Echézeaux…

Domaine Michel Noellat et Fils, Vosne-Romanee – Vendange Day Three, Saturday 5th Sept 2020

A long day here, commencing with a surprise, and finishing with a convivial evening social in Beaune with William and Angela.

Before embarking on detail of the day proper I need to make a (photos) confession & to ‘catch up’ with a couple of aspects missed previously, one of which relates to today’s surprise, the other to our first day cleaning activities when we had an unexpected, if hilarious, ‘helper’.

On the photo front the limited (I was too busy !) number of photos I took this day turned out, very disappointingly, to be ‘spoilt’ by the camera settings, unbeknown to moi, being accidentally disturbed – which I failed to notice into Day 4. In brief, the Canon G16 has two overlapping ‘wheels’, or dials, on the top relating to its settings. One wheel is that for settings, with my keeping that on ‘auto’ most of the time, the other wheel is for -3 to +3 movements in increments of 1. First thing, I take the leather cover off the camera for speed of use (it has 3 press studs), otherwise I’d have too much messing about with little time, and then sling/loop the camera strap from shoulder to opposite waist in effect such that the camera itself ‘sits’ on my lower back safely out of the way whilst I’m picking until I wish to take a photo. I’m not sure even now what was going on with this vendange as, jumping ahead to the end, after today I was constantly finding the settings wheels were being disturbed – much more than ever before in previous years. Whether the dials/‘wheels’ movement has become ‘slacker’ with age (the numerical wheel I was finding hereafter was moving often, the other not so much) I don’t know, or maybe the camera was being ‘caught’ by the excessive vine foliage this year. After spotting today’s problems only part way through ‘tomorrow’ I then wised up & always tried to think on to check the dials pre taking any photo. Today though, and into the day after, the auto setting was ‘caught’/moved such that the photos have come out ‘bleached’/whitened (over exposed ?). Very frustrating, particularly re the hot air balloon (see later). I’ll leave up to Bill whether he believes the photos might be used (or some of them). Getting ahead of myself I bit, but whilst on the subject of photos, I may as well confess now things got ‘worse’ as I completely lost all the photos taken for Days 5 & 6 in an error ‘saving’ (or not !) after download, when I was also too quick to delete from the camera to be able to retrieve matters. Doh ☹.

Away from camera/photo ‘cock ups’ two other matters. 1) Yesterday, I had a conversation with my team leader from last year, Gilles. Gilles had been happy to explain to me he’d been ‘promoted’ this year, away from the teams, to be a driver i.e fetching the grapes back to the cuverie. I was suitably envious! But, what was more interesting was what else he told me! I casually queried why we hadn’t seen him as a camion driver to which his response was he had been roving around elsewhere with the ‘Bulgarians’ ! Ah hah, dammit, this was the confirmation of my suspicions of the domaine employing another, contract picking team, alongside us which I’d understood had happened in 2019 – it then had to as in 2019 we never picked any of the Vosne 1er crus, or the domaine’s Cote de Beaune sites (Savignys and Pommard). A team we never saw & who must have had their own eating, accommodation etc etc arrangements. Gilles, not really understanding what he was telling me meant to yours truly, garrulously continued to tell me this year they’d already done Vosne Suchots, Vosne Beaux Monts and Echezeaux. This was almost akin to a punch in the guts to me & I struggled to hide my disappointment. Whilst the Noellat family are lovely people, and I love them to bits, my major reason (in fact ‘the’ reason), having decided 2018 would be my last Arlaud vendange after 9 years, in selecting Domaine Michel Noellat was their portfolio of vineyards/terroirs. It had been deeply disappointing in 2019 to find matters were not as I anticipated & I’d mused in England, ahead of coming out here for 2020, that if 2019 was repeated I’d seriously have to consider continuing with Noellat – in fact I’d decided I couldn’t/wouldn’t and already had thoughts on a ‘replacement’ in Pernand. So, Echezeaux already done but not by us (although we had picked it in 2019). Looked like Vougeot & NSG Boudots were going to be our only top/‘serious sites’ & we’d have to be excited by NSG Village, Chambolle Village, Fixin, Marsannay, Bourgogne’s, and the Hautes Cotes. Hum !!! Probably only terroirist myself was ‘affected’ by this as the others were simply here for the vendange for other reasons. I never heard any of my colleagues ask about, or express any comment, on any terroir. In fact, only now musing on this, none of my colleagues actually ever asked me why I was working the vendange – even though I was probably asked every other possible question except my inside leg measurement !

Matter No 2):- this was altogether non serious/light hearted. Amongst our number were 5 young Spaniards – 2 guys and 3 girls. Perhaps they might best be described as ‘new age’ or whatever, but they had ‘radical’ hair styles, including a couple of mohicans, heavy tattooing, metalwork piercings and so on. Friendly types, and hard workers, they live in 3 or 4 camper vans on the other side of Clos de Reas from the domaine. They didn’t eat with us & I believe may have been vegetarians. They had a number of dogs between them – five in all I think although I never saw all the dogs close up to and, unlike the Italians from 2019, the Spanish dogs never accompanied us into the vines. Anyway, on Thurs evening, for our first gear cleaning session in the garage, after a while I realised, away from my bucket dunking, there was much amusement amongst the others, notably towards Philippe wielding the hosepipe being used on the porteurs panniers lying on the garage floor. The source of the amusement was immediately obvious, a very small, black, muscular, hyper bundle of energy, terrier type dog who was obsessive about the jet of water from the hosepipe and ‘biting’ it, or ‘catching’ it, in his mouth, occasionally yelping with excitement. Whilst Philippe was happy to give the dog the occasional ‘play’ he (Philippe) was also intent on cleaning the panniers but the dog was diving in and out of the panniers and chasing the water jet anyway he could in hyper mode. Inevitably, the dog was also wet through on occasion but that didn’t stop him. Short haired, he just stopped occasionally to give himself a brief convulsive muscular shake before continuing his manic, excitable, attention to the water jet. It was all very amusing and an utter delight to watch. Turned out the dog, and another larger sweet, feathery, mongrel type with a withered left front leg which meant she walked on 3 legs & who kept to the side of the garage away from the water, belonged to one of the Spanish guy’s who was upstairs having a shower.

Onto the day itself and herein was the immediate surprise. We embarked the vehicles for the short journey to Echezeaux Au Dessus. Echezeaux ??? Moi ? Gobsmacked, after what Gilles had told me as earlier. This was an odd one – I was highly intrigued, and all the more so, when I saw we had a reception ‘committee’ of two gents waiting for us by our camion which had arrived before us. One of the two guys was obviously the worker/gopher from his attire but the other was clearly ‘somebody’. I felt I should know/recognise this second individual but have not been able to place him or establish who he was. I gather he was a Courtier; small, very dapper/distinguished, smartly dressed in expensive looking blue shirt & chinos with tan leather brogues, slicked back silver hair, smart watch – not your average vendangeur !! These guys were in 2 vehicles; a ubiquitous large white van and a VW Touran SUV for Mr Smart. As we prepared to start Alain Noellat arrived and I overheard a conversation with our ‘guests’ along the lines of 15 cases & 1 piece (pronounce ‘piess’ !). The rows we were about to pick were definitely not the one’s we’d picked last year so I assumed Gilles reference meant that the ‘Bulgarians’ had done those rows. Instead, the rows we were about to tackle were more towards Vougeot, still ‘Le Treux’ though as Alain confirmed to me at lunchtime. The visitors had brought their own, common, plastic cases of the type I was familiar with from Arlaud but there was no stencil name identifying on the cases. Mr Smart disappeared in his VW as we started. As we picked our porteurs emptied their panniers into the cases which were loaded one by one into the white van. This went on until 15 cases had been filled post which the van departed but we carried on picking, presumably for the domaine. An interesting ‘diversion’ occurred early on as we picked in that a large hot air balloon came over us from behind us as it were i.e the higher ground/slope. It was pretty low, moving quite smartly on the morning breeze, in a NNE direction. My photos of the balloon might have been pretty good had the camera settings not been askew, drat it. Typical !

Balloon over Echezeaux c8.00 a.m.

Balloon over Echezeaux c8.00 a.m.

Noellat Team departing Echezeaux

Echezeaux Fruit

Noellat Team Casse-Croute Echezeaux

After the highly (to me at least) interesting Echezeaux ‘diversion’ and enjoyable casse-croute ‘refuel’ we got into the vehicles, crossing back through Vosne, towards NSG and the village plot we’d been working in late one afternoon in 2019 when we’d been ‘caught’ by a biblical almost heavy rain storm with thunder & lightning, then just making it to the vehicles to avoid a proper drenching. What a difference a year makes weather wise – this year hardly being more different ! I’ve just tried to work out which terroir this plot of village is. I can’t be sure but believe it must be one of Aux Allots, La Petite Charmotte or Au Chouillet. Bit vague I know, sorry ! A relaxed pick of this NSG, good grapes, took us to lunch. Back at the domaine I tried to establish with Alain Noellat whom we’d been picking the Ech grapes for. Alain is pretty open and would have told me I think but I couldn’t make myself understood – or so it seemed. He did confirm my understanding 15 cases = 1 piece and that was what had been sold. I jokingly suggested ‘good for cash flow’ to which Alain agreed & laughed. I’ve never had a ‘duff’ lunch at Noellat but today’s was a rather good one. To start, as nice a piece (piece of, not ‘piess’ !) of jambon persille as I reckon I’ve had. To follow rabbit with small roast potatoes and green beans. Fromage to follow then an ice cream – very satisfying !

