Olivier Berrouet’s beaming smile is something I have come to expect whenever I visit Petrus, irrespective of the growing season. I suppose if I were the winemaker at Petrus, I would be smiling all the time too. Nevertheless, even an iconic name like this is not shielded from the ups and downs of Mother Nature.

“We had a lot of coulure, so there was a natural air circulation,” he tells me. “At the end of August, due to the drought over the two months of July and August, we had a good hydric stress that benefitted maturation. You have the water in the clay, but it is difficult to access. The blue clay acts like a natural drip irrigation. We started picking on September 24 until October 1, one week of picking in total. The goal was to harvest ripe and we had to wait, despite the weather conditions and sanitary conditions, so there was a bit more botrytis than we are used to. Plus, the berries were more fragile. The botrytis was o two or three days old and only on the surface, so it was easier to sort. The risk of oxidation was higher, so we decreased the quantity of oxygen during vinification, and all the transfers were done through nitrogen injection. We also intend to do less racking during élevage, using 50% new oak as usual. We want to preserve the charm of the wine, the aromatics.”

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