2018 ⇔ 2017 Champagne vintages by contrast: From tragedy (2017) to euphoria (2018)
Vintage 2017 Champagne: warm and dry until the end of July, then it got wet and Botrytis developed quickly. Heavy August rains, especially in the Marne Valley, worsened the situation. Bollinger winemaker Gilles Descôtes described the harvest 2017 as the most difficult event of his career.
Benoît Gouez, Champagne's Moët & Chandon's Chef de Cave, pointed out that perhaps many winemakers and houses are no longer used to deal with difficult years like in the fifties or sixties of the last century.
While horror news usually accompanied the Champagne Year 2017, 2018 turned into the exact opposite: perennial winter rains were followed by a sunny spring and a hot summer. Rapid flowering, healthy grapes in perfect condition, an early harvest, starting on August 20, the fifth crop in the last 15 years, which started in August, maximum yield of 10,800 kilograms per hectare, euphoric forecasts.
But what do Kellermeier and Winzer really say about these two years of the extremes? And in the future what kind of climatic surprises await growers, winemakers and drinkers?
What do these two harvests mean for the work of the cellar masters on the assemblage?
Will the climatic extremes be the normal state in an unpredictable future?
Answers to these and other important questions from now on in the Champagne Library Report 2018 ⇔ 2017 Champagne vintages by contrast:
