Anseillan

The vintage got off to a good start with a mild, dry winter. The fine weather continued at the beginning of spring, resulting in an early vegetative start. In April and May, the weather was colder than usual and especially dry, slowing down the growth of the vegetation which quickly lost its advance. The first flowers appear in our Pauillac vines on 28 May. This key stage in the cycle was somewhat capricious with rainy spells arriving in the second half of the flowering period, leading to some coulure and millerandage. The month of June, after a rainy and cool start, saw a change of scene with the arrival of a heat wave at the beginning of the summer, the likes of which had not been seen since 2003. Fortunately, it was short-lived and the vines, which were catching up, seemed better equipped than in previous years to face this heat. The miracle of water arrived on July 26th: 45 millimetres fell in Pauillac, perfect for triggering the veraison. The temperatures in August remained very mild, without any heat peak and with a few scattered showers which made us fear the arrival of botrytis for a moment, but the drier end of the month, which lasted until mid-September, allowed us to start the harvest serenely from the 21st to the 23rd for the Merlot and until the 4th of October for the Cabernet Sauvignon.