An autumn and winter without much precipitation but with rather seasonal temperatures and many days of frost without going very low. Except for ten days between -5 and -10°C around January 20th. No snow.

Spring began with rather high temperatures for the season, leading to an early budburst (in the vein of 2011 and 2014).
End march pointe verte note rare. During the first two weeks of April, the heat and the work on the soil boosted the growth, but at the end of the month we were close to frosts (-1°C on 29 April). Temperatures were cool and growth was slow. From mid-May onwards, everything accelerated. Mid-flowering was reached on 5 June. Storms came and went but did not stop in Vosne. Diseases were almost absent from the vineyard. Summer was hot and rather dry. 30 mm of rain ended the month of August. On the 4th of September we started the harvest in ideal conditions, the grapes were ripe in almost all the parcels. Vinification included a high proportion of whole grapes. Between 50 and 100% (excluding the regions). Small amounts of sulphur in vinification and maturation.

Final form – Update on the 13th vintage

It is now time to think about letting go of the 2017 vintage, my 13th ^vintage. It may also be time to take stock. I can say that since 2005 I have only been moving in one direction: respect for the vines and the soils guaranteeing the intrinsic expression of the terroirs, gradually the vinifications have been oriented towards a purer, freer style.

Of course, there is nothing original in this, since this discourse is now conventional. However, I am continuing this quest for consistency between speech and action. Nothing is perfect, some inconsistencies punctuate the path before being corrected; others last longer, but the will to strive towards, while remaining aware that Nature will always dominate us, makes us pursue the quest.

Meetings, tastings, readings, the support of my father, of my family, of you faithful or new customers, the involvement of Nathalie, Mathieu, Odile, who work with me, are at the origin of the emergence of the main lines of these 14 vintages. These changes can be seen in the following:

• Monitoring of lunar and planetary rhythms from 2011.
• Implementation of Guyot Poussard pruning in order to respect sap flows and limit the impact of wood diseases, since 2011.
• Introduction of whole harvests in order to provide more complexity and organoleptic freshness, particularly in the solar vintages from 2012.
• ‘Demechanization’: Manual topping, pre-pruning with hedge trimmers, holes with a spade as often as possible since 2013.
• Renewal of vatting equipment (raw concrete) in 2013.
• Decrease in sulfur doses in the vineyard, in winemaking and in aging since 2015.
• Withdrawals limited to what is strictly necessary since 2014.
• Introduction of horse plowing from 2015 on certain plots (“Aux Brûlées” in 2015 and “La Richemone” in 2017).
• Individualization of the handling of each cuvée since 2015. In terms of massing and bottling, we try to give priority to the logic of the wine over logistics. Logistics must adapt.