"What a wonderful joy it is to drink this delectable wine!"
Such was the Cyclops' exclamation after drinking the cup of wine handed to him by Ulysses to free himself from his grip.
Let's bet that the 2023 vintage will bring us the same emotions! For the year spent in the vineyard was a veritable Odyssey: an eventful journey, an adventure punctuated by obstacles that our team's dedication and skill were able to overcome.
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS
After a particularly hot and dry 2022, 2023 is off to a cool start. Pruning was carried out in the winter frosts, sometimes even in the snow. Frost is avoided in early Spring, which is characterized by mild, then warm temperatures. Flowering takes place between May 22 and June 10 in good conditions. The months of June and July were tropical, marked by particularly sustained mildew pressure, which the estate's winemakers managed to contain thanks to their responsiveness and the lessons learned from the 2018, 2020 and 2021 vintages. For the rest of the summer, the vines and winegrowers had to contend with high, even very high temperatures from mid-August to the end of September. One could imagine oneself in Ithaca, with the green of magnificent foliage replacing the blue of the Ionian Sea.
2023 is thus characterized by significant thermal amplitudes and climatological diversity, comparable to those one might encounter on a long-haul voyage... Such is the Odyssey that this vintage has offered us.
WINES
The satisfaction of overcoming adversity is followed by the joy of a wine that is both full-bodied and opulent, fresh and pure, rich in these varied meteorological conditions. The Merlots, of a quality at least equal to that of 2022, have the roundness and charm of modernity. The Cabernets have the beauty and purity of classicism. From Antiquity to the present day, this is the journey that the 2023 vintage invites us to take.
Harvest dates: September 11 to 29.
