What an astonishing year with, in six months, more rainfall than normally in a whole year!

Except for a good flowering, the weather conditions made life difficult in the vines up till mid-July.

While the estate is totally committed to its conversion to organic growing, the season proved difficult. However, constant vigilance, dogged determination, rigour and monitoring on a daily basis enabled us to overcome these difficulties and bring in, on the one hand, a normal-sized crop, and on the other, a magnificent one –an amazing feat given the context.  

From July 15th on, outstanding anti-cyclonic conditions set in and lasted right up till the end of the picking, the only interruption being a few necessary rain showers that arrived with perfect timing to restore the vines’ energy. While temperatures were high, they were never extreme, unlike the 2003 vintage, for example. The nights were cool, and the substantial water reserves brought by the spring rain, enabled excellent photosynthesis to take place. 

The grapes were able to ripen without ever being burned by the sun, resulting in a vintage marked by the freshness of its fruit character.

At Angélus, with a harvesting tailored to the grapes’ ripeness, the thick-skinned berries reached perfect ripeness, producing refined, velvety tannins. The grape pips ripened very early, displaying a dark brown colour -a rare occurrence that merits mentioning, and which helped provide outstanding, stable polyphenol qualities.     

Despite the very hot summer, the acidities were maintained right to the end, giving the first wines tasted a sapidity, balance, freshness and elegance worthy of the greatest vintages.