With less than 33 mm of cumulative rainfall between June 9 and September 14, in Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2009 summer was extremely dry. It even exceeds the record set in 2007 (35mm) while the average of twenty years is 161mm. In contrast, the fall 2008 and winter 2009 were very wet, which helped to replenish soil moisture reserves before a particularly dry and hot summer.

Spring 2009 was also cooler and wetter than average (31 days of minimum temperatures between 10 and 15 ° C, against 30 in 2007, and 170 mm of rainfall between mid-April and mid-June). In contrast, the summer that followed was particularly hot, marked by 24 days where the maximum is exceeded at 35 ° C with 12 for the month of August (only 7 for all summer 2007). What rank this August 2nd month the warmest in 46 years (after 2003). Finally, from May to September, the skies of Chateauneuf-du-Pape was significantly sunnier than normal, this time finishing in 4th position behind the years 1967, 2006 and 1989 who holds the record. Finally, the heat balance of the year is slightly inflated compared to the multi-annual average. The north wind (Mistral) largely dominates the viticultural year, with some many months of consecutive days with strong to very strong gusts.

The quality of the vintage reflects perfectly what teach us the climate record of the growing season: using a wet spring, summer 2009 has facilitated obtaining grape very healthy, very colorful, with a tannin structure. The year 2009 is one of the earliest of the early 21th century.

In the vines, sorting has been reduced to an absolute minimum and the harvest was carried out with confidence, leaving each winemaker the freedom to organize its collection of sites based on their different maturities plots. The rains occurred during September (53mm of accumulated monthly) did not affect the smooth progress of the harvest that began in late August and ended in early October.

From a quantitative point of view, the harvest will be low with yields estimated between 28 and 30 hectoliters per hectare while the maximum output allowed is 35 hectoliters per hectare. The fermentations were conducted under good conditions, the last racking took place in early November.

The first tasting finished wines have confirmed that the 2009 vintage is in line with the very big years are 2005 and 2007. This is a vintage like them who will care by then to enjoy the strong character of the 2004 and 2006, the balance of delicacy and roundness of 2008.