2018 Vintage: no first wine from Château Guiraud

Guiraud

It’s official: Château Guiraud will not be producing its first wine in 2018, as the damage caused by the hail was too severe.

The 15th July was a dark day for Château Guiraud: hailstorms destroyed almost 95% of their grapes. As the magazine Decanter reported, this is an extremely unusual situation that they find themselves in, “I’ve never seen this in all my 40 years of experience”, Xavier Planty, director of the domain, told them. As a result, the Château will be unable to produce its great Sauternes and only a small amount of its dry wine (Le G from Château Guiraud) as well as their second wine (Petit Guiraud).

Generally speaking, the 2018 vintage has been a difficult one in Sauternes: after hailstorms and disease (mildew), for the whole month of September and early October – a period marled by drought – botrytis played hard to get, so to speak. It was therefore necessary to be patient, and resist stress, as noble rot didn’t show its face until mid-October. Harvests took place very late, for the most part after 22nd October. This year, therefore, there was a real discrepancy between the grapes’ ripeness and the appearance of botrytis, which translates into higher pH levels and lower acidity. We’ll be able to tell you more after the en primeur tastings. 😉

Other things to read on the iDealwine blog:

Château Guiraud: a first class Sauternes in more ways than one