Will the Burgundy 2015 Vintage be the equal of 2005?                       by Lynne Hammond, Partner, Bringing Burgundy to You 

So what makes a great vintage?  In Burgundy it is the right weather at the right time.  In general, this means a cold winter with heavy frosts, a warm spring with regular rain, and a hot summer without hail (which devastated many Burgundy villages for four consecutive years) along with sufficient rain to swell the berries and a cool, dry harvest period.  Weather-wise, 2015 fitted the bill perfectly resulting in excellent grape quality.  For example, if there is too much rain, we get thin berry skins resulting in low tannins and pale color in the reds, which often means the wines will not age well.  Conversely, too little rain and berries don't swell resulting in less juice which means yields can be low at harvest.

Add to perfect weather the 'human element' of skilled vineyard management and winemaking, and the result is an excellent wine.  After the 2015 harvest, the consensus was that grape quality was superb although yields, in some appellations, were down again.  However, the shortfall differs markedly across the region with, on balance, Côte de Nuits suffering more than Côte de Beaune.  Some appellations report up to 30% reduction while others are close to normal.  A living example of Burgundy's remarkable micro-climate, the Maconnais being further south lacked rain and, consequently, yields will suffer more while at the northern tip of Burgundy in Chablis a late hail storm devastated a Grand Cru vineyard with 50-80% losses in that parcel.

Much of June, all of July and early August 2015 were very hot with temperatures regularly in the mid to upper 30s.  We had drought conditions and growers in early August were reporting small berries with little juice.  And then, thankfully, it rained!  Late August saw high temperatures but increased rainfall ~ steady rain, not short, sharp storms.  Weather conditions were ideal in the first ten days of September, the harvest start date for most growers. 

Where has all the wine gone?

How can Bringing Burgundy to You help?

 

  

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THE BEST TRASH IS TRASH PEOPLE DON'T PRODUCE:  Recycling in France                   by Arthur Gillette

 

On at least one occasion in the late Middle Ages when Paris was under siege, the municipal authorities ordered people to bring their trash to the city walls. There, it was burned to send up thick smoke and thus discourage the enemy.  So recycling is not totally new in France!  But then it was for military defense while today it stems from ecological and economic concerns.

A sign on the door of a large room in the cellar of my apartment house in the Parisian suburb of Meudon (12 train minutes from the Gare Montparnasse) says Salle des Ordures, i.e., Garbage Room.  Inside are several huge bins, each equipped with two wheels to ease the garbage men's task in dragging them to empty into regularly passing trucks.   Odd as it may seem at first sight, flip-up covers of some bins are gray while others are yellow.  The gray ones are for food leftovers and other garbage while the yellow ones invite me and my neighbors to recycle household trash.

                                            

Each year the average home in France produces no less than 600 kilos (1,320 lbs.) of household waste, much of it reusable.  In recent years, national-regional-local government authorities, not to forget private enterprises and non-governmental associations, have been paying greatly increased and active attention to proper disposal of  this massive mess.

Even much of the apparently useless garbage (gray bin cover – annually worth €430 per French household) can be compacted to serve as fuel.   As much as 27% of public lighting in Paris alone is powered by it.    And the yellow bin cover?    This must be (but is unfortunately not always) selectively disposed of to be collected and recycled.  It amounts to some 15,000 tons per year in Paris alone and includes paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, tin and aluminum cans, etc.

One ton of paper and paper-based trash recycled saves 1.3 tons of wood from being 'harvested' in forests. Plastic bottles are mainly, but not only, transformed back into plastic bottles.  And 19,000 old tin and aluminum cans go into a new car,  while 250 of them form a bicycle frame.

And glass?  Special bins for recycling bottles and other glass objects have been placed by local and regional authorities on sidewalks – fifty-nine in Meudon alone, i.e., more than one per thousand inhabitants.  Special bins are also available in public places for textiles, batteries, light bulbs and so forth.

           
                                            

Recycling for transformation and reuse, including the manufacture of new objects to be sold, has recently created more than 18,000 jobs in France.  Private enterprise has been far from inactive in recycling.  Much selectively recuperated and treated material is recommercialized via various companies, its purchase profit mainly helping offset government expenses in this area.

                                                                

A national optical store chain (with 1,350 outlets nationwide) has joined other bodies in creating the Krys Group Enterprise Foundation which not only collects but also cleans and repairs eyeglasses which it then provides free of charge to very needy children and adults in poor countries.   In 2012 alone,  this involved 160,000 pairs of glasses following 12,000 professional voluntarily-executed eye examinations via 25 field projects in Africa, Madagascar and India. 

            Gray or yellow?                                                                                                            In the yellow trash, thank you.

 

Individual initiative is also taking place in French recycling: near the large bins in my cellar's Garbage Room sits a big bag regularly brimming with plastic bottle caps.  A volunteer neighbor collects and delivers them to the Bouchons d’Amour ('Love Bottle Tops') association.  They are then sold, the money earned enabling mainly the provision of wheelchairs and other equipment to aid needy handicapped people.

 

Put briefly, on a folder currently going the rounds in Meudon: “The Best Trash is Trash People Don't Produce.”

 

[Photos by Madeleine Liegeon unless otherwise noted.]