Vintage 2022 - The year of change
The 2022 vintage is that of great change: devastating frost and hail for certain Bordeaux vineyards, followed by several periods of heat waves at over 42° and violent storms of water during the summer.
If Château Fougas was not affected by hail or frost, we adapted to the heat wave as well as torrential rains as the seasons progressed, and obtained as a result a harvest of exceptional quality !
Budbreak :
The winter was characterized by a mild temperature above average and a significant water deficit.
Bud burst began during the first week of April, allowing the first bunches to appear in abundance.
Our disbudding this year was limited to the removal of counter buds.
Flowering
The flower, early, took place from May 17 to 24.
We carried out a light stripping of the leaves, on the east side, at the level of the bunches before they closed around June 15, thinking that the leaves could protect the bunches in the event of a heat wave.
As the soils dried out quickly, we worked them in anticipation of heavy rains. In this way, future water abatement was able to penetrate the earth instead of eradicating the humic clay layer necessary for the life of the soil.
Veraison
Around July 15, the first bunches began their veraison 15 days ahead of the average for the previous 10 years.
Veraison was quick and homogeneous, and ended at the end of July.
At the end of this month and throughout the month of August we suffered heat waves over 42° as well as violent and brief downpours of over 10 mm of rain.
The latter have in no way altered the vine, neither in terms of the ever-green foliage nor in terms of the very healthy bunches.
Throughout this cycle, biodynamic treatments have allowed us to maintain good photosynthesis and good absorption of rain by the root system.
Harvest
The early harvest took place from September 16 under the sun…. 15 days in advance!
This year we used a new vibrating sorting table capable of sorting grains automatically in an exceptional way.
