Bordeaux 2016: The Harvest
As I have already indicated the weather in 2016 remained perfect from late June up to and throughout the harvest. Even October was warmer than average, and it was incredibly dry. There was just 12 mm of rain recorded at Mérignac, where the average for this month is 93.3 mm. The lowest ever rainfall recorded here in October is just 6.1 mm, back in 1978.
Such a long period of warm and dry weather means that those technical directors with a keen eye for perfect ripeness (what we might call the Goldilocks zone – not under-ripe, or over-ripe, but just right) could pick their fruit when it was à point. Of course it also meant that those who prefer to chase sur-maturité could leave their fruit on the vine for as long as they saw fit, as there was no real risk of losing it all when the end-of-season rains finally kicked in.
As October progressed, while it remained dry, the temperatures naturally began to slide. “Every day of ripening in September”, said David Suire who works with Nicolas Thienpont at Château Pavie-Macquin, “is worth two in October”. The grapes ripened more slowly, which had the advantage of keeping freshness in the fruit, and not destroying the acidity. But it may have also served to protect drinkers from the evil will of those who, as described above, like to pick their fruit well into sur-maturité.
