October 11th, 2011:
It's Monday, October 3rd, 10:30 am. The last of the grapes were just harvested. It's still cool out (13°C), but the sun is already out and very bright. Another beautiful day in our never ending Indian summer! It was very surprising weather in Bugey this year.
The year started off with a bang: after a mild but long winter, the spring was much warmer than usual. Keeping up with the vines, who were growing at the speed of light, proved quite difficult.
Of course, it just so happened that, after two years of planning, I was ready to plant some new vines this year… Everything was ready: the plants were ordered, the pépiniériste was a call away, the soil had been prepped… I was hoping for 20 liters per m² of rain this year, so I patiently waited… Nothing to do, nature wasn't planning on giving us any rain. We had no choice to proceed, and we'll see what happens!
Once we finished the plantation, we were pleased that the hot, dry weather was keeping illness away from the vines, but it also meant we had to rush right into our springtime work. We tried being everywhere at the same time, and believe it or not, this was impossible!
Most of the work went into making sure the plant's vegetation didn't grow too dense: oidium loves heat, and a little morning humidity is all a leafy vine needs to be colonized by illness.
Flowering occurred under beautiful weather. If one was to follow the old fashioned motto "you harvest 100 days after flowering", then that meant we'd have had to start August 15th! Hard to explain to the family over dinner that our only week of vacation might need to be canceled!!!! I can accept this because it's part of my job, but I get why this would make a few people angry… Fortunately, a little smooth-talking helped me change the reservation for the cottage in Normandy, and no one wanted my head on a silver platter anymore.
June remained very hot, but on July 10th, everything shifted: rain and cool weather almost every day. A heavenly shower! This instantly put me at ease about oidium, mildew or over sized grapes. Now I haf to start worrying about rot! Fortunately, our hard work in the spring pays off: the grapes, who have been getting enough air, managed to dry out a little and, for the vast majority, resist rot.
Now I'm wondering: what's the harvest going to look like? All this weather stuff is a bit deceiving, but I guess I'll have do with! This really is a fascinating job, in large part because it reminds you that you need to recognize the power of nature, to stay humble… and to believe.
Otherwise, we'd only be left with rage and folly.
Early August proved to be nicer weather but still not that hot. Our initial plans to harvest the 15th are gone, and we start aiming for early September. Well, this is how I felt in early August, but there was still one surprise waiting for us!
The week of August 15th, temperatures skyrocket: 30-32°C in the shade every afternoon! It's a mini heat wave! The Pinots start taking this nice black and blue color… No, I did not drink too much when I wrote that! This is the most adept definition I can give to their color!!!!
The Chardonnay are getting golden in the sun and they are already at 11%, already more than enough for the grapes destined to go into the Montagnieu pétillant. This time, a decision is made: we begin harvesting on September 29th.
The first few days go off without a hitch under beautiful weather. Most of the work is done in the morning, and the yields are abundant and of high quality. Super!
Then came a big fright: a huge storm coming from Lyon. The thunder crept up on us, then backed off, only to come back twice as strong! This lasted for over an hour. As I sat on my terrace, huge drops of rain started splashing down on the plastic table, and I saw a very large strike of lightning incredibly close to the house. All of a sudden, it started hailing!
I've never seen it hail during a harvest, and only the once prior had I seen it happen at night, which is quite rare. It became increasingly harder to admit I couldn't do anything, that I had to sit back and wait it out… I think you'll understand me better now if I tell you a vigneron really puts his "heart" into his wine!
The hail stops, the storm passes… We continue harvesting for the sparkling the next day, and quickly realize that virtually nothing was damaged. Ouf! We then wait a little longer for the "still" Altesse grapes and the Mondeuse. The good weather came back, which was a relief.
The rest of the harvest led us to picking some really nice Altesse and Mondeuse grapes. I wanted to wait even longer before harvesting, but I didn't want to risk losing their acidity so we kept at it.
This year really is too strange: we spent almost the entire harvest with wind coming from the South and good weather. Usually the weather is kind of crummy around these parts in September… So, after a long period of reflection, I decided bring everything into the cellar, save a 1/3 of an hectare of Altesse as an experiment. I think the soil has absorbed too much water to bet on an improbable concentration of the grapes.
So that's my recap of this very special year. I remain confident in the wine, and that we were suitably adapted for Mother Nature's capricious behavior this vintage. If she remembers all that she put me through, I hope she'll find it in her heart to offer us all some nice cuvées!
