Notes from a winemaker - Domaine Pattes Loup

Thomas Pico von der Domaine Pattes Loup im Chablis in Frankreich berichtet über das schwierige Jahr 2024 und hat uns ein Update geschickt.

October 2024 

After two amazing vintages, it's time to take a look back at an unprecedented 2024.
In 2022 and 2023, we had two very fine years, both in terms of quantity and
maturity. These two rather sunny vintages, still being matured, reveal a beautiful
freshness thanks to long aging.
We are therefore pursuing our policy of lengthening the aging periods for our
crus. Four years of aging have given us a freshness and maturing notes that, in my opinion, give the character of a Chablis wine, not a Chardonnay.

If these two vintages offer us much to be thankful for, we must, however, mention the difficulties encountered in 2024... We fought hard in the vineyards against unprecedented weather conditions, with total rainfall of 1,500 millimeters (compared to 650 average). Never have I ever seen this in my whole winemaker experience. With our staff and seasonal workers, we were up to 15 in the vines, fighting against the pressure of mildew, joined by frost and coulure. Despite 18 treatments, we suffered a loss of over 80% of the volume and financial losses… However, we haven't turned our backs on our principles and beliefs. We are one of the few winemakers who are organic and deeply convinced. We have the merit of doing sincere, honest and committed work for 20 years now. Lately, organic viticulture in Chablis has been the target of much criticism, particularly on social medias. But despite the various pressures, our ethics will not change. We could have chosen the ease and security, but we kept our values and commitments. We ask our customers, who are also our partners, for support and comprehension towards our investments in a rather gloomy wine market.

Despite all of this, the team remains motivated and close-knit, and it is thanks to this that we had the pleasure of being highlighted by La Revue du vin de France's Guide Vert 2025. We hope that 2025 will be kinder and will remain under these auspices. As a result, current projects are continuing while others are being developed. In 2025, it will be 20 years since we began in organic conversion or certified organic. We have not used weedkillers in the vineyards for 20 years. We are pursuing Demeter certification since 2021. We are still involved in agroforestry projects. Our trees are growing very well in the vineyards. We've started to demarcate a few plots in the Vaudelune area with hedges of different species. We tore up 1ha7 of vines, enabling us to plant 180 trees/ha of seven different species mainly rosaceous, aiming to bring back the birds. We are developing an eco-grazing project with a breeder friend, Sylvain Gillot. A first test was carried out this year and will be extended to a larger area next year.

Harvest 2024… This year's harvest lasted 8 days, with a one-day break due to bad weather, compared with 19 days in 2023. It's a pleasure to meet up again each year with a close-knit group of grape-pickers, some of whom have been with us for 12 years now. Even though it's a stressful time, it is so convivial that we wouldn't exchange a harvesting machine for hand-picking harvesting, which restores a little humanity in a society that is losing it.