Menu for 05092020

Lunch Main 05092020 – Rabbit, Roast Potatoes & Green Beans

Lunch for Jean-Claude team (mine)

Afternoon initially saw two more plots of NSG Village, one of which was the one from last year who’s lower edge is up against the rear of domestic properties fronting the RN974. I believe we must have been in Aux Tuyaux, failing which Aux Athees. A short way to our left were pickers from another domaine but not close enough for any interaction & finding out who they might be. From mid afternoon we moved north again to outside the south side of Chambolle and the gently rising slope towards, just around the top corner of the hill, Musigny. We must, I think, have been in ‘Les Gueripes’ but, whatever, the soil here is nice and fine. I was in good form here, and gradually drew away from my colleagues except having to come back for bucket emptying, such that frustratingly at the point ‘time’ was called for the day I was only yards off the end of the row/top of the hill. And, guess what ? My team never came back to finish what we’d started so I didn’t get any ‘benefit’ of my efficiency.

Noellat Sub Team 1 in NSG Village

Noellat Team in NSG Village

Chambolle Village view towards La Combe

Chambolle (pic too poor to work out where !)

I missed the evening meal as I had a ‘date’ in Beaune ! The town was surprisingly (to me) busy. I just managed to find a parking space on the ‘Peripherique’ which wasn’t too far away from my destination. Bars and restaurants were packed looking and lively. Plenty of folk strolling along were mask wearing but social distancing didn’t see to apply. Nice evening at Bill’s was a change from the norm – the wines broached have been covered by Bill in his “some weekend wines – obviously” Diary entry of Sept 7th. I was very happy with the tasty showing of the Arlaud 2000 Clos de la Roche and confess I didn’t ‘get’ any brett. The Bouchard 2015 Chassagne 1er En Remilly was of great interest as I’ve been much intrigued since Bill highlighted this terroir/wine, and with purchase of a bottle or three at Bouchard’s on my agenda post vendange completion. Finally, the Bertagna was another really good 1996 (love that vintage); the first ever Bertagna and Vougeot 1er cru I can personally recall tasting. Happily being ignored by some gendarmes standing by their car as I pulled away from my evening’s parking spot it was back to Vosne ahead of Day 4 with perhaps the biggest nightmare I’ve had in my vendange career to come (maybe other than October 2013’s Hautes-Cotes freeze fest for Arlaud) !

Vougeot lower grapes case on lorry

Domaine Michel Noellat et Fils, Vosne-Romanee – Vendange Day Two, Friday 4th Sept 2020

Am actually, typing this 17th Sept, back at home in the UK having left Burgundy very early last Sunday. Apologies for the delay since my last missive but various distractions, needs etc getting home & not been feeling too great the last couple of days – albeit no Covid symptoms ! Now, that I’m both at home, and in ‘enforced’ quarantine until the 27th I should be able to accelerate my ‘output’ to fully cover the vendange, and what turned out to be a very pleasant couple of days ‘me time’ afterwards.

But, for now, our Noellat vendange second day continued to follow a similar pattern to 2019s. A delight to have the room to myself and be able to ‘spread out’ my stuff, but in disciplined fashion I made sure I made my bed each morning. Normal start on the Noellat premises ‘forecourt’, grabbing a coffee from the machine in the large room we dined in last year, then waiting for everyone to arrive. Routine sees the team leader chauffeurs taken first thing to the cuverie on the RN 74 where the mini buses are parked overnight to then return in said vehicles to collect the rest of us and gear. A new feature for this year for each vehicle & sub team (4) is a cool box containing bottles of water (Vittel & Badoit) and bottles of white wine for both casse-croute lubrication and other lubrication thro the day. Into the vehicles are also loaded the porteur’s pannier and the requisite number of buckets we need. We’d been allocated our secateurs at the Day One ‘initiation’, with responsibility to retain these through the vendange and hand in at final day completion. Woe betide anyone losing their tool ! For myself, my personal equipment includes camera (the tough, robust, Canon G16 I’ve had now since 2012), gloves (gardening type although I also had rubber gloves with me but didn’t use those), and my invaluable knee pads. I’m quite in awe of those who don’t wear gloves and also long surprised more of my colleagues don’t use knee pads – but maybe I spend more time on my knees !

This vendange became notable for me with the settled weather – this morning was no exception. No great chill even first thing and, whilst initially an extra layer or two’s clothing might be judicious, once ‘hard at it’ one soon needed to get down to just tee shirt or the one top. So, 7.30 a.m. and off we go ! Not ‘that’ early as my 9 years at Domaine Arlaud always saw Herve Arlaud determined that we’d be in the vines before 7.30, invariably before any other domaine.

Early morn Vougeot arrival

Vougeot 1

Faiveley Vougeot gate

Team Jean-Claude assessing options

Vougeot lower part grapes

Lower Vougeot grapes 1

My sub team in Vougeot Dessus

Lower Vougeot grapes 3

Vougeot casse-croute break

Destination Vougeot, this year to start with the bottom section of the two parcels Noellat have here (2019 we started with the top section). Vehicles parked on the widish section of verge where the road from the village joins the RN74 (see photo if Bill includes). Entry to the Clos was, if memory serves, via the Faiveley gate. My second layer jumper was removed in the first row as it was already becoming hot, hot, hot with no breeze at all to speak of. Grapes looking pretty good, my grabbed photos maybe not doing overall justice. It was post Vougeot later that a theory formed in my mind that for this dry and hot year maybe those lower lying terroirs, and/or with heavier, more water retentive soils, would benefit notably to lighter earth terroirs. There was no shortage of grape volume in this lower part of Vougeot. Casse-croute break, just inside the wall, followed completion of the lower section Vougeot picking before embarking en vehicule to loop around the southern section through the edge of Grand Echezeaux to enter the upper part of the Clos through gap in the wall onto track which takes one ultimately to the buildings. From our mini bus as we skirted along the wall pre-entry I was shocked to see a static Harvesting Machine with support van on the other side of the wall in the Clos. I never thought I’d see a Harvesting Machine in a grand cru – maybe I’m naïve. I’ve no idea who might have been employing it – my Landrieu-Lussigny & Pitiot Climats & Lieux-Dits ‘bible’ listing over 60 producers presenting a harvest Clos de Vougeot declaration for in 2011. If I had to have a guess though, and hope I’m not doing the gentleman a disservice, my suspicion would fall on Gerard Raphet as I’d seen him using a Harvesting Machine in Chambolle Bussieres a few years ago, surprised then, when (hand) picking close by for Arlaud.

Picking the upper section parcel of Vougeot passed without incident or note. Grapes not as abundant though as in the lower section.

Disembarking to pick Vougeot Haut section

Bourgogne Fruit a.m 4th Sept

Bourgogne Row looking upslope

Bourgogne Fruit a.m 4th Sept

Wasp nest on Bourgogne Vine

Menu 4th Sept

Once out of Vougeot we travelled only a relatively short distance south before, probably below/opposite Vosne Chalandins or Aux Ormes, heading off towards the railway line, coming initially right to the fence before heading maybe half way back towards the main road before disembarking to tackle a parcel ( 2 passes made) of Bourgogne Rouge (or similar designation) which would take us up to and into lunchtime. This BR parcel was notable for what was to be repeated elsewhere namely a material weight of foliage (leaves etc). I did wonder if the canopy had been kept ‘heavy’ particularly to shield the crop from the sun but never established if the case. Whatever, it was akin to tackling a jungle, in addition to which the weight/volume of grapes was substantial. Everywhere was very dry. I definitely hadn’t come to this plot in 2019 or anywhere near to it so it was ‘new’. Just before we finished here my colleague, Patrick, in the next row called my attention to something at the top of a vine along the top wire. This was a small, wild wasps nest with a few wasps buzzing on it. A first for me in 13 harvests (see photo). Fatigued by the ‘war’ in battling through the above our team was the last back for lunch ! Menu for lunch & dinner is as per the photo but a pretty good lunch !

A late return for lunch saw a later p.m start and thus shorter afternoon session which was solely Nuits-St-Georges Aux Boudots who’s northern boundary is, of course, Aux Malconsorts. Boudots had made a deep (positive !) impression on me in 2019. Topography, terroir and ambience were really nice such that this swiftly became a favourite personal site joining such as Clos St Denis and Vosne Petit-Monts. We must, as a full team, have been split as my photos show only two mini buses rather than four. Where the others went I didn’t establish although I now suspect maybe a plot of Nuit-St-Georges Village as when we tackled other parcels of NSG Village on Day 3 such did not include all of those we’d ‘done’ in 2019. Boudots required two passes, one upslope and one down, punctuated by a lengthy drinks break as the afternoon was extremely hot with my scribbling that evening ‘thirsty like never before’ !!! I was developing a serious liking for Badoit sparkling water, and amusing my fellow team members by calling it ‘Badoit Grand Cru l’eau’.

