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Vintages

Vintage 2025: A Remarkable Growing Season for Bourgogne

06/10/2025

Relieved and reassured—though a little disappointed by the volumes! After a relatively calm year and a harvest disrupted by rain, winegrowers in Bourgogne are delighted with the quality of the juice now in the cellar. The one drawback, once again, is the yield.
In 2025, agility was required right up to the final snip of the secateurs. Starting the harvest on August 18 has become routine. But a harvest divided in two by the weather is much less common. Fortunately, the quality is undeniable, even though yields differ from one area to the next. Vinifications are progressing well, and words like “charming,” “generous,” and “elegant” are resonating in the wineries.

A Promising Start to the Season

After a winter without extremes, the vines emerged from dormancy relatively quickly.
March balanced between mild and cold spells. By early April, buds were already breaking in the earliest-ripening areas. Boosted by temperatures well above normal, the vines awoke in earnest, with budburst accelerating rapidly.
Yet, the average date for mid-budburst was April 8—right in line with the past 31 years—though with some variation across different parts of the region.

A Clear Step Toward an Early Vintage

By mid-April, the growing season was in full swing. Benefiting from almost summer-like warmth and timely rainfall, vine growth advanced at a strong pace, with shoot-thinning operations beginning early. This rhythm held steady until June’s heatwave, despite a slight cool-down in mid-May.
By mid-May, inflorescences were clearly visible thanks to this rapid development. It was already evident: 2025 would be one of the earliest vintages on record.

A Tale of Two Flowerings

The very first flowers appeared as early as May 26. Warm weather during the Ascension weekend (May 29–31) triggered explosive flowering in the earliest-ripening plots and kicked off flowering in later ones.
In these later-ripening areas, however, humidity and rainfall disrupted flowering, causing coulure (poor fruit set) and millerandage (small, uneven berries). In some places, harvest potential was already reduced. This was particularly true in the southern Mâconnais, where flowering was also hit by a hailstorm on June 1. These conditions also encouraged disease pressure that growers had to keep in check.

Heatwaves Boosted Ripening but Cut Yields

Two heatwaves swept across France and Bourgogne in summer: first in late June, then from August 8 to 18. Temperatures soared to rarely seen highs: 35.8°C on June 22 in the Côte Chalonnaise, 34.2°C in the Mâconnais, and 38°C in the Côte-d’Or. On several occasions, the thermometer nearly hit 40°C.
The vines, which thrive on heat, benefited fully, and the cycle advanced quickly. But yields suffered: skins thickened, berries stayed small, and pulp was lost.
These heat spikes also triggered unstable weather, with violent, localized storms sometimes accompanied by hail. The rains, however, proved lifesaving for the vines and essential to maintaining berry growth. In areas that missed the rain, vines endured water stress.

Two Vintages in One

2025 joined the ranks of early vintages, now occurring almost every two or three years. The first pickers entered the vineyards on August 18, harvesting grapes for Crémant de Bourgogne. A few days later, the first still wine parcels followed.

Just then, a cold air mass swept across France, ending the heat. Substantial rainfall, especially in the north of the region, provided much-needed relief to vines that had been under water stress.
From that point, the harvest unfolded in two stages, split between early-ripening and later parcels, dictated by ripeness levels and passing showers. Choosing the right harvest date required the calm experience of seasoned growers, given the capricious late-August weather. Patiently, they monitored sugar and acid levels in each plot, tasting berries to assess ripeness and skin texture. In most cases, analyses showed excellent sugar levels with balanced acidity.
Bad weather occasionally disrupted the organization of picking crews. Some estates, such as the Hospices de Beaune, even paused before resuming work in later-ripening parcels.

By mid-September, the harvest was wrapped up across the region. The wines now in the cellar look very promising: with fine concentration and virtually no disease, providing superb raw material for this vintage. Both merchants and estates have everything they need to craft great wines from the 2025 vintage.

Contact:  Cécile Mathiaud - Head of PR at the BIVB
Phone: +33 (0)6 08 56 85 56 - cecile.mathiaud@bivb.com