Burgundy 2010: Crystal Ball-Gazing

In many ways, the weather of Burgundy can be as unpredictable as that of the Hunter Valley, hot one moment, raining cats and dogs the next. Grey skies and periodic rain ran right through May, but a burst of 30˚C days in the first week of June (followed by thunderstorms) certainly caused the vines to wake from their slumber and grow at the frenetic pace that has vignerons working from back-breaking dawn to dusk disbudding (removing unwanted shoots) from the 18-inch high vines. This very unpredictability makes the starting date of vintage far more difficult to guess than is commonly assumed, but the current betting is on a late September commencement.