Foudre · Journal
How Foudre reads a vintage
Plain-language notes for the people who make and move the wine — growers, négociants, buyers and sommeliers. What our vintage-intelligence agent does, how it turns climate data into a prediction, and what AI changes for the trade.
How it works
Foudre is an AI agent built for wine. Rather than a single model guessing a number, it works the way a good analyst would — it retrieves the evidence, integrates it, predicts the vintage, then analyses what it means for you.
- 1
Retrieve
The agent gathers the evidence: decades of climate history downscaled to each estate, a seasonal forecast for the year ahead, terroir facts, and what critics and the trade are saying right now on the public web.
- 2
Integrate
It fuses those very different sources — weather, geography, market sentiment, regulation — into one coherent picture for the estate and vintage you asked about.
- 3
Predict
It scores quality and risk against a structured model of what makes a great Bordeaux vintage, built from the published science — so the call is grounded, not guessed.
- 4
Analyse
It explains the drivers, backtests the call against critic and market scores (with sources) for past vintages, and writes a clear report tuned to your role.
Articles
- TradeHow to useJun 5, 2026 · 5 min
Merchant, restaurant, wine shop: one vintage, three decisions
The Trade view tailors the read to your seat at the table. Here's what changes between the three.
- TransparencyJun 3, 2026 · 6 min
Where our data comes from — and what's still illustrative
An honest map of what's real in Foudre today, what's a preview, and how to tell them apart in the app.
- IndustryJun 2, 2026 · 6 min
AI and the future of the wine trade
Allocation, pricing and risk in a warming climate — where a vintage agent fits.
- Trust & methodMay 29, 2026 · 5 min
Grading our own homework: backtesting against the critics
A prediction you can't check is just an opinion. Here's how we keep ours honest.
- Climate & terroirMay 26, 2026 · 7 min
The five numbers that shape a Bordeaux vintage
Growing-season warmth, harvest rain, cool nights, heat spikes and spring frost — and what each does in the glass.
- How it worksMay 19, 2026 · 6 min
From climate data to a vintage call
Four decades of Bordeaux weather, distilled into the numbers that move quality.
- FoundationsMay 12, 2026 · 5 min
What a vintage-intelligence agent actually does
Not a critic, not a crystal ball — a tireless analyst that reads the season for you.
Common questions
01What is Foudre?
A vintage-intelligence service for Left-Bank Bordeaux. It scores a vintage's quality and risk from real climate data, terroir and market signals, and — for past vintages — backtests its call against what critics and the market actually said.
02Which wines does it cover?
Today, the 61 Left-Bank 1855-classed estates of the Médoc and Pessac-Léognan. Right-Bank and Burgundy are on the roadmap. Regions without a backing dataset return “no coverage” rather than a guess.
03Where does the climate data come from?
The European Copernicus programme — ERA5 reanalysis for the 1990–2024 history and a SEAS5 seasonal-forecast ensemble for the year ahead — downscaled to each château's location and elevation.
04Is a Foudre score investment advice?
No. It is decision support — a grounded read on quality and risk that you bring your own judgement to. It is not financial or investment advice, and it is not a buy-or-sell signal.
05How do you know the predictions are any good?
For vintages already in the past, Foudre compares its own call against critic and market scores read from public sources (with links), and reports whether they agree, partly agree or diverge — or says the evidence is insufficient rather than guessing.