Bertrand's Wines

09/14/2026

Our next stop takes us to Viré with Franz-Ludwig from Domaine

"Hi Bertrand,

This 2026 vintage broke earliness records for us. Crémant harvested on August 16 and still-w**e harvest finished on September 3 — that's unprecedented for us.

A very dry vintage, almost no rain since May, and as a result the vines suffered enormously and held back their grapes (even the roads cracked here). The first juices of the season had little flavor because phenolic ripeness wasn't quite there yet, even though potential alcohol was already over 15 on some plots. Little juice — we're struggling to reach even half a harvest (for the third year in a row). Acidity is low (scorched by the blazing sun and successive heatwaves), pH is high — the aging/élevage work will be very important for finding balance in the w**es.

In short, a disappointing vintage for us, because the grape potential was there, but it was wiped out by the drought and heatwaves ever since flowering in May."

09/11/2026

Our next stops takes us to the village of Couchey with Guillaume from

"2026

A year where we waited for rain that never came…
Harvest began Friday, August 21, with a very small team, hoping for the rain that finally arrived on Friday, August 28.
We can describe the 2026 vintage as having a lot of color, with decent alcohol levels of 12.90 to 14.
Acidity was starting to drop a bit.
Very high quality — no disease, no rot, just some sunburned grapes that needed careful sorting.
Good acid/alcohol balance.
Aromas of pink grapefruit and red fruit.

There you go, Bertrand — don't hesitate if anything's missing."

09/10/2026

"What are the odds that this would happen today, September 10th 2026?

25 years ago to the day, I was landing in France after my first experience in the w**e business in the United States before finishing my Business School.

I discovered a world that was light years away from mine, where w**e came from many places with many different looks and so many possibilities, my American Dream was manifesting.

Fast forward to today and our industry has completely changed, the fabric of it, the diversity of it and the passion it takes to remain relevant has never been higher.
I am in love with Burgundy and give it my whole, this is the love story of my life and the region has so much to offer, it is truly full of opportunities and I want you to embark on that journey with us.

I am thankful to the W**e Enthusiast for allowing us to BE SEEN and to recognize the work that was started back in late 2014 when I was fine tuning the plan for Bertrand's W**es.

Thank you to our growers who are doing the hardest part of the job and trust us with being a voice for them, thank you to our supporters and partners in the wholesale, retail and restaurant world for spreading the word.

Thank you to the many mentors I have had over the years! I am trying to return the favor as a mentor with

Maman and Papa thank you for always believing in me and to my wife who is my rock.

MERCI!!!"

**eenthusiast

09/10/2026

Let's continue our reporting with Philippe Colin in Chassagne-Montrachet

"Hello Bertrand,
The 2026 vintage is in.
The earliest ever!
A sun-drenched vintage with high ripeness levels and fairly low acidity. The hillside vines suffered from the drought, with yields around 20 to 40 hl per hectare. The village and generic Bourgogne w**es show a better balance, with yields of 40 to 50 hl/ha.
Comparable vintages: 2006 and 2009.
Have a good day"

09/09/2026

Woot woot!!! First participation for Sirugue Pere & Fils and already 5 stars on one of their cuvées… go ahead and subscribe to discover which one !!!

09/09/2026

Thank you to Sophie and Arnaud Sirugue-Noellat for sharing this video of their 2026 harvest.

The next generetion is already getting involved as you can see.

09/09/2026

09/09/2026

Let's start with with Philippe's response

"Hi Bertrand,
Below you'll find some info and our impressions of the upcoming 2026 vintage:
Harvest dates at the estate:

August 15–19 for the whites
August 20 for the reds (Santenay "Bievaux" and Volnay 1er Cru Carelle sous la Chapelle)

For the whites, the vintage is in line with the last two vintages in terms of yields. It's a "small" year. The hillside vines suffered greatly from the heatwave and lack of water — for example, the harvest in Chalumaux is 4 pièces versus 14 in a good year.

The Puligny village vines and the grands crus (BM and BBM) suffered noticeably less and are giving a fairly good yield.

In terms of quality, the grapes look very good, and our acidity and pH are quite good for the year (pH averaging between 3.2 and 3.3).

Alcohol levels are a bit high, ranging from 12.8 at the lowest to 14.2 at the highest.
At this stage we're rather pleased with what we've harvested — the vintage could turn out to be quite interesting.

For us, our harvest date is the right compromise between good aromatics on one hand, and preserving high natural acidity and keeping alcohol levels as moderate as possible for the vintage on the other.

Having only started out in 2018, for us the 2026 vintage shows some similarities to the 2019 vintage, though with a better acidity/ripeness balance.

The future will tell us the rest...

Have a good day"

09/08/2026

Now that the 2026 Harvest is behind them, we asked the following question to our growers.

"Hello,
As you probably know, the 2026 vintage is generating a lot of buzz.
If you could take five minutes to either leave me a voice message or write a few lines about your impressions — quantitative, qualitative, and whether it reminds you of a vintage you've experienced in the past — that would be great.
We'll post this to help spread the word about your work."

We'll be sharing their impressions over the next several days.

Stay tuned...

09/01/2026