Growing Conditions
No one can make the impossible possible. In 1984, it all went wrong: leaf growth halted in May by torrential rain, rushed blossoming in June, ripeness reached in September, but in more torrential rain. They were such extremely difficult weather conditions that no work in the chai could undo the damage. The 1984 vintage was not up to scratch.
A complicated flowering period and terrible weather during the harvest explain the mediocrity of this vintage. The year started with a deplorable January, packed with storms and rain. A cold but beautiful month of February followed on and March and April were cool but wet. These elements slowed down the vegetation process. The vines started to develop, later than usual, on April 10th. The rest of the month was beautiful and unusually hot. However, the vines grew slowly in May due to the wet weather that continued on until June 5th. Things improved over the month and we were blessed with a fortnight of glorious weather: flowering was overly rapid. All of a sudden, a drop in temperatures caused millerandage, that is to say the termination or the incomplete development of the berries. The Merlot were the most affected of the different grape varieties. A small harvest was predicted. Warm, dry weather set in at the beginning of July and continued on until September 13th. Grape maturity was unsettled due to two rainy periods from 14th to 18th and from 21st to 24th.
Harvest
Harvesting began in October, at the time of the hurricane, Hortense, (which caused little damage), before the weather improved. Due to all of these particularly negative elements, the 1984 vintage was not one that needed to be kept aside for long.
