Tell us about yourself
I trained as an agronomy engineer and oenologist. I took my oenology degree through a work-study route, which allowed me to start in 2013 on an 80-hectare estate in the Entre-Deux-Mers that made all three colours. A complete and very formative experience, but not necessarily the model I am chasing today (laughs). Above all it was an opportunity to go through a number of posts and train in viticulture, packaging, order preparation and winemaking within small, highly versatile teams. I worked seven years in production and three years in oenological consulting within wine and oenology service companies. I have been freelance since the 2023 vintage. I would add that my baptism of fire was the 2013 vintage (laughs).
How did the 2013 vintage leave its mark on you?
2013 allowed the very young oenologist I was to discover that there could be a great deal of interventionism on wines in the cellars, with a number of oenological inputs. Which was, I must say, somewhat counter to my ideas and convictions. So I quite naturally opted for more artisanal estates, often certified organic. I did not immediately work for estates with more virtuous methods; I made my way to finally, and quite naturally, take an interest in a production philosophy with a more holistic approach.
Can you tell us about these post-harvest weeks?
By 15 October, everything was in on the Right Bank, in any case, and at my clients’. We are watching the end of fermentations, there is not much left on skins and we are arriving at malolactics!
On the usual timings?
I would say that the harvest started rather late, because of a cool and wet spring that did not favour vine growth, giving a very early indication that things would happen late. We are about a fortnight behind the previous year. Fermentations went rather quickly, all the more so as we were dealing with rather low ripeness and low alcohol levels. With my clients I recommended limiting extraction actions as well as post-fermentation macerations. Overall, we were facing crunchy grapes, with juicy, lively fruit and no real phenolic ripeness this year. So we had to work to preserve aromatics and freshness, and not to look for substance at all costs, at the risk of bringing out bitterness and somewhat hard tannins.
Going out on a limb a little, how would you describe this vintage?
Quantities were at times very low, particularly among organic growers. Between coulure, downy mildew and grape moth, sometimes even hail, the pressures largely mortgaged volumes. I would nevertheless dare to say that this vintage comes at just the right moment, as it clearly corresponds to consumers’ expectations, with marked acidity and rather low alcohol – whites at around 12° and reds at 12.5°! It is certainly destabilising for many winegrowers, but in reality it resembles what Bordeaux was a few decades ago. It is not a vintage that was subject to climate change; for 2024 I would rather speak of a climate of change! (laughs) We will have to show adaptability, once again! We asked ourselves about the wine profiles to aim for in view of this vintage’s climatic conditions, and pragmatic solutions emerged within sometimes very short timeframes.
What impact on types of ageing and vessels?
This vintage will surely lead a few to produce clairets or other forgotten AOCs, in order to claim a Bordeaux history and be in step with the market, with wines you can drink at any time and on any occasion. There is a stated desire to dust off the old, to make wines likely to interest the wine merchant. I do not forget, of course, that the need for reassuring things, with more classic cuvées, still exists. There is now thinking from the harvest onwards, then on types of ageing for reds, with lots rather calibrated for short ageing and early release. In my view the systematisation of certain vatting techniques, in the face of the heterogeneity of the harvest and of ripeness, is still too prevalent. I do not steer my winegrower partners towards that, and I keep repeating that ageing will have to be adjusted to have depth without the wood masking the vintage effect.
And what would you say about the whites?
The whites this year have good aromatic openness; they are already very expressive. We were able to wait for a certain ripeness of the berries. Interventions at settling had to be measured. For those that escaped botrytis, the lees were clean. There was no, or very little, reduction during fermentation. We were sometimes able to choose to work on total lees during ageing. With my clients, we are not trying to make aromatic bombs, which is also a way of standing apart from the range of “hyper-thiolic” or “English sweet” wines.
Where do you see a glimmer of hope?
In this chaotic context, winegrowers are showing a great deal of creativity. It often translates into a form of agility, risk-taking, a desire to explore. This signal is admittedly still weak, but it undeniably gives hope and a desire to discover their wines!
