September 20th, 2005:
Even up to today, the weather in the Bugey has been very sporadic in 2005: the temperatures have alternated between hot and cold all year leaving winemakers (and technicians!) perplexed as to when to harvest, but also as to the potential quality of the musts. The answer has been provided by a warm month of September in Montagnieu.
At any rate, I must mention a very violent hailstorm which hit my plot of Pinot Noir on July 18, 2005, so the yield there is tiny.
After numerous tests, both by taste and by sugar and acidity analysis, I decided to start harvesting on September 10th with the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The results are rich in alcohol (11-12.5%) and above all, very balanced in terms of acidity (about 5 grams/liter).
Generally, I don’t consider myself to be a good taster of must (nor of wine for that matter!) but I must confess that I really enjoyed tasting such balanced and, in my opinion, complex juice.
We stopped the harvest for three days – (20 mm of rain fell this weekend) and started up again on Tuesday, September 13th.
After finishing picking the Chardonnays, I decided to do a small pressing of Altesse, just to see.
So I harvested some plots which will be used to make sparkling wine and, when pressed, the juice showed a degree of potential alcohol of 10.9%. This came as a great surprise because I had been expecting much less, especially from such a late harvest varietal as Altesse. In the mouth, the acidity did not seem excessive at all.
So, how do I decide when to harvest the other plots destined, for the most part, for the still Altesse? The grapes are certainly nicely ripe right now, but if it continues to be clear and warm for another few days…it’s a gamble. I consult the oracles of Meteo France and Meteo Consult, but their predictions have completely changed for the next 48 hours, so when it comes to seeing five days into the future….It’s almost always the same dilemma at this point in the harvest, especially when the weather is so unpredictable.
So now all that is left is consulting the Big Guy (my father, Jean), he who has lived through 66 vintages (even if for the first few he was only tasting cow’s milk!) Our talk is, as always, enriching: no two vintages are alike (I figured as much!), 2005 looks very promising, but it’s always better “not to put all one’s eggs in one basket” as the saying goes, and not to let oneself get intoxicated by the lure of the gain (of quality, of course).
I knew all that, but it’s good to be reminded to keep a cool head.
I thus decided to pick two plots on Thursday, September 15th: the Côte de Presles (a very well exposed plot of old vines) and the Nez de Commissaire (a young five year old plantation where we had done a big green harvest earlier in the year).
The Côte de Presles always seems to rank with itself - year in and out; producing this year 11.5% potential alcohol and 5.8 grams of acidity: good ripeness.
The young planting was a little disappointing: 11.6% potential alcohol and 5.4 grams of acidity. I had sampled some of it last week at 11.9% and 6.1 g/l….The 20 liters of rain that we got last week must have reached the roots which are still rather shallow. I realized that the berries were fuller...no alarming dilution, but there is a little nevertheless, despite nice material in the mouth.
In spite of this incident and since I am already satisfied with the quantity and quality already in vat, I will reattempt the “feat” and, once again, stop the harvest.
The day before yesterday, Saturday, it was overcast and cooler. Yesterday, Sunday, it was cold, 42 degrees in the morning and 50 at night with rainfall measuring eight liters per square meter. A sharp check for the sap and vegetation or a simple warning? Whatever the case, I will go back to harvesting tomorrow, Tuesday.
More later…