Vintage

ARTICLE - April 20, 2023

Throughout a year characterized by highly unusual weather, the exceptional resilience of our terroir and the incredible capacity of our ancient vines to adapt to difficult conditions proved great blessings.

November – December 2021:
Replenished soils

Abundant precipitation allowed the vineyard’s clay soils to replenish their water supplies, something that would prove crucial given the lack of rain from January on.

February – April 2022: Early bud break and cold, wintry weather

Bud break began in a precocious, homogenous fashion on March 24 and was followed by frost on the nights of April 3 and 4. Late pruning on numerous plots allowed us to limit damage to the vines, which were better prepared for frost after the coldest winter in ten years.

May – June 2022: Consistently hot, dry weather

After a cool start to spring, warm weather set the trend from early May on: high temperatures would become a defining characteristic of the 2022 vintage. This led to very qualitative, homogenous flowering—particularly for the estate’s old Merlot vines, which produced a large quantity of the seeds that bring structure and energy to our wines—beginning on May 16, nine days earlier than in 2021.

The estate’s vines continued to develop in a precocious fashion, given the persistently hot, dry weather. As summer approached, a first heatwave from June 14 to 18 led to early water stress, which explains the size of the estate’s Merlot grapes, the smallest since 2010, promising to give way to an excellent concentration.
Between June 20 and 30, 90 mm of rainfall finally fell on the vineyard, bringing an end to water stress, new impetus to the vine, and balance to the grape berries.

July – August 2022: Heatwaves

Hot, dry weather continued, culminating in two heatwaves: the first lasted ten days, from July 9 to 18, with temperatures the highest seen in July in twenty-two years, and the second lasted twelve days, from August 2 to 13.
Given these conditions, veraison occurred twelve days earlier than in 2021. After a very warm spring, the vines had adapted to the hot weather: less sensitive to heat, the grape berries would not be affected by temperatures nearing 40 °C (104 °F) on some days.

Our teams continued to work the soils to preserve a maximum of moisture and pursued precisely targeted leaf thinning according to the specific needs of each plot and grape variety.
During the sultry summer months, our deeply rooted vines were another decisive advantage. Forty-five years old on average, they were able to seek out the water they needed in the clay bed beneath the terroir of Cos.

September 2022: Earliest harvest since 1989

It was only natural that harvest began early and with high hopes. On the vineyard of Cos d’Estournel, the first grape berries were cut from the vine on September 7, ten days earlier than in 2021, with the harvest coming to a close on September 23.

Informed by various technical parameters including the maturity of skins, seeds, acidity, and potential alcohol levels, the date of harvest was ultimately determined upon tasting the grapes and drawing deeply on our knowledge of our terroirs.
The vineyard of Cos d’Estournel Blanc in the northern Médoc, where harvest began on August 29 and ended on September 13, helped guide this decision.

Very concentrated Merlot grapes deliver intensity, a velvety texture, and elegance, while supremely refined Cabernet Sauvignon bring energy and freshness despite somewhat severe weather conditions.