Hello everyone, it's October 5, 2023... and today or tomorrow, we'll be finishing racking all the wines from this vintage. This is quite satisfying, after five intense weeks of work... because this year has been quite rich in emotions. We had a rather unusual year; I can't compare it to other years. This is my 21st year here at the vineyard, and I have no point of comparison. It's been something unique in its own way. We had a relatively mild spring, and we managed to avoid spring frost, which is always pleasant, but has been a real challenge in recent years. We had a good grape set, which was quite surprising... because after 2022, which was a rather generous vintage, we didn't expect to have another year with such a bountiful grape set. It was rather satisfying to see that. In fact, it's the first year in the 21 years I've been here, that we had to thin the grapes in July, because the grape set was too abundant in some places... It must be very good! Yes, it's like candy... This is for you; I'll give them back to you later... Alright, I'll return them to you tomorrow. We’re being filmed... We thought we were to harvest earlier, late August or early September. But when I did the maturity analyses... on August 30th, we barely had 10% alcohol. So, it was a big question: what's happening? How was it possible, only a few days before the harvest, could we have such low alcohol levels? It was really quite perplexing. As a result, we postponed the harvest. We started on September 9th, and from the very first vines picked, the first grapes brought in, we had alcohol levels between 13 and 14%. This means that in just ten days, we gained 3 or 4% in alcohol! It was truly a discovery. An entirely atypical vintage... We’ll do our first pass only picking millerandage. It's going to be unique for many of you; you may find you walk ten, twenty or twenty-five metres... without finding a single small grape. You need to remove leaves to see all the grapes! And we're only picking what needs to be picked, not the rest! For the second pass, once we've removed the leaves, it will be much quicker... But this is really about finding the small clusters! Does everyone understand? The harvest was a big challenge, because all the vineyards reached maturity at the same time, so we had to harvest very quickly... We still had the issues of sunburned grapes, and the grapes were getting overripe, over-ripening with each passing day. We had rain on Tuesday, September 11th or 12th, with between 40 and 50 mm of rain. From that moment on, the conditions deteriorated quite rapidly. So, we assembled a huge team of pickers, we had up to 180 people, to harvest as quickly as possible and under the best conditions... We achieved a "new harvest record", as we managed to harvest our entire 22 hectares in just 8 days. We were harvesting almost 3 hectares per day, thanks to these 180 workers. Also, we had to adapt, so we improvised by having two distinct teams, which meant harvesting two plots at the same time, requiring two separate sorting processes in the winery. It was a real challenge, and I was able to rely on teams, both in the vineyard and the cellars, which were very competent and skilled. We were able to do this under what I'd say were decent conditions. we worked a lot, but in good spirits and a good atmosphere, which was very enjoyable... The big challenges this year were sunburned grapes. There were a lot of sunburned grapes to be sorted out. We had a little bit of rot, but only in a few plots, and it wasn't a big problem to sort them. However, we had some acetic punctures, and we had to be extremely vigilant... already in the vineyard, as we tried to never bring any into the winery... Be careful; there's quite a lot of sorting! - Are you new? - No. Right, it's your clothes... There are stung berries... Do you speak French? When it's a bit pink, make sure to examine the cluster and smell it a bit. -Okay. -Thank you! But with 180 people to manage in the vineyard, it's very difficult to sort perfectly. So we refined it with a second sort in the winery... where we were able to remove some, so this was absolutely necessary. For our sulfur-free wine making, we can't afford to have stung or punctured grapes in a tank. It's far too risky... So, we had these two major challenges: spotting the punctures and dealing with the sunburned grapes... When things aren't moving, what do I do? Whack! Big slaps! Whack! And it moves!.. Whack! With the left! Whack! We're not here to play around!... In terms of wine making... what I've sensed in recent years, is that the yeast strains have changed, probably due to climate change as well. We have increasingly aggressive yeasts, I'm not sure that's the right word, but that's how I perceive it. We've suddenly lost on some plots, for some tanks, As much as 60 density points overnight! Which is colossal! Fifteen or twenty years ago, when I first started, we might lose 20 points in a day, and that was already a big deal... Four or five years ago, when climate changes arrived... with our hot vintages starting from 2018, we'd lose thirty or forty density points in a day, and that was already a big deal... Now, to reach 60 points! It is unheard of! We realize that these yeasts work at higher temperatures too; we went up to 35, 36°C, and we even had one tank reach 40°C, which is close to the lethality of the yeast, so it's really a big risk... So we need to find ways not only to adapt work in the cellar... but also adapt our vinification to manage these aggressive yeasts... Otherwise, the vinification went quickly: we had between 10 and 18 days of maceration. Ten days is still very short! But we don't have a pre-established protocol; we don't want it to last 15 or 16 or 18 days. The idea is to monitor the wines, to accompany them, not to direct them, so we followed their rhythm... At the helm of the cellar team, as always, Antonio Quari, dedicated to his job. He had an incredible year... leading our small crew of nine people. He managed to create... a very pleasant working atmosphere for everyone. It was extremely intense, but always in good spirits. So I really want to thank him for his leadership quality. He's a natural leader, and people follow him with great pleasure. Even if it's not always easy for the cellar crew to keep up with him. We joke about it among ourselves, and we call him the "machine"!... To sum things up, we're very satisfied with this year. As always, I say the same thing every year; it's difficult to talk about a vintage that we've just put into barrels. In any case, the analyses look good, we have good balances, and the alcohol levels aren't too high... given the climatology we had. We've achieved lower alcohol levels, than we had in 2022 and also lower than in 2020, in general. So the wines at this point are very fruit-forward. Whole-cluster fermentation of course will always give us: that very fruity, fresh grape character we want to have. However, the complexity of the vintage, and the complexity of the unique climatic conditions we experienced, as I mentioned earlier... really prevents me from choosing one theory over another, concerning the outcome of the future of these wines... What I can say today, is that I'm not worried; the juices are very nice, so we're looking at 15 to 18 months of aging, depending on the plots. Most of the malolactic fermentation has started, and for some, this may already be completed... So for now, the wines will delicately mature in the cellar, and we'll see that in six months or so, when we start tasting them after Easter in 2024...