Château Fonroque 2022

2022, a vintage in stark contrast to the previous one.
After one of the coldest starts to winter in the last 10 years, milder weather returned in February. Precipitation was moderate and concentrated between November and December. Following budbreak in the final days of March, spring was again marked by five nights of frost in early April, but the damage remained limited. The trend reversed in May, as the sunny nature of this vintage quickly took hold, leading to early and rapid flowering. The first heat wave struck in mid-June, followed by above-normal temperatures through the end of September, resulting in an early harvest.
Thunderstorms in late June helped alleviate the water stress the vines had endured all summer. It wasn’t until mid-August that the vines benefited from rain following multiple heat waves exceeding 40 degrees.
The grapes finished ripening under excellent conditions, with the harvest beginning on September 5.
2022 will be remembered as the vintage of adaptation, the vintage of resilience in the face of water scarcity.