About to commence NSG Boudots p.m 4th Sept

Jean-George near top of NSG Boudots

NSG Boudots Fruit

Vosne from NSG Boudots

From NSG Boudots downslope to Au Bas de Combe & Aux Reas

Noellat Sub Teams x 2 at topof NSG Boudots

Post Boudots back to the domaine for the evening rituals:- gear cleaning, shower time (then for me), photo downloading/editing (ideally with a beer), before evening meal & so to bed. Meal this evening had, unusually, Croque-Monsieur for the main course which seemed a bit of a cop out for our talented chef but a good Croque it was too. One of my fellow lodgers, big a regular for a few years, is highly likeable Thibault, a youngish, always cheerful, big guy. Thibault has a prodigious appetite such that he’s always offered 2nd or 3rd helpings by the likes of Madam Noellat and I’ve never known him refuse. Where he puts his nosh goodness only knows !! On this occasion I reckon he must have eaten at least 4 Croques if not more ! We had a fun debate this harvest when I asked Thibault, with others present, if he’d ever seen the American TV program, Man Versus Food. Turned out he had & was much amused at my suggestion he might be the star of a French version !

And so to bed before Day 3 with an Echezeaux conundrum.

Domaine Michel Noellat et Fils, Vosne-Romanee – Vendange Day One, Thurs 3rd Sept 2020

Decent sleep in my sole occupier room on basic single bed after the long travelling to get here. I was up and about by 6.30 a.m. not sure what time precisely the ‘action’ would start. On any first day there always seems to be some extra time taken re admin & everyone familiarising themselves with each other, what we’re going to do and how/when.

I was one of the first to gather on the domaine premises forecourt, availing myself of a black coffee from the machine in the large room just left inside the gates (which is the normal dining room without Covid) to go with my brought with me Cadbury’s breakfast bar (other breakfast bars are available !). More folk gradually arrived until the area from domaine building, under the awning covering dining tables, and to the gate was covered by non socially distancing milling folk. I quickly recognised and acknowledged, as they did me, any number of faces from last year – not just the fellow lodgers from the prior evening but family/management, cuverie employees, and locals who would bolster the lodging pickers. I’ll come to mask wearing later in this piece when I cover Covid more generally.

Initially though, what we were all wating for, as happened last year but then in the bottling/storage room to the rear of the garage, was ‘the announcement’. As last year this was largely given by Sophie Noellat but with her brother, winemaker Sebastian, stood alongside in support (see photo) whilst father, Alain, held himself to one side. Being ‘caught out’ last year, then not realising I was allocated to one of several sub teams, I paid somewhat more attention this time (!) albeit a very good deal of what was said passed me by as outside my limited French vocabulary & spoken too quickly ! Sophie is a brilliant person. I can honestly say I don’t believe I’ve ever met someone so constantly cheerful, bubbly, and the rest. ‘Glass half full’ might have been a saying coined for her except her glass seems full all the time ! For me the added bonus is her English is excellent. How she juggles being a mother of two very young boys (oldest just starting primary school), domaine admin with her mother, and winemaking with her brother goodness only knows. Her husband (first name escapes me), another sunny disposition cheery type, is from the Sirugue family (Domaine Robert Sirugue – situate just down the road at the top of the Avenue du Monument). Brother Sebastian is a laid back, quietish, big solid citizen, thoughtful type, except when with his cuverie team when he becomes more ‘one of the lads’. One might be hard pressed to realise he’s the main winemaker – I’ve never seen him in garb other than working trousers and tee shirt.

Main outcome for me from the announcement was to have my name called as a member of sub team Equipe No 1, team leader/porter/mini bus chauffeur Jean-Claude Franchini (‘JCF’), with the rest of the team two ‘mature’ ladies and five other equally mature men. Three of the latter were known to me from last year, if not well, as we were then in different teams. In time though we would prove to be as quick & efficient as any of the three other sub teams, if not the quickest. Big plus that I knew JCF well from rooming together last year. All the 4 teams would have their own rental mini bus, and would dine together with a table plan. We even had allocated seats in the mini buses which we had to ‘stick to’. I could only construe this was for any potential Covid track & trace. In terms of Covid this must have caused the domaine (and others) a great deal of admin angst and cost. I’ve already mentioned lodger room occupancy, eating outside, using our own eco cups, and having a mask allocation. Laminated signs re Covid best practices such as mask wearing, sanitising, hand washing etc are sticky tape attached all over the place i.e to doors, stairwells, walls in front of wash basins, on the windows of the mini buses, on the serving tables at meal times to name the areas I can recall. My room has its own bottle of sanitiser and such are readily available around the domaine premises. Frankly, I cannot see the domaine could do more yet operate half way effectively.

Mask wearing – hum, where to start ! At least we don’t have to wear in the vines whilst picking although one or two individuals seem to have them permanently under their chin !!! Essentially, we are required (must) to wear masks in two scenarios:- 1) when we’re in the mini buses (presumably as we cannot social distance thereto); and 2) at meal times when we approach the servers for our food. The food serving is a change from the norm as historically we’ve had ‘waitress’ service but now we are required to approach serving tables manned by Isabel Noellat and her two helpers whilst wearing our masks & they also wear theirs. It makes sense to also wear masks otherwise when mixing with others e.g the early morning gathering but I wish I could say this was adhered to. It isn’t, but further, there’s a whole range of bizarre mask wearing (or part wearing !!) practices which make little or no sense and make the wearers look ‘daft’. You might note various mask wearing examples from some of my photos 😉. I could name names re inappropriate mask use but had better not as I don’t know who might read this & don’t wish to offend or get into ‘trouble’ !

Ok, enough preamble & Covid – lets get down to action i.e what we’re here for !

What followed for the rest of the day in picking & terroir terms was generally an action replay of 2019 ! From Sophie’s announcement, and gathering in our teams we made through the garage, into the bottling cum store room to the rear, exiting the latter into village vines behind the domaine building which in turn stretch down to the buildings on the RN74 – in our case the rear of the Noellat cuverie. We obtained a pair of the familiar red handled small secateurs (to remain with us throughout the vendange) and bucket from our team leader/porter and, being allocated a row each were ready to start snipping our first grapes. For me an initial rustiness quickly goes and years of ‘practice’ & knowing how bunches attach takes over to ‘get one going’. Steadily picking up the pace I found myself at this early stage stretching out a small gap to the others but paced myself not to get too far ahead as we needed to remain largely aligned with each other across the rows for bucket emptying on ‘pannier’ command from our porteur, or alternatively one of us initiating the bucket emptying process with same call. Grapes looked pretty good from what I’d heard. Usual mix of some vines being more productive than others. Here, none were particularly heavily laden to almost fill a bucket from one vine but I recalled the same from last year i.e the ground, clone(s), vine age. The ground was very, very dry though reflecting the long, hot summer and what little rain had fallen pre vendange had done little to change. We worked steadily downhill, well it’s not really a hill, just a very gentle slope, towards the cuverie rear wall. Our new team pleasingly arrived amongst the first whereupon we ‘downed tools’ for our first casse-croute break – these were to occur every morning around 9.30 a.m. as a rest with food & drink between start & lunch (latter always taken around 12.00).

The Noellat casse-croute break is quite something ! Enormous sandwiches are pre-prepared & wrapped in cling film. These are akin to half a baguette with filling which might be any of jambon, saucisson or pate. A small piece of baguette sits loosely on top which one might choose to fill with one of the various small wrapped processed cheese e.g Babybel which are on offer. Additionally small pieces of chocolate round matters of if one so desires ! The large baguette sandwich provides quite a work out for one’s jaw, teeth & gums ! One row done we shifted positions to start fresh rows going ‘upslope’ back towards the domaine buildings rear. After that I think we might have helped out a lagging team or collectively finished any outstanding rows but such took us to lunch.

Sophie-Sebastian-Noellat-issue-Vendange-Instructions-Rules

Teams-gather-for-1st-pick-to-Vosne-Village-to-rear-of-domaine-premises

Vosne-Village-from-domaine-premises-rear-towards-cuverie-on-RN74

Team-1-consider-Vosne-Village-start-options

Vosne-Village-grapes-they-got-better

Noellat-Team-1st-casse-croute2-en-Vosne-Villages

Noellat-Vosne-Village-1st-morning-grapes

Here (lunch) we found Covid had led to each sub team being allocated its own table for the duration with seating plan – laminate on the table to illustrate the same (see photo). We didn’t sit rigorously to the seating plan, for instance I found myself at the head, or base, of the table at the edge of the awning which remained my position for the vendange. Each table would commonly be pre set to include large bottles of Vittel & Badoit water with a bottle of white wine which would be an Aligote or sometimes a 2017 Savigny Village Blanc. I’ve tried to remember to photo each day’s lunch & evening menu laminate but we’d routinely have entrée, mains (fish or meat), cheese, and a dessert (might be an ice cream, yogurt, or cake. Nice piece of salmon today was an excellent start ! The Noellat’s employ their own ex-professional retired chef who I gather has worked c14 vendanges and lives in on the premises. He’s a cheerful guy & does a great job – we’re lucky.

Post lunch our first sortie into our allocated rental mini buses – ours a metallic grey Renault Trafic which looked like it had had a hard life (which would get harder !). As mentioned a seating plan applied and was observed (me on the outside of the first of two rear rows of seats & hence responsible for sliding door opening & closing) as, impressively, was mask wearing. If one forgot one’s mask a ‘subtle’ reminder would emanate from one of the others ! Our first mobile destination was another ‘action replay’ from 2019 i.e. we crossed the village going north, past many well known domaines including DRC, looped around the village cemetery wall and just beyond it disembarked for another section of village cutting. Nothing remarkable here & once done we moved a short distance to a plot fronting the RN74, not quite as far along as the Arlaud plot by the Avenue du Monument I know well. This took us to our day’s finish on a warm, dry, day which marked the vendange.

