2008 VINTAGE Growing season:While beginning of the year was mild and relatively dry, the lows were quite chilly in March. This meant that bud burst occurred later than usual.The temperature went down to -1.3° C on the 7^th of April, the worst frost since 1991. The vines had grown enough by then for this to cause some damage. Fortunately, however, only the southern part of the gravelly plateau and some plots at the bottom of the slopes were affected. The clay slopes so characteristic of Yquem remained untouched. Just after this frost, a spell of rain set in that lasted until the middle of June. It rained three days out of four during this period, with total precipitation 50% above average!Temperatures were also significantly higher than usual (+ 1.8° C) until the 24^th of May. This “tropical” weather called for a great deal of painstaking work by our vineyard team (suckering, tying up, bud pruning, and ploughing).   The first in a series of abruptly changing weather patterns took place with the sudden arrival of cool weather (- 0.6° C) which lasted until mid-June. Combined with humidity, the chilly temperatures caused a small amount of coulure (shot berries) in certain parts of the vineyard that were naturally fairly productive anyway. In fact, this amounted to a natural thinning out of the crop.Curiously regular alternating periods of hot and cold weather lasted throughout the summer of 2008: from late May to mid-September, three cool weeks were punctuated by three two-week periods of warm weather.The rain stopped from one day to the next in mid-June, and there were only 4 days of precipitation until mid-August i.e. the weather was dry 80% of the time. With 40% less rainfall than average, this also meant that there was plenty of sunshine and no risk of mildew.However, a new spell of very unsettled weather arrived in August. It rained two days out of three, with a total of 50% more rain than average. This also coincided with two weeks of warm weather in late August (+ 1.3° C) and gave rise to fears of premature rot on a crop that was unevenly ripe. Fortunately, at this point there was a new swing in temperature (much cooler): 25 days at 2.2° C less than average, combined with a 17-day dry streak.  This cool, dry weather not only prevented “sour rot” from developing and vinegar flies from propagating, but also enabled the grapes to ripen slowly and beautifully. These three weeks were a blessing – indeed, a miracle.     

The harvest:Because certain parts of the Yquem vineyard are conducive to very early ripening, grapes on these plots became concentrated during the first week of beautiful weather. A first wave of picking on the 17^th of September brought in fruit that was not only very sweet, but also with fine fresh acidity.In fact, this astonishingly vibrant acidity – typical for Sauvignon Blanc, but much more rare in Sémillon – is one of the hallmarks of the 2008 vintage. Another reason that 2008 can be called “the year of Sémillon” is this grape variety’s superb showing at the end of September: thin skins, crisp fruit, and a highly unusual colour – golden and speckled, – ideal for botrytis to penetrate and do its job.Noble rot had affected the grapes after showers in early September, and was able to do its magic at a slow, gentle rate because of the very cool weather.  This weather, ideal for Sauternes, enabled us to harvest grapes twice in quick succession on 25-26-27 September and again on 29-30 September and 1 October. We relied on a team of some 200 experienced pickers who were fully qualified to pick this unusual crop.The first grapes produced juice with over 21° potential alcohol. However, a week of non-stop rainfall (26 mm) interrupted the harvest. This ended up being one of the keys to the success of the 2008 vintage.The thermometer shot up again at this stage, and a second generation of noble rot soon blanketed the vines. On the 15^th of October, after two days without rain, we gingerly began a third wave of picking.  Going through the entire vineyard at Yquem takes three days, and rain had been forecast for the 21^st. We therefore decided to bide our time and wait until the last minute before going out again to pick.The harvest was in full swing again on Saturday, 18 October. This sunny weekend set the stage for a third and fourth wave of picking lasting until the 20^th. The fruit at this point was extremely concentrated and pure.As predicted, 8 mm rain fell on the 21^st. Work stopped for 3 days and we finished the 4^th wave of picking on the 24^th and 25^th, even going through the Sauvignon Blanc vines a 5^th time.  The weather began to take a turn for the worse on the 27^th of October and the forecast was awful starting on the 30^th. We therefore passed through the entire vineyard on the 28^th, and one last time the next day at a quickened pace. This was easy to do since all the grapes were healthy and there was nothing to eliminate. Thanks to hard, professional work by our team of pickers, the 2008 harvest came to an end on 29 October at 5:30 pm!The must from grapes picked at the end of the harvest had a lower concentration in sugar, but added roundness, providing the perfect counterpoint to the fresh acidity in the initial lots.

On 30 October, 45 mm of rain, i.e. two thirds of the monthly average, fell on a single day. The showers continued for 10 of the next 11 days. In hindsight, our hurry to finish picking when we did was fully justified. Had we waited, heavy rains at that stage of botrytisation would have been catastrophic.

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