September 21, 2004:
I couldn’t wait until the end of the week to tell you what a great time I had picking the Chardonnay grapes yesterday: not too hot, not too cold, the sky became overcast in the afternoon but the rain waited until nightfall (only 1mm – just to moisten the leaves). Today is gorgeous, blue skies etc….
Above all though, there were lots and lots of grapes!
45hl/ha: a record!– never before seen from this plot!
The results are satisfactory: 12.9 degrees of potential alcohol and 5 grams of acidity. No rot, in other words, pure joy.
The only downside was that I had to set my alarm for 6:30 AM yesterday morning and that’s not an easy thing for a sleepy marmot like me (Webmaster translation....a marmot is a mountain groundhog).
We had the time to pick one bin of Sauvignon (12.7 degrees) but the ripeness levels are so varied that we are going to have to spread out the harvesting according to plot and the quantity of grapes. I can’t give a real yield figure because we picked the grapes all over the place, here and there.
I don’t yet know if we will start up again this Thursday or next Monday. For the time being, the weather looks like it will be good for the whole week.
October 8th, 2004:
We harvested the Gamay grapes last week: overall results: 50 hl/ha!, between 12.5 and 13 degrees of potential alcohol and 5 grams/liter of acidity. We had to sort in two plots (as usual), the rest was spick and span.
The Côt grapes were picked this week. We finished yesterday with the 100 year old vines. Didier was right to be worried because it rained today. The crop was very healthy, not a speck of rot. The 100 year old vines yielded an abundant crop with 12.2 degrees of potential alcohol and 5 grams/liter of acidity. The younger old vines gave us 40 hl/ha, 13.3 degrees of potential alcohol and 5 grams/liter acidity. The overall average yield was 50 hl/ha.
We haven’t finished the Sauvignon Blanc grapes yet. A first pass through all the plots gave us an average of between 12 and 12.5 degrees of potential alcohol and 5 grams/liter of acidity. We’ll have to wait for the second pass to calculate the yields.
Between the rot and the unripe grapes, there was a lot of sorting to be done. My harvesting team had a little trouble getting this, but it's working out. Didier is very satisfied with the grapes coming into the cellar.
If it continues to rain, I don’t know if the unripe grapes will reach maturity. Our goal is not to add a single gram of sugar into any cuvée.
As for the Pineau d’Aunis and the Cabernet Franc grapes, I’ll let you know in the next installment. Up until now we have been very lucky with the weather but today things are going seriously downhill.
The mushrooms are going to grow!
October 21st, 2004:
We finished our harvest on October 15th under menacing skies, but no rain. This last week was difficult: changeable, humid ,and cold weather, no gain in ripeness. The last Sauvignon grapes we picked were diluted, we even left some vines alone where the grapes were really unripe (a far cry from the beginning of harvest).
Our Pineau d’Aunis reached 11.5 degrees, with 5 g of acidity and 50HL/HA. Didier decided not to make any red with this…. Joe is going to be disappointed.
Cabernet: barely 12 degrees, 5g of acidity, 5 0HL/HA: our cellar is full. We could not wait any longer, the grapes were swollen with juice and would not have lasted another week on the vines.
We got 50HL/HA of Sauvignon Blanc, it would have been higher but we had to leave many unripe or rotten bunches. In conclusion: we had a euphoric beginning and a disappointing finish, and we’ll have to pick and choose between the different vats.
Fermentations are going well, the malolactic has started already. Didier has a lot of work in the cellar but remains serene.
Despite last week’s rain, no mushrooms are growing, and that’s not fair!