Back to base I wondered about bucket cleaning. In 2019 teams had been allocated a turn at the end of each day to clean buckets, secateurs and porter back packs. That arrangement seemed to have gone by the wayside for 2020. Instead a voluntary group of the lodgers, to include your’s truly did the business. What was new, and a spiffing idea I’d not come across before but kudos to the originator, was a 700 litre greenish fibreglass rectangular tank which came up to my waist. This was filled with water by hosepipe and as many buckets as possible were put in and left to soak for a short while. Was good how quickly the buckets came clean without much brush action which could be added if required, the pressure of dunking and pulling out seeming enough to remove stickiness and debris. The buckets were then stacked pyramid wise along the wall to dry before the next morning. The porteurs containers Philippe from our team cleaned with the hosepipe whilst we did the buckets. Philippe is an engaging little individual. From Villefranche, Beaujolais he’s one of those with leathery, deeply tanned skin from a working life outdoors, and one of those also with rolled up cigarette almost permanently stuck to his bottom lip. His smoking was readily apparent in the occasional bouts of from deep within coughing. Philippe was one of us particularly ‘challenged’ by mask wearing, not that he didn’t wear his, just it very, very rarely made it upwards beyond his top lip!

Once gear cleaning down to include one’s own gloves, knee pads, footwear etc just enough time for a shower, change then brief period for aperitif socialising (and/or in my case photo downloading, editing, captioning or word typing) before our evening meal. No formal seating plan here as there were only us lodgers, the Noellats and one or two of the cuverie team. We commonly had the same water as lunch, white wine and red – the latter could be any village e.g Fixin, Chambolle or MSD and sometimes a premier cru e.g Savigny Peuillets.

And so to bed ! Day Two to come and our first Grand Cru in two parts – guess ?

Noellat-Day-1-Salmon-Gratin-etc-lunch

Noellat-Team-disembark-for-Vosne-Village-past-cemetery

Vosne-Village-p.m.-1st-pick-fruit

Noellat-Team-disembark-for-2nd-p.m.-Vosne-Villaage-by-RN74

All the photos from Mark…

Domaine Michel Noellat et Fils, Vosne-Romanee – Vendange Arrival Day, Weds 2nd Sept 2020

Bonjour tout le monde 😊. C’est moi – at last. Firstly an apology this will have taken several days post the ‘day’ for your delectation. I can’t promise timings might improve but, trust me, I have very little spare time, seems way less than usual which baffles me a bit but later I might give a breakdown of an atypical Marko vendange day – to put off even more anyone thinking about being crazy enough to emulate me. Then there’s the wifi access. Hearteningly my laptop picked up the Noellat wifi from last year as soon as I got into their wine shop (closed for the vendange) – isn’t modern tech wonderful ? To get there, within wifi range, I have to go through the Noellat office as usually occupied by Madame ‘delightful cum charming’ Isabel Noellat. I won’t abuse by entering without permission as has happened once already as there was no one about to ask even though I could have walked through.

Well though, I’ve made it to Vosne in these strange and weird times we’re living in – despite Covid 19, quarantines, threats of government tit for tats on opposing quarantines, some own non virus health issues which might yet be an issue, overnight motorway part closures etc etc.

My 13th vendange ! Unlucky for some ? Could that be an omen ? Or just a coincidence in the year of Covid !

My 22.50 p.m. late night departure from my North West England home en route to Burgundy was smooth after a day of chores, last minute shopping, packing and a largely failed attempt to get my head down for 4/5 hours prior. Double espresso to aid staying awake was my parting shot. All initially smooth with motorway traffic very light, mostly trunking lorries, which aided use of cruise control. I’d bolstered the in car CD selection with a 10 box set of The Robin Trower Band (recently acquired), a box set of all Springsteen’s well known albums, Pink Floyds ‘A Momentary Lapse of Reason’, and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Anthology. Initially though I listened to the UK’s Talksport Radio discussing soccer transfer possibilities, some fan phone in chat, and updates on European Club player moves, the latter dominated by debate on Lionel Messi’s current scenario and, when the radio reception started to get a bit ‘fuzzy’, I switched to the CD in the car’s player – Dire Straits Greatest Hits. That chap Knopfler sure can play !

With Bill initially suggesting to me our paths would not cross this year given our differing harvest timings I’d decided not to bring any wines this time, mindful also a bottle I’d brought last year had ‘disappeared’ (I’m quite sure stolen), but when a late advice from M.Nanson indicated a potential weekend possibility to meet up I added 3 bottles to my luggage – more of those as and when.

My BMW M Sport Touring is a very efficient, comfortable and impressive motorway ‘mile eater’, with this its 4th or 5th trip to Burgundy, All was going swimmingly as we progressed south in the nightime until flashing motorway signs at the lower end of the UK’s M40 indicated the dreaded, during the night, closure at junctions 1-2, where I should be joining the M25 to loop around the south side of London prior to joining the M20 (via the M26) towards the Channel Tunnel/Dover Ferry Port. As a departure from my longstanding Burgundy travel norm this year I’d decided to ‘take’ the Tunnel crossing option. Historically this has had a significant premium cost to the ferry option to cause me to favour the latter but now the gap had closed significantly to a mere £20 (I gather the ferries losing money in 2020 is the cause of their increased prices) such that I decided to choose the tunnel for the first time in more than 20 yrs – potential Covid issues also a consideration with one staying in one’s car on the Tunnel train seemingly ‘safer’.

En France, disembarking the tunnel train so easy/quick, I joined the autoroute network in a misty early a.m. Pas de Calais for a leisurely cruise to Vosne. With no time pressures (we were required to be there as last year by 18.30) I could keep the speed down (unlike many others, wow do some speed !) and stop regularly for odd own packed refreshment & much needed regular exercise. I should maybe explain here I’ve been ‘suffering’ for some months with lower left sided issues akin to a groin strain, trapped nerve, & akin to sciatica but a couple of weeks pre-Burgundy departure I had a ‘light bulb’ moment my problems might be left hip arthritis related. After comparing symptoms with a neighbour who has had a hip replacement, and my 86 yr old Mother who has had 4, I consulted my Doctor who readily agreed to refer me for hip & pelvic x rays – booked for my return from France. Long distance driving & getting in & out of a low slung car didn’t help my issues but eventually, after a very warm day en route, and circa 3 or 4 stops (one for petrol station forecourt windscreen cleaning) I joyously exited the auto route at Nuits St Georges and headed for Vosne. It’s a bit of a challenge solo in a right hand drive car at the peage tolls, needing to get out of the car, all the more difficult for me in my current state but drivers behind me were patient at my limping form and generally smiled at my waving apologies. One older couple who were very nice must have been put off a bit as when I drove away I could see in my rear view mirror that the peage barrier came down on their car’s bonnet. I felt quite guilty but could also see they quickly reversed slightly so hope no harm done !

Very warm & sunny on the Cote. I saw very few signs of in the vine activity between NSG & Vosne which was ‘interesting’. I’d noted similar apparent lack of activity on the Champagne slopes around Epernay which can often be my benchmark but it’s a little harder to see now the Autoroute is further away from the above hills than it used to be. And so to Vosne, turning off the RN74 by Fabrice Vigot’s premises (no signs of life !), into the Rue de la Fontaine. All quiet at circa 14.00 hrs at the Noellat premises as well; very quiet ! I called out for no response before entering the garage premises, above & part of which are our accommodation. All looked as last year other than the obvious and prolific Covid precautions e.g all sorts of notices, bottles of hand sanitiser etc etc. The communal dorm with capacity of 12 only had 6 names posted to its door, one of whom was one of my room mates from last year, Jean-Claude Franchini. The sinks and shower room looked smart and clean, indeed the former looked new. Going down the corridor to the individual rooms the second I came to, confusingly numbered ‘No 4’, had just my name on it !!! Wow, room to myself, when last year I shared with 2 x Jean-Claude’s. In summary of 4/5 rooms only one had two occupants posted, all the others had single occupancy. Quite a significant drop in lodgers from last year – presumably ‘you know what’ related – either by folk choosing not to come and/or the Noellats limiting due to Covid requirements. Whatever, I wasn’t complaining at a room with 3 beds to myself ! Returning to the road front of the property and the frontage I called again to be answered this time by one of the regular ladies who help, in this case the charming, always cheerful, wife of Sebastian Noellat. Warm greetings, at suitable distance, exchanged when she then went and got a ‘sign on’ sheet and some ‘gifts’ for me (which everyone staying or working as a local got later) which consisted of a) a brown envelope with enough disposable masks for 2 a day use during the vendange; and b) a plastic ‘eco type’ cup from the Gevrey 2020 St Vincent Tournante with a black rubberised holder and clip to attach to one’s clothing or similar suitable place. The ‘idea’ for use of this cup was to avoid the use of the likes of shared plastic cups when having a casse-croute break or simple drinks refreshments (many if hot !) in the vines. Neat ! I was also less ‘excitingly’ given a bedding pack of top sheet & blanket to add to the pillow and bottom sheet already on the bed. I was glad I’d ignored arriving nearer to the advised 18.30 (when I did that last year it seemed everyone arrived before me !) , and indeed this time seemed first as it meant I could take my time over unloading & unpacking my gear.

