2014 Vosne-Romanée

Winemaker David Croix noted that the profile of the 2014 growing season was a bit like that of 2011 and 2007. “We had good weather early on and a very good early flowering,” he explained. “But after the hailstorm things went downhill. We had a heat spike and sunburn during one week in July, then it was back to cold and rain. Our harvest was pushed back to September 14 but we benefited from nice weather in September.

Grape sugars ranged from 12% to 13% and Croix chaptalized some of his wines. The pHs, he said, are healthy, as the cold summer preserved malic acidity. Crop levels were normal, except in vineyards hit by hail. “Some wines lack depth and are a little too pretty,” he summarized. “They are very harmonious, and they have a bit of everything, but nothing really stands out. ” Croix chills the fruit to 12 or 13 degrees C and the fermentations start in about five days, but he noted that “this is really more of a way to handle the harvest than an intentional cold maceration. He does up to three pigeages per day during the peak period of the fermentation. Incidentally, beginning with 2014, Camille-Giroud is vinifying in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks (wooden vats were used previously), which Croix described as easier to work with and easier to clean. And since these tanks can be used both for vinification and for storage, they give him more flexibility on when to rack.

All of the 2014 Côte de Beaune wines as well as the Chambolle-Musigny Aux Echanges were in tank in December; the rest were still in barrel.