François de Nicolay and his sister and winemaker Claude described 2008 as a "difficult vintage. There was a lot of mildew, which obviously was a real concern. The poor summer weather made for very long, and late, maturities. The north wind, which arrived in the middle of September frankly saved things and it's not clear that there would have been much worth harvesting without it. We began picking on the 1st of October and picked slowly through to the 14th when we harvested the last of the chardonnay. Part of the reason we picked slowly was also because it was necessary to sort extremely thoroughly and while it sounds easy to do, it's actually quite fatiguing to look at each bunch, and then each berry, carefully. Moreover, because we typically vinify with a high percentage of stems, they have to be inspected as well to ensure that there is no botrytis present. Sugars were good at around 12% and we did a very soft vinification using a percentage of stems that ranged from 0 to 50%. Honestly, we did not expect the quality that we obtained and we are really quite happy with the '08 reds.”