Once I’d done the latter, well satisfied with individual room etc, I sauntered en voiture down to the cuverie, just right off the Avenue du Monument, fronting the RN74 next door to Domaine Guyon’s. Quite a hive of (limited in personnel numbers) activity – quell surprise (or maybe not !). More warm greetings from both Sebastian & Sophie Noellat at the ‘working’ in use triage table out front in the cuverie yard under ‘tent awning’ albeit it was paused between cases throughput so good timing on my part. What followed next I hadn’t bargained for, nor was I really dressed for as still in my travelling clothes ! Sophie asked me if I’d join in the triage – there only seemed 2 other guys present in addition to her & her brother. She explained that the Domaine had started its vendange that morning with their vines in Savigny – village & premier cru. I didn’t ask who was picking the grapes but to me seemed obvious they were using another contract team as last year – which, with slight sinking feeling on my part, didn’t bode well for experiencing the likes of the Vosne 1er crus, the absence of which so disappointed me last year. Hum !

I could hardly refuse the triage request ! I was there to work and, other than roaming around (quite attractive though that was !), I had nothing else to do/planned albeit a shower and rest after my long & through the night drive might have been nice ! It was years since I’d very fleetingly triaged just the once at Arlaud. I might have had a go at Dubreuil-Fontaine, Pernand in 2009 but can’t remember. I guess though its like riding a bike or learning to swim ! If there was any danger me triaging it would likely be a temptation to too slow/thorough! Anyway, suitably armed, off we went with another batch of Savigny grapes, with more soon arriving en camion. I must have been doing things right as I wasn’t advised otherwise (!) but the inevitable happened after 5 minutes when I inadvertently cut the right side top of my thumb – good start (not !). I wasn’t aware initially until just happening to notice blood which flowed for quite a while although the cut wasn’t large or painful ! And so we continued through the afternoon, one case following another, with table stops between. Much as Bill has already noted in his own professional vendange diary posts the grapes were generally clean. I also saw little or no rot – maybe 2 examples which a clued up picker might have triaged in the vines. There were quite a few examples also of ‘frazzled’, burnt, shrivelled grapes. Quite amusing was Sebastian N moving full triaged (fibreglass) cases of grapes to stainless tanks in the smaller of the two cuverie chambers. The issue here was the height the ceiling, the height of the tank, and getting the lifted case in the perfect cum necessary position to allow dumping the grapes into the tank. Initially, watching SN moving the forklift I didn’t notice his guided help ! Behind the tank in question though was a very small, squarish window, just about wide enough for a human head, and almost shoulders to fit through. SN’s partner in teamwork crime here was a young Portuguese guy who has seemingly become a cuverie, possibly mentored, employee (not sure if permanent or temp). Seems wherever SN goes his ‘helper’ (who’s never without his straw hat !) goes too e.g they always arrive together for mealtimes. With much shouted higher/lower, left/right type guidance from above they eventually satisfied themselves, with some watching trepidation on my part, they could release the grapes ! I photo’d some of all this hence maybe Bill will include a picture to accompany words.

I can’t recall how long my impromptu triage continued but at some stage towards late afternoon a halt was called for the day and we returned to the Rue de la Fontaine. By now it seemed pretty much every lodger had arrived or was arriving. All were familiar, no new faces. There was no evident surprise at me being there – almost that was expected. The evening passed convivially, with aperitifs, before we sat down on the property forecourt under another large white ‘tent’/awning joined by the rest of the Noellat family i.e mother & father. It was quite clear our vendange meals were to be en plein air – one could only wonder at the ‘what if’ should it rain ! I’d had a quick peak earlier into the large room we’d had our meals in last year & had noted it was in no way set up for meal or other vendange team use – other than tripping in & out first thing to use the coffee machine.

So endeth arrival day ! Tomorrow my 2nd Noellat vendange would commence in earnest. In my Day One proper notes to come, a day which turned out remarkably like 2019’s, I’ll also cover (get out of the way !) Covid ‘stuff’ – some amusing, mostly serious. MdMdlV

Noellat Triage Table Action p.m. 020920

Delish cold beer o’clock 020920

Positioning crate to commence contents triage (2)

Noellat Savigny Goudelettes awaiting triage p.m. 020920

Noellat Savigny Village triaged grapes awaiting move to tank

Stage 2 of moving Savigny Village grapes to tank – note window helper

Domaine Michel Noellat et Fils, Vosne-Romanee – Vendange Day Eight, Thurs 24th Sept 2019

The last official working day of the 2019 vendange for the picking team and one with a difference, in location, for the majority of the day at least. I was, at last, to also find out today why we hadn’t, to my slight frustration cum disappointment, picked any of the domaine’s Vosne premier crus, nor Savigny or Pommard vines – but that came much later in the day so hang on a little !
The first absolute confirmation I think now I had that today was indeed to be our collective last day came from fellow snorer room mate, and other sub team leader/chauffeur/porteur, Jean-Claude1, who mentioned it as we roused ourselves. In the same conversation the other member of our room triumvirate, Jean-Claude2, mentioned he’d be ‘shooting off’ later ( I understood at the end of the working day) & was gone after lunch, without staying for the Paulee (first tangible mention I’d heard of that also) as he was meeting his daughter somewhere else in France that evening.

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Domaine Michel Noellat et Fils, Vosne-Romanee – Vendange Days Six, Tues 24th Sept 2019 & Seven Weds 25th Sept 2019

Apologies for the delay for this piece following on from Day Five – all down to me, nowt (Northern Egland dialect word = ‘nothing’) to do with our illustrious web site owner (okay – a bit, Bill!) I’ve been majorly distracted by dealing with a quasi incompetent insurance loss assessor re the previously mentioned water leak to our domestic property and also taking as much advantage as possible from the window of very nice & dry autumnal weather here in North West England to get gardens, exterior etc tidy & ready for winter.

So, with thanks for the patience, am combining days six & seven here, largely as it seems to make sense, that rationale down to day seven being a ‘bit’ of a non-event. Indeed, am struggling to recall much about it (!) other than it was nothing other than a Bourgogne terroir type day, all day. I didn’t even take any photos of day seven either which I can recall being down to two aspects, namely:- 1) what we were doing was not compelling enough in any way to prompt me to get the camera out; and 2) the weather was also ‘iffy’. So, only photos of day six to go with these words, and not ‘that many’ of those – for the same sort of reasons as above.

Without getting too far ahead of myself, day six started out grey, chilly, and clammy with that sort of mist draping the Cote the locals refer to as brouillard (fog). Brouillard is definitely a word I’ve only learnt from my vendanges; seau = bucket (or vice versa!) being another one – serious stuff hey ! The above weather sort of persisted for the rest of the day, or at least until lunchtime/just after, and we also had drizzly, semi-persistent, on & off rain, but not of the volume to mean temporary or other cessation of activities. I’d been told before even coming to Burgundy that the Noellat vendange duration would a week, and I’d heard that reiterated to others after I arrived – so, not too long to go it seemed. As a ‘dampener’ for the commencement of day six I also had a ‘bit of a head’ (!) from fine wine consumption from the evening of day five dinner as well as staying up too late – served me right I guess !

Off we went en vehicule, on to the RN974, seemingly in the Fixin sort of direction, but as we cruised past that village still on the main road then one could only deduce our destination must perhaps be Marsannay (or to properly give it its full name:- Marsannay-la-Cote). Deduction confirmed as we eventually turned left off the main road on to the D108 up towards the village. I’ve never had cause to venture into the centre of Marsannay before (unlike Fixin) but it looked very appealing & definitely worthy of future investigation. Fingers crossed by me we weren’t heading for any below village ‘boring’ flatlands but quickly became clear we were absolutely not – quite the contrary ! Instead we drove into the heart of the village with bit of jiggery pokery right/left then seeing us continue upwards through and out still on the D108, buildings/habitation gradually being left behind. As we’d passed through the village centre I was intrigued to see those small brown ‘tourist type’ signs with direction arrows & producer domaine’s names on; recall noting Bruno Clair, Bart, & Fougeray de Beauclair amongst others. Our destination was to quite a small section of vines on the northern side of the road, just as the D108 curved quite tightly right and also climbed quite steeply (for trucks, cyclists) uphill – a little further on coming to a section of three bends – the next habitation thereafter some way on seemingly being Corcelles-les-Monts. My ‘Climats & Lieux-Dits’ book suggests the vines we were to ‘attack’ to be in the upper section of ‘Ez Chezots (Les Echezeaux)’. We parked, just off the bend to the left, on a stony track with large muddy water filled puddles. No vines on this side with the land just off the road soon giving way to shrubs then woody/forested rising slopes. Amongst the shrubs etc to our right there must be a kennel/kennels, for more than likely hunting dogs (much as there are at one side of Arlaud’s Roncevie), as our alighting from the vehicles, and presumably having the Italian’s dogs with us as usual, prompted a cacophony of barking, whining etc which continued until we finished and left, which didn’t take that long ! The extent of Noellat vines here was small. Situate tucked into the bend of the road and roughly planted not quite north to south meant the rows of vines were uneven in length. It didn’t take us too long at all until we’d ‘done’ these vines such that whilst the yields were ‘average’ I couldn’t help but think the production volume must be modest/small. We certainly did not subsequently receive a bottle of Marsannay in our individual vendangeurs gift boxes (details for a later date !) and I don’t recall any such wine being served to us (I haven’t mentioned or photo’d one have I ?).

So, with some degree of footwear cleaning required, with the parking trackside vegetation and large track puddles helping, we re-embarked and set off for what would be Fixin (again) this time, and what I think was now our third visit, to what I now know was indeed the low lying, flat land, Fixin ‘En Clomee’. Weather still drizzly, dank, grey, overcast – not good ☹. A notable occurrence to come here was one of the worst examples of picking avoidance cheating naughtiness at the expense of your conscientious fellow team members I can ever recall in my vendange working history and which had a highly surprising ‘conclusion’ !

