Dear friends of La Cote Etoilée,
The last couple of months were extremely busy, as you can probably imagine, with a later than usual harvest. But we are now back behind our laptops and delighted to share with you a few pieces of news and pictures from the Domaine.
The Harvest is behind us!
Meet the team – see picture attached – a strong, French-Italian team of 24 worked hard over 2 weeks to hand-harvest the Domaine. As every year, the adventure is first and foremost a multigenerational one. This year, in addition to the usual dynamic duo of Grandfather Jean-Michel and son-in-law David, we welcomed the young granddaughter Valentine. A Paris-based finance-major, Valentine carries the Domaine close to her heart and enjoys coming back and giving a hand.
What to expect from the 2021 Vintage?
Weather conditions – winter frosts and humid Spring / Summer - leading to the 2021 harvest have been challenging. This resulted in a yield 50% lower than usual. We have now finished pressing and should have a better idea on the final volumes we can produce soon. Quality, however, is unaffected, and while producing fewer bottles, we are confident our 2021 Cote de Brouilly and Brouilly will boast the same prime qualities we have seen in previous vintages.
New for 2021
Season after season, we are committed to invest and improve the Domaine, and the quality of our wines. We have recently acquired a new destemmer, which will allow us to be even more granular in our ability to sublime the fruitiness of our wines. We are also moving forward to becoming more energy efficient and sufficient: we have found a lost spring water source on the Domaine!
We will update you later this Winter on the next exciting developments for the Domaine.
Until next time, stay safe, and enjoy our wines!
The Griveau Family & Cote Etoilée Team