Wine's world

The only 1er grand cru classé in Barsac with Coutet, Climens has been the finest, fruitiest and most appealing of the Sauternes wines for 50 years.

Unfortunately, since 2017, Climens has had an unthinkable series of 5 vintages with almost no production (frosts, hail storms, mildew, from 2017 to 2021 inclusive), to the point that all of Bordeaux was worried about the future of this cult property, despite the total dedication of its owner Bérénice Lurton.

We welcome the arrival of a new majority shareholder, Mr. Jean-Hubert Moitry (Patrimonia Développement), to support Bérénice Lurton and wish them good harvests to come so that Climens finds its place at the head of the Sauternes... and in our selections.

After Ausone, Cheval Blanc and Angélus, now it's time of La Gaffelière to leave the Saint-Emilion classification.

Classified since 1955 as 1er Grand Cru classé B, the owner, Alexandre de Mallet, has decided to leave the classification after remarks about the quality of his terroir which he considers unjustified.

He also wishes to express his disagreement with the organisation of the tastings for this edition (the tasting committee would have rated his 2013 better than his 2019 and 2020!).

This decision comes a little more disruption to the classification of Saint-Emilion (expected in September 2022), create a new category: the "Out of classification", and may well be followed by others. To be continued...

The 2021 harvest was historically low in France, lower than those of 1991 or 2017, as a direct consequence of widespread spring frosts (April 2021) and also of the regular reduction in the area under vines.

The two grape varieties most affected are the earliest: Chardonnay for white wines and Merlot for red wines.

Taking the average of the previous 5 vintages (2016 to 2020) as a reference, the loss of production amounts to -18% throughout France, with unequal situations depending on the region:

-74% in the Jura
-49% in Bourgogne-Beaujolais
- 33% in the South West
- 27% in Bordeaux
- 26% in the Loire Valley
- 23% in Savoie
- 22% in Languedoc-Roussillon
- 17% in Alsace
- 9% in the South East

The only vineyard spared in 2021: Corsica (+9%).

[Agreste data - Ministry of Agriculture]