This was to be our last visit to Fixin ‘En Clomee’ and I wasn’t sorry ! It was even less inviting than on previous visits given the weather this day ! I can’t recall now if we took the casse-croute break on arriving from Marsannay and/or how many passes through the vines we made. But, think from photos timings we must have made one, or possibly, two passes before the c-c then a third and final after. Such being the case I reckon the occurrence referred to above happened on our final row pass. For the previous I think we had individual rows allocated or were only doubled up but, as I’ve mentioned re a previous visit to this plot, the rows here are long hence quite energy sapping – not least when one is weighed down by loads of soil/mud attaching to one’s footwear ! Previously I’ve also mentioned that I thought I’d corrected the issue with my camera at close of Day 5 but, looking at the few photos I took this Day 6 morning with blurred elements (apologies !), either I didn’t (correct) until later or the ‘Auto’ setting had been ‘knocked’ again. Whichever pass it was that saw us three to a row (must have been first or last) I was ‘sharing’ an outside, upslope row, with ladies Francoise and Martine – each quite different from the other ! I liked Francoise, our retired teacher from the Jura region. She was/is very pleasant and, for her first vendange, a committed calm & kindly grafter. Martine I’ve mentioned on an earlier day’s report but here she was to disgrace herself in my eyes. We three set off quite normally in our allocated section of the row, between posts and, as anyone who’s worked a vendange will have likely experienced, when one is doubled or tripled up (or more) with others when you’ve picked the vines in your section you ‘leapfrog’ past your colleague(s) and start at another post, they then similarly coming past you when they’ve done – and so it goes on until the row is done. It took me a while to figure what was going on for us three (I’m not the sharpest knife in the box sometimes !) but eventually I noticed two ‘unusual’ aspects. The first was that the vines I was picking after my first section seemed to have very few grapes on compared to previously, and more noticeably what grapes I needed to pick seemed to be in the most awkward locations on the vines i.e low down etc. Whilst I was initially musing on this oddity, continuing to pick, I also realised neither Francoise nor myself had got ahead of, or had passed Martine – very strange. I could hardly take in the rationale for all this but with eventual realisation, namely that not at all speedy Martine was clearly ‘cherry picking’ (or is that bunches of grapes picking) the easy to pick bunches and then quickly moving on. This to me was quite incredible & something I’d never come across in all my 11/12 vendange years experiences. I decided to undertake a ‘little check’ and, leaving my bucket to mark where I was at, I wandered up the row to Martine, excusing myself to squeeze past, then continued a little way to sort of cover/disguise the reason for my ‘ramble’. I didn’t actually see anything tangible at that particular moment but I’d already seen & realised enough ! Team player Martine certainly is/was not. The immediate, somewhat unexpected to me, post script to this came soon after. I can’t recall exactly when now – either at the end of the row or as we embarked vehicles to move off – but, and I think Gilles must have been following matters & my then gaze towards Martine, or thought I was about to discuss with Francoise, but he moved close to me, presumably not be heard, and said, somewhat brusquely/quasi aggressively:- “Be quiet” !!! Needless to say I was rather taken aback but, assessing matters quickly (unusual for me !), decided to say, nor do, anything but keep my counsel. Reflecting subsequently I didn’t believe Gilles’ tone was deliberate, as it seemed, but rather in using English & wanting to speak economically/quickly to me his words came across as above. I guess he was keen to ensure no ‘interference’ in the team dynamic but I was also mindful he and Martine travelled together coming to the domaine daily (presumably he gave her a lift & they also travelled home together) and I was unsure how many vendanges they may/may not have worked together. So, I said nothing more, but it must have been obvious that both Gilles and Martine were aware of what I’d seen/figured out. Either by accident or design I didn’t have to pick close by her for the rest of the vendange which was ‘handy’, nor for whatever reason was she to be present at all on our last day (Day 8 to come) ! I’ve seen some naughty pickers in my time, and some who are notably slow (simply as the way it is) whom I’ve been generally happy to help (I was poor myself once upon a time !) , but I’ve never seen anything so overtly devious as Martine’s practices & hope I never come across again. The inference was also that Gilles was aware of it which I did find ‘disturbing’ hence resolved to ‘keep my distance’ from him for what working time remained other than suitable politeness etc. I can hardly credit I’ve typed this but it was a notable happening.

Eventually we’d done with ‘En Clomee’ and in still iffy weather we embarked transports and moved up the D122e towards, then upwards through the village on the Rue Noisot until, as we came to the Restaurant et Bar a Vins “Au Clos Napoleon” we turned right onto a narrow road past the aforementioned, and then almost immediately right on to the Rue des Hervelets, passing a large property set back within trees, shrubs etc, stopping within yards on the right hand side grass verge. Above us was Fixin 1er cru ‘Les Hervelets’ and a little further along, also above the road, Fixin 1er cru ‘Les Arvelets’. However, our attention was directed at the vines below the road on quite a decent slope, bordered to their right with a fence, and with a large wall along the bottom of the plot (see photos). Little difficult to be precise but now I think we must have been about to descend village climat– I can’t think we’d gone far enough to be in ‘Les Entre-Deux-Velles’. Standing on the roadside looking over and beyond the above premier crus one could see just the top & spire of a church – the Eglise Saint-Martin de Fixin which we were to almost come to when driving away later. We all descended the plot so as to pick upwards, back towards our transport.

My Gilles sub-team ended up on the left side (looking back upwards) of the plot. I moved to the very far left bordered by the fence mentioned above so I had the last/edge row of vines, Francoise being on my inside. We set to with it very quickly becoming apparent within yards that the row of vines I ‘had’ were carrying a very sparse level of fruit – indeed several vines had none at all. Am fairly sure this must have been location and immediate micro climate, affected by the substantial mass (and height) of the trees and shrubs beyond the fence. The inevitable happened, with my wincing inwardly to myself, in that I very quickly was yards ahead of anyone else, with it clearly apparent something ‘dramatic’ would happen if I carried on – even going super slowly ! Initially I contented myself by slowing my progress by picking both left (my row) and right, the row of Francoise. Her row, whilst not affected to the same border extent as mine, also didn’t have overly prolific vines either so we were both moving steadily ahead of anyone else ! I decided to seize the initiative before any potential ‘telling off’ so called to a slightly distant Gilles with the suggestion that I take over Francoises’ row as well as my own – doing both freeing her availability to assist across the rest of the team. Slightly to my surprise Gilles signified agreement by vigorous nodding and wave of acknowledgement so off I went ! Matters failed to change, other than slightly, in terms of volume of grapes I was seeing hence even ‘doing’ two side by side rows at what I regarded as ‘casual’ speed my progress continued to outstrip the rest. I was almost done, and only a few vines/yards from getting to the end, back to the road when Gilles, on his way back to the rest of the team from the truck, stopped adjacent to me and in almost conspiratorial fashion told me to report to Gerald who had a ‘top secret mission’ for me !!!! I was somewhat nonplussed at this, although realised Gilles must have been seeking to be funny (amusing) in using James Bondesque terms, but also confused that I was to stop everything there and then when so close to finishing my two rows – which seemed a little daft in context. However, doing as I was told I climbed back on to the road, emptied my bucket at the truck and reported to Gerald stood further along. He wanted nothing more from me other than to suitably (sensible at last !) use me on the far side of the whole team from where I’d been to help the stragglers of another sub team, pointing me to the precise row/individual I should go to. Not so ‘top secret’ ! Well, I told myself, here was something ! From ‘bollocking’ me three times in the first two days for being too fast Gerald seemingly had ‘seen’ the proper organisational ‘light’ and was suitably using the resource of your’s truly ! A vote of confidence and quasi acknowledgment the Englishman had ability/his uses? I could not possibly comment but I’ll have to confess it was a sweet moment of sorts !!!

Eventually, with the volume of grapes much more ‘like it’ normal in the vineyard proper away from the wooded/fenced boundary I’d been on, we all got out of the plot back onto the road. Weather still yuk ! Too soon to return to Vosne but we weren’t done yet as we walked en masse further along the road a ways then descended down plot again on a grassy sward/track gap in the vines, around a grassy mound/uneven unplanted area, to another more low lying plot than our first. Muddy here but picking this to completion took us up to time to return to Vosne for lunch, route back being along the rest of the Rue des Hervelets, right at its junction with Rue du Dr Laguesse, dropping down on the latter becoming Rue Abbe Chevalier, Domaine Clos Saint Louis up a road off to our left, to the Route des Grand Crus and so back to Vosne.

The afternoon ? Day Seven ? Errrmm, memory loss must have set in but I vaguely recall Bourgogne Rouge and Aligote vines taking up our afternoon and the next day, in several locations, including far below Chambolle, then later an interesting first visit to a plot we would come to again on Day 8 reached from the RN/D974, just past Vosne’s Restaurant La Toute Petite Auberge, down the Route de Boncourt de Bois, turning right before the railway underpass, past industrial units/sheds to the vines. The common theme for me from these ‘lesser’ vineyard sites across the Day Six p.m. & all Day Seven was the proximity of the main railway line and volume of traffic on it. The French railway system must have some smart signalling/control mechanisms to run all manner of goods & passenger trains at such regular intervals – impressive. Almost a train spotter vendangeur ‘paradise’! At one stage this ex British train commuter was startled to note a goods train, all the way down here in France, hauled by a British Diesel in the livery of EWR. I’d always, from years ago, understood the gauge of British and French railways were different/incompatible but clearly not the case now. So, drudgery for what was to take us up to a very different, eventually, Day Eight – just to show that a vendange can’t all be notable exciting premier and grand crus !!!

