WELCOME TO CLARION WINES

2017 Burgundy En Primeur

Whilst supply in Burgundy, particularly from the sort of producers with whom we work, is never abundant, it is nonetheless a great relief, after the 2016s so severely reduced by the April frost damage, to be working with a generous vintage.  Winter 2016-2017 was the coldest for some time, with sub-zero temperatures almost every day from early December to late February.  From mid-March temperatures leapt to almost summer-like levels, and bud-break occurred correspondingly early, in late March.  After the experience of 2016, growers were on high alert for frost – and sure enough, temperatures fell below freezing one year to the day since the devastating frost of the year before (26-27th April), and again 28th-29th April.  Damp bails of straw were lit almost the length of the Côte d’Or to produce a layer of smoke which protected the vines from the rising sun.  It was said that everything smelt of smoke for days afterwards, and it is not clear that the local authorities will allow a repeat of this in future.  However, the system worked, and apart from small pockets of Bourgogne, there was little or no damage.  Not so in Chablis or the Jura however, where the damage was considerable.

From early May the weather became hot and dry, with flowering occurring in very good conditions during the first days of June.  The hot dry weather, with temperatures as high as 35°C persisted until the end of July, when it became a little cooler, before returning on 15th August.  Some began to pick Chardonnay as early as 20th August despite the heat.  On the night of 30th August a storm crossed the region, bringing welcome rain and cooler temperatures, which allowed the ripening process to re-start.  There was more very light rain on 31st August and 2nd September – welcomed by the growers.  Harvesting took place in very good conditions, and the wines are generous, pure and pleasing in style, perfect for medium term drinking.

2017 Rhone En Primeur

Wherever your vineyards in the Rhône Valley, the drought conditions of 2017 were impossible to escape, and it is this factor which dominated all the growers’ commentaries about the vintage.  There was significant rainfall in October and November 2016, but thereafter the winter months were comparatively mild and much drier than usual, with the result that ground water reserves at the beginning of the summer of 2017 were already low.  February and March were unusually mild, which lead to budburst more than two weeks ahead of average – and inevitably therefore some frost damage when temperatures fell below zero once or twice in April.

Warm and humid weather during flowering, interspersed with some much cooler days, caused widespread coulure (poor fruit set), laying the foundations for a small crop.  Then from mid-May until early November, barely any rain fell at all.  In the North, it rained around the 15th August and again towards the end of the month – but only very little.  In the South in July, August and September only 17mm of rain was recorded, compared with 70mm in 2016 (already a very dry year); over the whole vegetative period only 185mm fell, compared with the average of 360mm.  The drought conditions, combined with very high summer temperatures even from comparatively early on (38 degrees of heat was recorded in Châteauneuf du Pape in June), meant a very small, and very early, harvest.  The quality of the wines is outstanding – they have a wonderful combination of ripeness and concentration, with very soft tannins, plenty of underlying, beautifully integrated, structure and great balance.  Growers are genuinely thrilled with what they have made – and correspondingly despondent about the lack of quantity.

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