2020 Saint-Véran En Creche

“In 2020, I started picking on 25 August, the earliest since 2003, which was on 21 August,” winemaker Olivier Merlin, who has been joined by sons Théo and Paul in recent years. “That’s the new challenge: to determine the optimal date of picking. We harvest everything by hand. The window of picking is very short, so we have to double the number of pickers. But that is difficult in terms of logistics, accommodation etc. If you’re a bit late in picking, then that is a catastrophe for Chardonnay as you can get one extra degree of alcohol each day in some parcels. A southerly wind can also dehydrate the bunches, which happened in 2015. Fortunately, we did not have that in 2020, and we picked in perfect conditions with just the right amount of warmth. The 2020s are between 12.8% and 13% alcohol. They have good acidity and freshness with low pH. Everything has been domaine-bottled since the 2018 vintage.”