Day Eight to follow, to include sorties into them there Hautes-Cotes hills, an unexpected in vines finale and our evening Paulee ! That won’t quite be ‘my lot’ as I’ll also cover off, in separate pieces, my post vendange Day Nine & Ten ‘me time’ up and down the Cotes activities including domaine visits, wine finding & buying missions, some cuverie activity and then home !

Domaine Michel Noellat et Fils, Vosne-Romanee – Vendange Day Five, Mon 23rd Sept 2019

I suppose I could ‘sub title’ this day’s words as ‘Apres la Deluge’ or similar !

Day Five might otherwise be encapsulated as a.m NSG Village/Morey-St-Denis p.m – the latter notably interesting for your’s truly – and then there was the unexpected evening ! Days ticking past now albeit when one’s so busy and ‘in the (routine) groove’ one hardly notices the number of days and/or what day of the week it is, seriously ! Another ‘plus’ for the vendange for me is losing touch with reality, well not that actually, but what I mean is losing touch with what’s going on, news wise, in the big wide world beyond, in our case, Vosne-Romanee. Without, so far, internet access I had no opportunity to ‘catch up’ on any world news so was blissfully in my vendange ‘bubble’. Importantly, for this lifelong fan of the six times current Champions of Europe (soccer/football variety !), my youngest brother back in the UK kept me up to date by text with any games I was missing and/or material Anfield news. Via other texts and phone call though I had been advised of disquieting news of a ‘domestic’ problem involving a major leak at home from a roof space water tank which, with my wife and PhD student daughter both also away for a couple of nights, had seen water penetrate upstairs bedroom ceiling, landing ceiling and into the lounge below ☹ At first, a seemingly inevitable need to return to the UK loomed but family urged me to stay put with nothing I could do, beyond initially directing my wife to a seriously good plumber/bathroom fitter who, bless him, responded superbly with his ‘lads’ to quickly install a new tank to deal with the immediate issue. Beyond that, insurance company loss assessors were involved with nothing I could usefully contribute short term, meaning I was urged to, and could, stay in Burgundy. Needless to say, plenty of follow up & related admin awaited my eventual return and is ongoing !

As might be appreciated from our already reported being rained off late on in Day Four we had our own ‘water issues’ in Vosne ! The rain of biblical proportions which had driven us from the NSG vines the previous afternoon continued to lash down for a lot of the evening before settling into less heavy but steady rain throughout the night (I could hear it on the roof when not asleep). From memory it had stopped, or all but, as we gathered for our fifth day but very grey, misty, damp, cold & challenging it was. Cloud/mist lay along the top of the cote, and notably in the NSG Combe. Waterproofs and boots (UK Brand Hunter wellington boots for me !) now the order of the day – if you had them otherwise you’d struggle in the likes of trainers ! I could hardly wait (not !) to get into the doubtless dripping wet vines, and to have to put up with the sodden earth and its implications for footwear, buckets & subsequent cleaning ! Getting ahead of myself a little I was later to muse maybe the vendange, for us anyway, might almost neatly be divided in two weather driven parts i.e before Sunday’s storm/after it. Without sounding like a ‘clever arse’ though, but as always a big believer in law of averages, I’d considered several times ahead of coming to Burgundy 2019, that the likelihood, or odds, of a wet, or partly wet harvest must be strong – simply because of the exceptionally hot weather as had featured in prior years, and as a notably wet/bad weather harvest was some years back. As such I’d paid more than usual attention to suitable wet weather footwear and clothing.

Before I forget for later – a couple of things ! 1) Any readers of Day Three might take issue with my (now re-reading looks/is poor) reference to ‘CdN Villages’. I should stress I wasn’t referring to that AOC, or wine so designated, but was attempting to shorten reference to the villages of the Cote De Nuits – so apologies. 2) My photos of Day Five, or some of them, regrettably have an area which is blurred/looks out of focus, which I only noticed at the end of the day, or next, when downloading from memory card. Double drat annoying ! This related, with hindsight to one or more issues, namely something on the camera lens, and/or the use settings dial on top of the camera having been accidentally ‘caught’ and moved from the normal ‘Auto’ – the latter has happened before in other years. I’m not smart enough, nor is there opportunity, to use other than ‘Auto’ when working ! Careful cleaning and dial adjustment fortunately saw no repeat. Apologies for the blurriness spoiling any enjoyment. I’ve long marvelled at the ‘stick’/abuse my Canon G16 has ‘put up with’ for several vendanges now – it really has been quite something and really ideal for what it offers. For 2/3 years it has had a problem with the back screen which has something akin to a blurred, foggy, lines problem which makes it difficult to see what one might be wanting to photo or to suitably review photos taken. This seemed to occur after one wet, claggy, November walk around the Hill of Corton when I carried the camera in case under my jacket and fleece top layer – since, I’ve only been able to assume condensation (body heat and damp) or similar then caused the screen problem. I’ve never sought advice on the latter re a repair or similar as am fairly sure the latter would not be cost effective. A new camera is tempting but, for now, I can’t really justify cost nor have any real idea what a suitable replacement might be – any views/ideas welcome. I’ve no desire to ‘rely’ on any mobile phone camera even though I guess my phone is decent.

As Monday, with weekend over, we had Team Leader/Porteur/Chauffeur Gilles back from his Lyon family affair. I think it was this morning also, if not would be tomorrow, that I tried my contact lenses again and was delighted to have comfort and no adverse reaction – hurrah ! Now, if I could just sort the neck out I’d be marvellous ! Alain Noellat had also affected a repair of sorts on Jacques’ minibus tailgate broken spectacles so J was happier.

Our initial morning’s efforts were directed at another plot of Nuits-St-Georges Villages; slightly to my surprise not the one we’d evacuated in the hurry of the previous afternoon. Again, a bit tricky to actually put a name to our location this day but, as ‘in the middle’ of a sea of vines, some way from Vosne in the distance, but not as close to NSG as yesterday afternoon, and below a road through the vines, I reckon we must have been in maybe ‘Au Chouillet’/’Aux Tuyaux’ but quite possible could instead have been ‘Aux Saints Jacques’. There again none of those could be correct ! Another one for next year to pin down. As I’d feared the vines were indeed dripping wet and the ground very wet also & sticky/muddy. Unpleasant ! The earth in such a scenario is akin to great clods of gluey mud in attaching to one’s footwear such that one is ‘carrying’ substantial extra weight ! To remove this muddy earth is tricky, needing a combination of posts, wires and anything else available to scrape one’s boots – uppers and soles/heels. If vegetation, the thicker the better, is available once the main earth has been removed then walking through it also helps, as do deep puddles on vineyard tracks/roads. There was to be a cleaning ‘sting in the tail’ for Team Gilles later this day but that ‘surprise’ is for later !

From the above location we moved again, en vehicule I think, to another village plot. This was interesting as it ultimately went ‘down’ to the back gardens of houses on the northern periphery of NSG along the RN/D974. Again tricky to work out which climat it was – I reckon probably ‘Aux Tuyaux’, possibly ‘Aux Athees’. This plot took us up to lunch but before we departed a lady occupant of one of the houses who’s garden we were picking up to (which had one of those above ground swimming pools) had come out and was offering refreshment via glasses of white wine which some of my colleagues availed themselves of – not me, I was content to wait for lunch. I vaguely recognised her as having seen her before at the domaine, surmising she had a connection, maybe as the spouse/partner of one of the cuverie team – or maybe just a Noellat friend/relative. Another domaine team was only a few rows away from us but which wasn’t known.

Afternoon was pretty interesting – for me at least as our destination was dear ole Morey ! I’ve captioned some of my Morey photos as our being in ‘Sorbes’ (‘Les Sorbes’) but now realise this wasn’t actually true – at least not for the lower part vines we started with which are in ‘Les Sionnieres’. The last part of our route was at first sight odd in terms of where we ended up but I now realise Hubert, in the Mercedes van lead, was taking a long way round loop, probably for ease of entry off the road, facing the ‘right direction’. To this end, we approached the Morey RN974 junction from base then turned left as if to go up into the village towards the church via Grande Rue, but at the first junction proper turned right into Rue de Tres Girard, past Cecile Tremblay’s cuverie on the right, then on our left the hotel, ‘Castel de Tres Girard’, continuing a ways until the next junction where we took a right and dropped back down to the road between ‘Tres Girard’ and ‘Clos Solon’. At the junction we turned right back onto the main road towards the traffic lights again but just immediately past the busy courtyard Hubert Lignier premises and Gite de Cedre we descended the ‘ramp’ from road into the vines and right along a stony track aways before leaving the vehicles. Our first element of picking were the ‘Sionnieres’ vines on the right hand side (looking up towards the village) of the track. At the top there was a large residential property, difficult to see as it was very private behind a substantial (very tall and thick wide) leylandii type hedge to front and sides. This seemed to be a vigneron owned property, or certainly something to do with wine, as one could discern winemaking related artefacts e.g pallets of bottles etc outside additional modern looking outbuildings. As we first approached, what was presumably the owner was to the front of the property with a forklift truck which he seemed to have been using to do something hedge related before we arrived. He took said forklift inside the property and after shutting the gates obviously released a large vocal dog which triggered lots of canine ‘argy bargy’ between said dog and our roaming pack of three ! The forklift gent continued to move said vehicle around within the curtilage of the property using it for whatever commercial type purposes. Quite who’s property this is I’ve no idea but might have a closer look one day from the Rue de Tres Girard side which the property must back onto. By this afternoon the weather had improved immeasurably from the previous afternoon/the morning with blue sky, sunshine & fluffy white cloud, becoming quite warm. Having ‘done’ the lower village element we ‘shifted’ up & around the corner of the above property, alongside the hedge, up into the lower element of premier cru, Les Sorbes, Noellat ‘offering’ both Morey Village and Premier Cru from these vines. As we’ll come to in a later day’s words when I took the opportunity to purchase some domaine wines (all 2017s) I elected, as my premier cru selection, for NSG Aux Boudots. The domaines Vosne premier crus & the Morey 1er Les Sorbes were ‘sold out’ but for the future I’ll have an eye on some of the Morey. I recall being quite fatigued when the end of day call came (just might have been we ‘did’ some Bourgogne Rouge vines below Chambolle on our way back – can’t be certain) but do remember Gilles cautioning us before we left the Morey site as not to be too ‘enthusiastic’ at cleaning of our footwear, and where etc, so as not to leave mud, earth etc all over the gravelled road which might upset the property proprietor above who’s ‘private drive’ the road effectively was !

