Vendanges 2012 en Vallée du Rhône - Domaine Santa Duc

It has been a vintage full of ordeals for many wine-growing regions in France. After the very hard frosts in February, budburst was quite heterogeneous in the Rhône valley. But due to “fertile” spring weather, full of rain and sunshine, vegetation caught up easily before flowering.

After a warm summer and dry weather in August, we started harvesting on September 17^th. Ripe and well-balanced grapes allowed picking Syrah, Cinsault and some early ripening Grenache vineyards before the rainfalls late September. Rain was rather beneficial to our late Grenache and Mourvèdre vineyards, allowing them to proceed their ripening.

A good balance between sugars and acidity, showing potential alcohol around 14% by volume and pH between 3,5 and 3,7, forecasts juicy and generous wines for this vintage. It looks like every vineyard gave us grapes with a lot of character and personality, which is rather promising for the blending and the ageing to be done.