Vintages - Bret Brothers & La Soufrandière

2019 Cold sweats for a 2019 vintage on gluttony

The 2019 vintage is another revelatory one in the ongoing series, “Chronicles of a Deregulated Climate,” that defines the past two decades of climatic conditions in the vineyards.
After the heat waves and droughts of these past few years, the winter of 2019 was particularly mild in the Mâconnais. Once again, the risk of spring frost was imminent. Rain fell at the start of April, followed two days later by a clear, star-studded night, without a cloud in sight to help conserve any heat in the atmosphere. And as predicted, on April 4th the still humid, just emerging buds were frosted. A large portion of parcels at the bottom of the slope of the Mâconnais and Beaujolais were hit hard. For our domaine, a young vineyard was 100% damaged, and the Clos de Grand Père lost 60% of its production. Very fortunately, the slopes where most of our vines are located were saved at 90-95%. We remained at risk for other episodes of frost through the end of April, but drier conditions saved the young buds despite the continued negative temperatures (C°) that ensued. Flowering began in early June, with a hot and dry summer to follow, and harvest began on September 10th, finishing on the 21st. In the end, yields were down mostly due to the colder spring’s effect at flowering. But we’re happy to enjoy the results of this beautiful vintage, full of charm and character. Cheers!!

2018 In so many words, we could almost have used the same the description as for the 2017 vintage.

The heat waves and dry summers seem to follow one after another in recent years. Spring was once again exceptionally hot, with a bit of necessary rainfall from early May to late June. Flowering went smoothly and a generous crop began to form, leaving the growers optimistic. Then, a heat wave settled in around July 15th. Fortunately, the vines persevered until the return to normal temperatures, around August 8th. We all prayed for rain, which finally fell on August 9th, from 15 mm in Vinzelles to nearly 60 mm or more in the Northern Mâconnais, coinciding with hail in some areas. One hallmark of the vintage was the grapes’ capacity to develop rapidly each time there was break between heat waves. The water retained by the clay soils allowed the vines and grapes to reach full maturity. Harvest began on August 25th and finished on September 10th, and the crop was both beautiful and generous. The 2018 wines show concentration, balance and salinity. Another superb vintage. Cheers!

Chardonnay cluster, Pouilly-Vinzelles “Les Quarts” 2019

2016 2016: “A growers’ vintage: it all happened in the vineyards”

What a difficult year! Though barely emerged from their winter cotton, the buds were already partially destroyed by a hailstorm on April 13. Then repetitive rains (wet conditions worse than in 2013), favored mildew development (a fungal disease that our American friends kindly shared with us at the end of the 19th century). We had to fight against it daily. After multiple organic treatments (applied manually), leaf plucking, and repeated applications of tisanes and horn silica (Biodynamic preparation 501) that we were able to contain the disease and preserve our leaves and grapes. We were saved at the end of July. The drought in August concluded the ripening process and we began harvesting on September 19th in serenity. The grapes achieved optimal ripeness with moderate alcohol levels, between 11.5% and 13.5%, naturally. There is freshness in these wines, oomph and energy! And yes, (almost) everything took place in the vines ;-)

2015 Following the scorching Summer, freshness in the wines!

It’s said that one year follows another and each is different! And yet 2015 soon reminded us of the good memories of 2003 or 2009…The Spring was very mild, which helped a perfect, early blooming. The grape harvests are going to be early. Since the 40 mm of rainfall on 1 May, there have only been a very few showers in the Mâcon region right up till harvesting (a total of 25 mm for the south, up to 60 mm in the north). The temperatures soared in late June, hardly dropping below 30°C until mid August. The many days over 40°C in the shade dried or scorched the vegetation. Yet our vines resisted this drought, their roots going deep into the living soil, right down to the coolness of the clays and the water that fell during the Winter. Harvesting began early on 27 August, finishing on 7 September. In this way, we were able to maintain good freshness in all our wines, along with a unique expression of the terroirs. Cheers!

2014 A great Burgundy vintage!

Following two very difficult vintages in 2012 and 2013, in 2014 we were a little more at ease among the vines. The Spring was fairly dry and the flowering at the beginning of June went well. We were afraid of mildew following the heavy rain in July, but it didn’t happen. So the cool Summer made it possible to produce very healthy, acid-rich grapes, promising balance and “drinkability”. We decided to start picking on 7 September in the Vinzelles sector, then we finished in the northern Mâcon region on the 17th. The grapes were magnificent! 2014 is certainly another great vintage for lovers of Burgundy, with fruit and tension. Undoubtedly a vintage for keeping, but for many of our cuvées it is also a pleasure right away. Cheers!

