| Domaine de l'Amauve |
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| The vintages. | . |
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| A vintage marked by a great drought and a long hot period. |
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| The winter of 2021-2022 was normally cold, but mostly very dry. The rains at the end of 2021 helped to replenish the water tables, but the dry winter did not supply them with enough water to ensure a good supply of water to the vineyards for the next few months. The Spring having been rather cold, the vegetation woke up late. At the end of March, the vegetation was two weeks late compared to 2021. On April 1st, a cold wave arrived. It was short-lived, with frosts. Because of the delay of vegetation, the vine was not impacted by these frosts. Only a few small vine plants whose vegetation is located at ground level were slightly frozen on part of their foliage. We had some good rains between April 20th and 25th. They allowed the vegetation to develop when the hot weather arrived on May 12th. With temperatures reaching 33°C, and enough water in the soil, the development of the vine is very fast. It is therefore necessary to intervene manually to bring the vineyard in the configuration that interests me in order to produce high quality grapes. In May, Laurence and Juliette disbudded the vineyard, which consists in keeping only the interesting shoots on the vine in order to concentrate the energy of the vine on them. When this operation was finished (around June 10th), they started the selection of the best bunches of grapes (green harvesting), which allows to eliminate a part of the harvest in order to concentrate the energy of the vine towards the chosen grapes. This year, due to the early heat, the grapes started to change colour around July 14th (the berries are starting to be loaded with sugar, color and tannins). Due to the persistent drought, the young plants replacing dead vines in the vineyard are having difficulty surviving despite the numerous waterings they have had. The loss will be significant this year. I estimate that I have lost 1/3 of these young plants. In the middle of August. The weather has been hot since May. The grapes exposed to the sun are seeing some of their berries wilt and concentrate. Rainfall has been low since the beginning of the year: 162 mm from January 1st to August 15th. Young vines less than ten years old, whose roots are not yet deep enough to find the water they need, are having a hard time surviving in the extreme conditions of 2022 (it hasn't rained since April, and the heat is persistent, though not extreme). The rainstorm finally arrived on August 15th. The vegetation will be better. The vine will finally be able to ripen its grapes serenely. The stormy rains unblocked the situation. At the end of August, the ripening has progressed well. Aromas color and tannins were synthesized in the red grapes. However, the red grapes not protected by the foliage are more impacted by the heat of the sun. Their dark color causes them to heat up more intensely. The exposed berries wilt and concentrate. They become a superb grape confit. They will give complex aromas to the wine during fermentation. The harvest started on August 22nd at Domaine de l'Amauve. The heat was still present, and it was important to harvest fresh grapes to preserve their fruitiness. The harvest starts before sunrise and ends at the end of the morning. Finally, rainfall at the end of summer and autumn was significant this year. They represent 217 mm currently. We therefore had 619 mm of rain from October 1, 2021 to October 1, 2022. This figure is close to the average rainfall in our region which is around 700 mm per year. The problem in recent years, and particularly in 2022, is the distribution of rainfall over the course of the year, which leaves large periods of drought when plants need water. The 2022 harvest ended on September 14th at Domaine de l'Amauve. A superb sunset closed this extraordinary wine year where intense drought and heat were combined. The vegetation resisted well because it is used to our Mediterranean climate. However, such a combination of difficulties should be avoided for the years to come. The severe selection of grapes that was done in June and July in order to lighten the load on the vines allowed them to get through this exceptionally dry year without any problems. The berries were already smaller because of the drought. This, added to that, resulted in a reduced harvest but of exceptional quality. Ripening evolved in two ways: It was accelerated by the heat. At the same time, it was slowed down by the drought. As for the rains of August 15th, they allowed the vegetation to regain a certain balance. |
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The team for the harvests in 2022.
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In 2022, the harvesting team was composed of Laurence, Juliette,
Caroline, Christel, Léa, Olin, Jean-Pierre. In the cellar : Nicolas and Christian.
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| The 2022 wines from Domaine de l'Amauve are getting the organic certification. .   |
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