Provence | 2019 vintage
We will mention only quickly the quality of Provence's rosés (which make up 90% of the region's wine production) as they are not as sensitive to changes between vintages for two reasons. The first is that rosé is more of a “technical” wine than white or red wine and it is easier to produce it to a “standard” quality. The second reason is that weather variations have less of an impact here than in other regions. Moving on to the red wines, considering that it was another very hot year, even scorching hot, the majority of them were able to pull through intact thanks to a calming end to the cycle, just before and during harvest. It was not, however, an exceptional vintage, except in Bandol, where the region's best red wines are always produced. The first tastings of red Bandol cuvées show that they are very juicy with supple tannins and aromatic flavours, and they are already easy to drink. A vintage to keep that will be good as it approaches the end of its life, without a doubt.
The magical environment and the beauty of the landscape were not able to prevent Corsica from being subjected to numerous bouts of bad weather that considerably reduced the volumes produced (-25 %). A rather cold, windy, rainy spring considerably slowed the vines' growth and caused flowering problems (unfertilised flowers and small grapes that fell off the set shortly after being formed as well as clusters of different sized grapes). The severe summer drought did not help the situation, with Sciaccarellu and Vermentino being the worst affected varieties. Geographically, the south of the island with the Ajaccio, Figari, Sartène and Porto-Vecchio appellations saw lower yields than in the north, where Patrimonio, in particular, saw another good year of excellent white wines and rather remarkable reds
