Louis Latour Agencies

Louis Latour Harvest 2023

09 October 2023

A beautiful summary from Maison Louis Latour on the 2023 harvest.

‘With a small team collecting the Chardonnay in our Côte de Beaune vineyards. From there, it was full steam ahead with over 100 harvesters split into groups to cover our 50 Hectares in Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits. During the two weeks of harvest, the rollercoaster weather changed between 35°C sunny blue skies to heavy down pours and storms, to fresh 12°C mornings toward the end. Both conditions were welcomed to help mature the grapes after a much cooler than normal summer period, while hydrating the vines to a sufficient degree before the harvest. The ripe and ready Chardonnay were harvested in the first few days, followed by the Pinot Noir, which allowed time for the team at our Aloxe-Corton winery to manage the logistics of this years amplified volume!

Father Christmas came early for us too, with the arrival of two new oak vats and three stainless steel vats at our Corton-Grancey winery to accommodate the reception of our Pinot Noir. Along with our traditional open vat fermentation of our Pinot Noir, the excitement to punch down the grapes by hand and foot is always a competition within our winery. 

Like every year, it’s an intensive time in all three of our wineries in Pommard, Savigny-lès-Beaune, and Aloxe-Corton. All hands-on deck from picking, delivering and weighing the grapes, sorting, filling the vats, pressing, punching down, and finally, placing the first stage of the wine into our barrels for aging. With this year’s volume, our team worked double time to get the best of our ripened récolte. The harvest itself was completed in 14 days. From start to finish, it takes approximately five weeks for our wineries to descend slowly back into their quiet state before next year’s harvest.

Many thanks and a huge appreciation to the efforts of all the people who organized, participated, worked, and made the Latour harvest memorable this year!’

By Maddy Benard (Maison Louis Latour)