St Emilion/Pomerol - 2003

Famous names on best sites resisted the extreme heat best.

Exceptionally hot summer. Mixed results and low crop; some nice surprises. Some powerful, fleshy wines

On April 28th, a hailstorm caused some serious damage in certain areas of the St Emilion. Then on June 24th a mini-tornado mainly in the Entre-deux-Mers affected certain outlying areas of the Saint-Emilionais but fortunately damage was local and top vineyards were spared. The hot spring and sub-tropical summer heat with drought conditions accelerated the ripening process promoting historically early maturity.

Ideally sunny warm weather in September with some welcome light rain provided perfect conditions for picking. Therefore the grapes arrived in a remarkably healthy state and the first juice is deep-coloured and opulent.

As in other areas, yield has been well below average, even less than the short 2002 harvest which produced only an overall total 5.6 hectolitres. Production in the Pomerol area was particularly low.