ALL THE NEWS
10/10/24 – 2024 Harvest
HARVEST REPORT
the 2023-2024 campaign
Rain has been a loyal companion to most of the 2023–2024 campaign… Even during flowering, which led to an uneven and slow development, creating several generations of fruits within the same grape. Logically enough, mildew invited itself everywhere in the appellation, its intensity depending on the crus and directly connected to the quantity of water the vines got. This lasted until mid-July and ended up drying out a significant part of the potential harvest. Luckily, the end of summer was more lenient.
HArvest conditions
The end of August and early September offered good conditions: cool nights, gentle and sunny days without any excessive heat, and no rain. Our objective, under such circumstances, was to wait and reach a more harmonious maturity within the grapes. The different samples, testing (and tasting!) of the grapes demonstrated that this year, interesting aromatic would be more expressive above a 10° potential alc. Choosing the right moment to start the harvest is one thing, but it also has to be the right moment…to reach the end of harvest in good conditions for all our crus. This comes as a major challenge since the richness of the Maison lies in the diversity of its vineyards: aged from 3 to 68 years old, on 19 different crus and more than 89 plots.
HArvest SCHEDULE
First day of picking on Friday September 13th (wish us luck!) in Les Riceys, where indeed we were lucky enough not to be overly hit by frost. In northern Champagne, the start of the harvest is extremely slow : one press on Saturday, another on Sunday… with healthy but fragile Meuniers, that did not gain in maturity from our past samples. On Monday September 16th, we eventually harvested at full speed with the Pinot Noirs Grands Crus of northern Montagne de Reims… fabulous! We started picking our most advanced Chardonnays from Mesnil on September 19th, then alternating Marne Vallée Meuniers and Pinots Noirs with the other Chardonnays from Oger and Vertus. Avize came as the conclusion of the harvest, on September 24th and 25th, just in time with the arrival of rain that fell heavily the whole week, cumulating one month of rain in 6 days…
yields & first observations on must...
To date, the final yield for Champagne is not known yet, estimated around 7800kg. The “individual reserve” system will be of use for most of the producers in the appellation, including for Maison Bruno Paillard, although marginally.
Our first analytical observations in the vat room are aligned with those during tastings and harvest. We have reached our goal to go further that 10° as an average in the vat room. As for acidities, they are higher than the average of the past 10 years, however driven by malic acid. Pinots Noirs are clearly standing out for this vintage, with the best and most homogeneous maturity, despite their different origins. Meuniers struggled more to progress, and indeed remained on average below 10°. They also showed the most extreme variety in terms of maturity (up to 1,5° difference between the “marcs”). Chardonnays revealed themselves perfectly, but will need more time to developp their full potential.
Now, our different-sized tanks and old-oak barrels are accompanying every first pressing through their fermentation, and developing each personnality progressively.
2024 is unlike any other year, which is in fact always exciting! Limited quantities for sure, but beautiful things to work from in the cellar. So let’s wait and see! We will share more during the clear wine tasting next Spring!
