2024 at Laurent Miquel– an unpredictable year
Languedoc-Roussillon
Weather conditions were unusual in the Languedoc in 2024, resulting in an unpredictable vintage, marked by the more frequent climatic disturbances of the last few years. A mild winter, notable for its lack of rainfall, was followed by a wet and cool spring and a late start to summer. This led to many significant challenges for growers during the 2024 growing season.
Vintage 2024 at Laurent Miquel
The winter drought extended into early spring, which was worrying, as the vines depend on the rainfall of winter to prepare them for the growing season. We carefully managed the leaf canopy to protect the vines from the worst of the humidity, although we were aware of a risk of damage for the coming harvest. The heavy rain in March and a cooler spring than usual also delayed bud burst.
Early summer was unusually cool with bursts of rainfall throughout May and June bringing humidity. Ripening was inconsistent and ‘veraison’ (when red wine grapes begin to change colour from green to black) began a bit later than in 2023. However, July brought the more usual warm and dry conditions that we are used to in the Languedoc and ripening continued steadily. A few days of intense heat in early August was a little concerning as harvest time approached, although things cooled down mid-month. Rainfall at night from 24-25 August also brought welcome relief and created good conditions for harvest. Harvesting started in Château Cazal Viel on 19th August, while Château Auzines began the following week on 27th August 2023.
Château Cazal Viel
Start of the harvest: 19/08 End of harvest: 04/10
At our Cazal Viel estate in St Chinian, the dry winter and wet spring let to a staggered start to budburst. The older vines managed to cope with the risk of oidium and mildew , with careful canopy management, although the high temperatures in mid-August were worrying until welcome rainfall cooled things down over the last weekend of the month.
We started to harvest Chardonnay on Monday 19 August. We planned to continue with Viognier, but the rain over 24-25 August meant a few days’ delay. We only began to harvest Viognier during the first few days of September and the grapes showed beautiful typicity and a natural freshness. We finished by harvesting the lieu-dit parcel of La Vérité, which is showing great promise this year. We are happy to report that despite Laurent’s fears about the impact of the short August heatwave on our Viognier, he tells us that he is delighted with the resulting wine’s freshness. A testament perhaps to our north-south planting, as well as the older vines in most of our Viognier plots, as they have good water reserves thanks to their deep roots.
The harvesting of Syrah for our rosé wines was next, with the grapes showing a wonderful aromatic profile ranging from small black fruits to citrus. Cinsault was next into the winery, followed by the Syrah and Grenache for the red wines, after a few days’ delay to allow them to reach full maturity. The beautiful plots of Bardou and Larmes des Fees show huge promise now that they’re in vat, and we are excited to see their development as maturation progresses. Harvesting at Château Cazal Viel completed on 04 October.
Whites and rosés
We started the harvest with the Chardonnay and then the grapes for our rosé wines. Thanks to upgrades made in 2020 at our grape reception area of the winery, the grapes arrive much faster than in previous years. This speed allows us to choose the date of the harvest when grapes are at optimum maturity and to harvest the grapes at the coolest period of the night (starting at 3:00 am). Viognier was harvested quickly after the rainfall on 24/25 August, as a few days of intense temperatures threatened to lower the freshness and acidity in the grapes. The older vines held on well and we harvested for La Vérité in late September with the grapes showing excellent acidity and perfect balance with an explosion of aromatics typical of the variety (apricots, violets...) The aromatic profile and tension of the Chardonnay shows potential for great finesse.
Reds
Since 2020, we have been harvesting our reds up to a week earlier than in previous years, when the grapes have just reached optimum phenolic ripeness, with fresh, natural acidity, all thanks to our policy of night harvesting. This promotes elegant and complex wines, with lifted, fresh, red fruit aromas. We carry out a gentle maceration with only a couple of light pump-overs to optimise the fresh, fruit flavours and extract silky tannins. The Syrah and Grenache have classic varietal typicity with naturally high acidity and promise to produce very elegant wines this year. Our old-vine Grenache had beautiful concentration, with perfectly-balanced tannins, following a warm and dry September, with the Syrah in Bardou lieu-dit showing equally high potential.
Château Auzines
Start of harvest: 27/08 End of harvest: 01/10
At the Auzines estate in Corbières, we felt the impact of the humid conditions of summer 2023, with a reduced yield overall, with Albarino particularly affected. With little rainfall during the winter 2023-24, the vines didn’t recover as quickly as they would during a normal winter season, so bud burst was quite late. Heavy rainfall in spring brought our rainwater lake up to healthy levels, but the rain in May and June brought extra humidity and a risk of disease. With careful canopy management and daily monitoring, we were able to offset these risks. In the end, ripening was steady thanks to a warm and dry July and August, and the high altitude helped us retain natural acidity, despite the high temperatures in the middle of August. Despite reduced yields, we produced very fresh wines with high concentration, and a good level of malic acid.
The dry conditions allowed us to begin harvesting on 27 August. We started with Albarino, to achieve the exuberant aromas and optimal freshness of this varietal. Chardonnay was next, then we waited a few more days before harvesting the Viognier, which takes a little longer to ripen at altitude. Last to be harvested was Syrah and the harvest was completed on 01 October.
Whites and rosés
Thanks to the altitude at Auzines and the rocky, limestone soil, we found the white grapes offered great freshness and tension, especially Chardonnay and our flagship grape variety Albarino. We had a reduced crop of Albarino owing to the humidity of 2023, but, thankfully, the grapes that we harvested are of excellent quality, offering some consolation. We vinify two thirds of the crop on site and transport the balance of the grapes quickly to our other winery during the night, avoiding the risk of spoilage from heat, sunlight and oxidation.
Reds
The aim is to have focused wines, with notes of fresher red fruits. Gentle pump-overs and soft maceration ensure a silky tannic structure in the finished wines. We already see that the musts are of a high quality, showing different and various aromatics and deep concentration. There is beautiful potential for this vintage for Syrah, thanks to the longer ripening season.
Conclusion
To summarise, despite the challenges of a very dry winter, a cool, rainy spring and a late start to summer, the warm and dry days of July and August meant we were able to harvest all of our grapes on our two properties at the best of their maturity. The quality and aromatic characteristics are excellent. As always, our focus is on expressing freshness, complexity and aromatic intensity in our wines.
We are confident that the 2024 vintage will show the full expression of our terroir and we thank our team for their hard work this year.
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