2021 Louis Jadot Les Fourchaumes Chablis 1er Cru, Burgundy

Chablis is located in the northern part of Burgundy, half way between Dijon and Paris. The vineyard size is 3,225 ha. The Premier Cru vineyards represent 20% of the total size of the Burgundy Premiers Crus. There are 40 "climates" of Premiers Crus among which Fourchaume.

Golden yellow colour. Aromas are very fresh with a long finish. This wine is pure, mineral, very intense with a long finish.

At the end of 2020 the rainfall was abundant and the reserves of water in the soil over the course of winter exceeded the 30-year norm. Winter temperatures swung back and forth between cold snaps and mild weather, particularly in February when we measured temperatures far warmer than the seasonal average. This climatic oscillation persisted well into the first half of March. The last week of March saw the arrival of spring. The vines began to awaken and the midway point of budbreak was reached in a matter of days on some of the most precocious Chardonnay vines, and you could almost see the Pinot buds swelling. On the 5th of April, a brutal change of weather abruptly slowed the frantic pace of growth. The arrival of polar winds brought with them severe frosts on the nights of the 6th to 9th of April. Humidity and snow followed, exacerbating the damage caused to the awakening vines. The consequences imposed by this cold front, from north to south, were severe, despite all the measures we took to protect our vineyards. Whites were particularly badly affected and it didn’t take long before we saw almost as much damage in the Pinot vineyards. The weather remained cool throughout April and on into the end of May and in most areas it took the vines around a month to recover from the frosts and begin their growth cycle anew. May saw heavy rainfall. Across the entire growing season, from April through to May, the rains fell on average on one out of every three days… Temperatures rose in June and flowering took place in very good conditions mid-month. The pace of the flowering was fast and broadly homogenous across all areas and both varieties. This was a key indicator for the ripening potential for the grapes in the aftermath of the frosts, where we saw fruit from the primary buds and the fruit from secondary buds neighbouring each other on the canes. July remained humid and lacking in warmth. Our fight against fungal diseases was bitter. We needed to target treatments in the intervals between the storms, and our focus on organic viticulture meant that we kept having to return to the vineyards between downpours to protect the bunches. The cover crops thrived and the maintenance of the soil between rows became increasingly challenging. August was drier, allowing us to foresee an end to the need for active protection. Powdery mildew remained a problem right up to the end of the growing season, but some of the fungal infections dried out without damaging even more of the crop. Veraison took place at the end of July and proceeded slowly and steadily, culminating in the first few days of September. In Burgundy we say that September determines the quality of the harvest: the three bright weeks we had, when temperatures were warmer than usual, with plenty of sunshine and without excessive rainfall allowed the grapes to reach full maturity. The health of the grapes was not perfect, but we had managed them well enough to allow us to bide our time. The first bunches were picked at the Domaine des Croix Perrières in the Côte Chalonnaise on 17 September, then we began in the Côte de Beaune on 21 September with the earliest-ripening whites in Puligny and Meursault and the reds of Beaune. Picking began in the remaining vineyards, from Chablis to the Mâconnais, towards the 25th of the month. Rigorous selection was carried out on the reds to select the best fruit for fermentation. When it came to the whites, the stage between pressing and settling allowed us to ensure that clean juice was pumped to the barrels prior to fermentation. Yields were very low in the côte: a quarter of the average for whites, a third of the average for reds. In Chablis and the Mâconnais yields were just about half of the average. Here and there we benefitted from a few surprises thanks to late pruning or very late budbreak. When we look back on the actual climatic data, the year was neither cold nor particularly humid. 2021 was close to the average of the past 30 years in terms of temperature and slightly drier, with a little more sunshine than usual. The keyto understanding the challenges imposed by the year lies in the frequent shifts in weather and the dramatic frosts early on during the growing period.