8th september – whole clusters anybody?

8.9.2007billn

triage
What didn’t make it into the cuvée

Today at the home domaine it’s villages Vosne-Romanée and Charmes-Chambertin on the triage table. Whereas the Charmes looks ‘okay’, the Vosne looks excellent – so much so that the vieilles-vignes have been separated into another cuvée and are going into the tank with a high percentage of whole clusters. The younger vines will be de-stemmed as normal, so it will be interesting to compare the two.

Tomorrow is a free day, or at-least free from sorting, and Monday will see the Corton Clos du Roi harvested. Tuesday might be Chambertin and Latricières, otherwise they will come on Wednesday. Maranges will also come on Wednesday, so this vineyard is a little behind its usual evolution.

A trip to Meursault and Puligny this morning showed quite a few people harvesting their chardonnay, but the home team’s Corton-Charlemagne is most likely going to be left until next weekend as the forecast is as good as the last dry days.

What of the fermenting cuvées? Well the Beaune 1er Cru Les Cras has already 98% completed its alcoholic fermentation. The colours are actually very good, but the tannins are a little on the low side so more extraction will be tried. It’s actually very hard to judge the balance as there is a lot of malic acid (tartaric also) so we will have to wait a while.

And some notes from our winemaker friend in Morey St.Denis:

“What a heterogeneous harvest.

I have brought in 4 ha of fruit, the sugars are all over the place. Even within an appellation, I have a variation of 1°! We also have a smaller yield than estimated, but the quantities are decent. I can’t stall the harvest like Dominique though, my team is going back to school, and my drivers back to work. I’m afraid of rain, but I might stall the whites until next week. The Vegetation is dormant now, the only degrees I’ll get is with evaporation.

I have an average of 12° for everything which is correct. We’ll see how it goes in the tanks…

Our tannins are low, acids are high, I think that with some good work though we’ll get a decent wine in, the must is tasty, wild strawberries, blueberries, iron, licorice. I am hoping to get some nice spices in the end of fermentation. I am in the beginning of fermentation, I’m favoring a cold extraction, and good news, no smelly grapes this year for me.
I’ll send in more profound tasting notes in a few days. 1 or 2 days of soak are not enough, and I did have some shot berries and raisining in some vines.”

Agree? Disagree? Anything you'd like to add?

There are 2 responses to “8th september – whole clusters anybody?”

  1. Alvin12th September 2007 at 3:38 pmPermalinkReply

    Hi Bill,

    Is the harvest essentially completed? I spoke to some of my sources and they told me that most of the growers would have completed the harvest by today. 12 Sept 07

  2. bill nanson13th September 2007 at 6:39 pmPermalinkReply

    Hi Alvin,
    Pretty much for the reds – though I believe a few late pickers are holding on for ‘more’ – I might have more info tomorrow. Whites are also largely done, the exceptions are parts of Chablis and some of the more illustrious plots from the more illustrious Côte de Beaune names.
    Cheers

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