CHATEAU PALMER, November 15th 2007

"The Longest Harvest in Palmer's History!"

The 2007 vintage has just about finished fermenting during autumn weather that is particularly dry and sunny. The wines have all been put into barrel in the past few days and malolactic fermentation is progressing without difficulty - as always at Château Palmer!

Winegrowers will long remember 2007 as a very demanding year calling for a great deal of work in the vineyard all throughout the growing season, right up until the end of the harvest.

Bud burst took place early, in the last few days of March. Thanks to an exceptionally hot, dry April, the vines had more than a week's head start by the end of the month compared to an average year. However, from late April until the end of August, the weather was predominately cool and wet. May was chilly and rainy, but the first ten days of June were sunny and dry, which brought on flowering. There was some coulure (shot berries), but this was by no means excessive. Flowering was spread out and relatively long due to the wet, cool weather after the 10th of June.

This type of weather basically continued until late August. Overall precipitation was nevertheless limited compared to previous vintages. This was primarily due to the absence of the Médoc's usual summer storms.

Total precipitation from April to September:

Even so, there was an ongoing danger of mildew. Dealt with efficiently, this called for constant attention and a major effort in the vineyard. We had to be on our toes much of the time, and are not about to forget the 2007 growing season!

Bud pruning at the beginning of the season and green harvesting in mid-June and July made for good ventilation in the grape bunches. The unseasonably cool weather in late July led us to thin the leaves meticulously throughout the entire vineyard so the grapes could take maximum advantage of the sunshine.

Véraison (colour change) began early, on the 14th of July, but lasted longer than usual, especially with the Cabernets. However, the grapes showed great aromatic potential when we first taste tested them in late August.

Dry, windy weather settled in at the end of August. Lasting until the end of the harvest, this concentrated the fruit and helped speed up ripening. A real lifesaver! After 3 weeks of beautiful weather - cool in the morning, mild and sunny in the afternoon - we were able to start picking the first plots of Merlot on the 20th of September.

In much the same way as flowering and véraison, ripeness was also very spread out. We had to be quite patient and sometimes wait a day or two in order to pick each plot at peak maturity. In fact, this way of picking - waiting until just the right moment - is how vineyard practices (bud pruning, green harvesting, and leaf thinning) took place all year long. 2007 was indeed a "tailor made" vintage!

So, taking our time, we finished the Merlots on the 2nd of October and brought in the last Cabernet grapes on the 12th of October, under the same sunny skies.

This was unquestionably the longest harvest in Château Palmer's history!

Alcoholic fermentation took place without a hitch, although this obviously called for close attention to adapt fermentation temperature, pumping over, and length of time the wine spent on the skins to each separate vat. Every vat were tasted several times a day throughout fermentation to help us find the best flavour and balance.

Beautifully structured and elegant, our 2007 wines have tannin with a great deal of finesse. The alcohol is about 12.5% by volume, which is usual for the estate. However, we will only be able to evaluate the potential of the final blend at the end of the year, once malolactic fermentation is over.

It is nonetheless interesting to take a look at the 2007 vintage's profile as reflected in the water balance. This is a climate-based model that integrates water supply in the form of precipitation and water loss in the form of transpiration from the vines and soil. However, this model takes neither pruning methods (vine density, height to which the vines are trained, etc.) nor soil management into account.

The vine leaves have begun to take on their autumn colours and the vineyard workers are starting to perform their winter tasks: cutting training ties, pruning, tying up young vines, preparing plots due to be planted, ploughing, etc.

Pruning will start in a few days - so we are already paving the way for the 2008 vintage!

Château Palmer

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