2013 Vintage: The magic of difficult vintages

Like in 2012, the weather was particularly wet in 2013. Flowering began in early June and took place partially under rainy skies, with one week of northern wind, and generally extremely cold weather for the season. A large quantity of the inflorescences thus aborted, contributing to an immediate drastic reduction in yields for certain parcels (including but not limited to those of La Soufrandière). As for 2012, we de-leafed around the Soufrandière grapes, fearing oïdium attacks. Finally, after a relatively dry and cool summer, we began harvest quite late on September 27
and finished on October 10. The grapes were beautiful, small (with lots of millerandage) and concentrated. The 2013 wines are magnificent, with tension, and fruit. Another vintage that proved difficult in the vines but magical in the bottle!

We dedicate this vintage to Marc-Antoine.

2012 a difficult but highly successful “wine-grower’s vintage”

In 2012, the weather was particularly capricious. The Spring and start of Summer were very wet. Blooming went relatively well in the early sectors like Vinzelles, but with greater difficulty in the later sectors. This excessive moisture meant we had to spend even more time and be even more meticulous in the vineyards. As a little aside, we stripped leaves around the grapes by hand on all the plots on the north and south face of La Soufrandière, for fear of oidium (powdery mildew). This was the first time since 2000… A winning result: the grapes were magnificent, golden and healthy in La Soufrandière. The BRET BROTHERS grape were also very fine, often millerandé and small.

The grape harvesting, generally in sunshine, started on 15 September and ended on 2 October. The ripeness/acidity balances are perfect. This is found in the 2012 wines, which have plenty of body, fruit, noble bitter, and lastly good acidic length. Another “wine-grower’s vintage”!

2011 Early, Ripe & Balanced

As in 2007, spring was particularly hot and early to arrive. The first flowering occurred on May 6 in “Les Quarts”...flowering finished by mid-May, setting a potential harvest date of late August! In early June, we were surprised by the shape and the size of the future bunches. They were very loose. The old vines had some shot berries, but none of the parcels showed signs of vineyard disease. Very dry weather during the three months of spring preceded particularly rainy weather in July and early August. The grapes swelled rapidly and the bunches that seemed thin at the end of June filled out. As we had predicted, we began harvesting very early, at the end of August! It was the 3rd time in less than ten years!!! “And you thought Global Warming was made up by environmentalists?” Who still believes that story? The harvest, thus, stretched from August 29 to September 16, due to large differences in ripeness levels, especially between Vinzelles and Vergisson. We feared a lack of acidity, but there was no such lack in the end. 2011 is an excellent vintage: with fruit, great definition for each individual terroir, and beautiful balance between ripeness and acidity. Cheers!!

2010 Vibrant!

Rain in Spring, devastation at times in Summer, Salvation in Autumn… 2010 was clearly a difficult vintage for us vignerons, and also very variable from one village to another in the Mâconnais. Let us focus on Vinzelles. After a reasonably cold winter, April had two unusually hot weeks. Then May was very wet. Flowering took place with the water in excess a real problem for fecundation.

Then came June with its exaggerated almost tropical rainfall on our coteaux. How frightful and sickening it was to see the ground we had passionately ploughed five days before slide as far as five metres below! cheer up! And shovel it all up again! Now July came hitting the remaining berries after a poor flowering season. Hail affected several villages with unequal strength: Leynes, Chaintré, Vinzelles, Loché. On Leynes not a single grape survived when half the crop was saved in Vinzelles. As the old saying goes, muttered by the aged vigneron whose hands could be used to grate a piece of (organic) Comté cheese : « once hit by a storm, hit for the rest of the year », so three more hailstorms, although less violent than on July 10th, came to hit more berries.

Altogether July was hot and rainy, early August was wet and fresh to be followed by a dry and sunny end of August/September. Harvest at la Soufrandière and Bret Brothers took place from September 18th to 29th. The crop is naturally very small (less than 20 hl/ha) but quality is reassuringly high. An exceptional vintage, rather reminiscent of 2008.

2009 Rich, fruity and seductive. To be enjoyed without delay !

A Vintage should not be judged too quickly. 2008 was unfairly despised because of a wet and cold spring and summer. 2009 on the contrary got early praise – as soon as grapes had reached the wineries. It should be said that the weather conditions were particularly good for the production of very healthy and ripe grapes. But once again let us be sensible : although 2009 is a very good vintage, rich, fruity and seductive, it is nevertheless not another « Vintage of the century » (n°3 in a decade…)

Here is a rough summary of the conditions prevailing in 2009 since the end of winter up to picking time. After a winter with some snow, debudding in April and early flowering in late May took place positively. Some stormy rain in a hot summer in July, very hot in August. Three weeks of sultry heat made the year an even earlier one. Picking had been planned for mid-September, we eventually started on September 2nd ! the grapes then were nice, ripe and perfectly healthy. Altogether « easy vendanges ». The heat in August brought very rich sweet juices with rather low acidity. But thanks to the work in the vines, the wines of 2009 show some freshness. A ripe vintage, a vintage of pleasure. Simply enjoy 2009…before you drink the 2008s.