There is an agricultural saying, "saison amène moisson"(the season brings the harvest). Little matter the differences of weather, the harvest takes place 100 days after flowering in the Jura. But in 2003 you had to be ready earlier. To begin the harvest August 14, which was 3 weeks before the expected date, is unheard of. The heatwave combined with a warm wind conentrated the grapes ain record speed. So fast in fact that during the week which preceeded August 15, the grapes in some parcels picjed up as much as 3.5 degrees. Having noticed this super fast ripening, we had to find 40 harvesters in 2 days, find a refrigerated truck to keep the harvest and the juice cool and then...start harvesting.

As for the result, it was exceptional with of course low yields (around 25hl/ha), but the quality was there. The Chardonnays and the Pinot Noirs are often at plus 13.5° and the one cuvée of Trousseau averaged 14.6°