2021 Bourgogne Rouge

“It was complicated due to the April frost, though we did not have too much damage,” Antoine Gouges tells me. “We lost 15-20% as we prune very late, the second [pruning] at the beginning of March. I think this had an impact. It was a cooler season than normal. We de-leafed to improve aeration as there was a big oïdium pressure at the end of the season on the leaves, which is uncommon. We started picking on 17 September with the whites and finished on 23 September, with the average yield around 25hl/ha - not so bad and better than in 2020. The grapes were good quality with just a bit of sorting. I think it’s a more classical vintage with nice concentration and energy. I knew the vintage was more delicate, so we were soft with the punch-downs and pumping over, working by infusion in order not to extract big tannins, focusing more on the finesse and the silkiness. We used a low amount of SO2, less than half what we once used. We decided to keep the freshness, so we bottled many of the wines in August.”