My most remarkable memory of the year 2017 is the perfect visual quality of the grapes at the time of the harvest.
Pinot noir is a very fragile grape variety. It is quite rare that all bunches at vintage time have the same perfect aspect as the table grapes displayed on the greengrocers stalls. I have nevertheless consistently resisted the practice of sorting the grapes on a table in the winery. I do not want to mimic in my small craft an industrial assembly line, and I prefer to teach each of the pickers what they have to leave out such as verjuices, botrytised and sunburnt berries, or, to be more easily understood, anything they would not eat…
The weather in 2017 had been mild, dry and sunny enough, but not excessively so, the vines grew under the well-balanced climate that suits it best, and for the first time in my experience I had no need to teach the pickers what they had to do as there was nothing that needed to be sorted out.
And unsurprisingly, the wines from this vintage, away from any extremeness, express a joyful harmony and a fresh elegance.