Franck Follin-Arbelet said that he began harvest on 12 September. The vines were badly hit by the hail, but aside from that, there was no botrytis even though there was plenty of rain over the summer. He did have to do a trie to sort out grapes damaged by the hail, by sunburn, and by acetic rot from the Asian fruit fly (one parcel in Aloxe-Corton). Overall, yields are down about 20-25% from the maximums (in 2015 it is down 40-50%). Grapes were entirely destemmed in 2014. Malolactic fermentations were heterogenous, although most finished in July, August, and September.
Follin-Arbelet’s wines are excellent for their purity and freshness, but in general, they do need aging to show their best — they reward the effort. (Continue reading here.)