There was something of a shock and great misfortune (typical !) for Team Gilles when we got back to base in Vosne ! Gilles announced it was ‘our turn’ to do the cleaning i.e buckets, porter containers etc for the whole team. And we ‘copped’ for the first full day post last night’s storm with mud etc, doh! It hadn’t occurred to me previously there was a (sub) team rota for the end of day cleaning, again I’d not been told/heard. Yes, I’d seen folk cleaning daily in past days but had been happy to leave those folk to it as I’d been on the reverse end of for years at Arlaud where just a few of us had voluntarily/conscientiously done pre lunch & end of day cleaning for years whilst the majority ‘avoided’ it. As a lodger at Arlaud I’d been relatively happy to be a cleaner and had also thought those of us doing it had been paid extra. The mud/earth effect on the bottom of buckets adds a whole new dimension to bucket use on dry ground – they take some getting clean ! So, how unlucky could we be !!! No avoiding it though so we had to get on with it – or most of us did grrrr ! The notable exception was Martine ! This lady of advancing years arrived daily, I think with Gilles. She was very ‘bling’ in terms of jewellery, as well coiffed/made up etc as one could be in the vines, and always wore ‘naughty’ cut off denim shorts as if she were on a beach, regardless of weather !!! She also had a kneeler thing as one might use in a garden which she used all the time and this ‘contraption’, whilst creative, also had a lid/box section in which she kept goodies such as her personal water, secateurs etc. Moving her kneeler thing from vine to vine wasn’t exactly conducive to speedy productivity thought this 3x told off for being too fast individual ! I was to be severely annoyed by Martine’s outrageous cheating picking practice at a later date but that’s to come. Here, with some ‘brass neck’ (English expression for nerve !) Martine absented herself from the rest of us cleaning crew, doubtless taking advantage whilst Gilles was away taking the minibus to the cuverie for overnight parking. I say ‘absented’ herself but she was present – just choosing not to help because, with unbelievable chutzpah/brazen cheek, she ignored the rest of us whilst doing an incredibly thorough job of cleaning her own stuff (kneeler, footwear, clothing). I was stunned into incredulous silence so as to lose my powers of speech by all this, but I was not alone as a conspiratorially grinning, head shaking in shared disbelief, Francoise caught my eye – obviously reading my mind ! The others further down the garage, concentrating on material task in hand, seemed not to notice. To my shame I decided not to seek a full blown in garage confrontation with Madame but carried on amongst the buckets, jet hose water, scrapers with what we had to do. As Gilles returned Martine had miraculously finished her concentration on her own interests but that didn’t mean a fulsome, if belated, contribution to the team. No, not a bit of it. Instead she gave a loosest illusion sense of helping by simply picking up any available single cleaned bucket for upturned stacking, pyramid style, along the wall to dry. Pick up more than one bucket at once ? Not Martine ! Why bother when one could move at snail’s pace with one bucket and not even stack properly ! I was so tired I couldn’t even get suitably annoyed but her ‘card was marked’ by me from then on ! Return to base and cleaning might have been ‘it’ for the day, other than evening meal to come, but this day had another surprise, and more entertainment in store.

Initially, having cleaned myself up and changed I had no inkling of what was to come although if I’d paid more attention to the property ‘yard’ gazebo I might have ‘twigged’ this might be more than an ordinary evening. As it was, armed with the domaine’s wi-fi key, I was keen to attempt to log on for the second time. I’d had a very brief, unsuccessful, attempt the evening before this one when I’d had no real time. Madam Noellat and Sophie had told me the wi-fi router was in a back room behind the (closed for the vendange) domaine tasting room and shop which is on the right front of the property next to the office/bureau. I might have sought to go into the latter and make myself comfortable at a desk to log on but the office was always locked for the evening by the time I was ready. Given the router location I borrowed a patio chair and sat outside the tasting room door facing towards it, laptop on knee. Last evening, when I’d used the office window ledge, my laptop had detected a Netgear wi-fi router which I’d tried to log into. This evening two possible wi-fi sources showed up – the Netgear one and another, Livebox something or other – signal stronger on the former. In a quandary I tried both but was unsuccessful with multiple attempts trying to log on to either. Highly frustrated, whilst I was attempting all the above, I was conscious quite a number of folk were arriving, all smartly dressed for an evening out !

Drinks were being dispensed from the gazebo as not normally the case in availability, quantity etc. What I was seeing was the preamble to a grand affaire dinner. If my understanding was/is correct what was happening this evening was something the Noellat family do each vendange – in essence a sort of end of vendange Paulee, but which takes place only part way through the vendange, with wider family & friends invited alongside the rest of us. The number of attendees were such that an extra table or two were required in the middle of our room. Eventually we all filed in to take our places. I made a tactical error here and instead of my normal place I ended up by virtue of others coming after me wanting to sit down whereby I was boxed in right in the back corner and back against the wall. Worse, immediately around me came Gerald, Hubert and two mature lady vendangeurs whom G & H had taken a fancy to/set their sights on. So, with their concentrating on themselves, I was stuck in my corner unable to converse with those I normally did, doh ! The only saving grace until later in the evening, when I was able to extract myself as the evening wound down, was the ‘distraction’ of Alain Noellat (‘AN’) serving up some stellar wines, some in magnum. Niiceee! Alongside our staple Savigny Blanc AN produced mags of a 2015 Puligny-Montrachet village and extremely yum it was too ! The domaine has no vines in Puligny. I correctly surmised, confirmed later, that this wine must have been ‘bought in’ (or acquired via swap of Noellat wines) for the family’s own private cellar/consumption. Beyond the whites any number of reds graced the evening. These included NSG Aux Boudots 2008 & 2016, Vosne Suchots 2014 & 2016 (maybe also a 2017), I think a Vosne Beaumonts, Chambolle Village 2014 and maybe also an Echezeaux also snuck in somewhere. I did my best to photograph these various bottles – one photo annoyingly has a black line partly across which happened by accident whilst editing, which so far I’ve been unable to remove. As the evening moved to a close, and after much group singing, with guests & vendangeurs drifting away, a hardcore few of us remained sampling the various wines. To my slight amusement Gerald was slumped comatose in his table place – something must have had an effect although in the vines exertion surely couldn’t have been responsible. Telling myself I’d stayed up too long and might regret it I eventually left for bed leaving the ultra hardcore few to prolong their own evenings! Some night 😊 !!!

Day Six to be another highly indifferent weather day for Marsannay, more Fixin ( 3 x locations), and Chambolle/Vosne Bourgogne Rouge. Wot, still no Vosne Premier Crus ? No indeed.

Domaine Michel Noellat et Fils, Vosne-Romanee – Vendange Day Four, Sun 22nd Sept 2019

Whither today ? A Chambolle morning then an afternoon with a real ‘sting in the tail’, if not a transformative moment for our vendange. Photos morning only, the absence of any from the afternoon will become clearer later !

Our second day with Jean-Claude2 filling in for the Lyon fleshpots absent Gilles. On this once more super morning of sunshine and restrained temperatures we were Chambolle Village bound again to similar, or the same, location we’d visited previously, just more rows. In essence, an unremarkable steady, hard working morning. Team J-C2/Gilles were initially selected by Hubert for an hillside elevated section of vines not far from the top of the slope, and as the hill started to curve around back towards Musigny etc. These vines were notable for being across slope, rather than up/down, and as such brought fond recollection of Arlaud’s Vosne Petit-Monts vines. After we’d finished our own specific ‘patch’ we worked downslope to meet/join another team coming up which took us ‘neatly’ to a circa 9.40 a.m. break.

After finishing the above we spent the rest of the morning, albeit getting there by only short walks first on tarmac then earth path into the vines, as best I can recall working quite different areas of vines, on essentially flat(er) land from those on the slopes we’d had two go’s at. I’m really struggling to identify now just where these latter vines might be, map wise. They were the other side of the road i.e just to the north of where we’d been but a little back on ourselves. ‘Climats & Lieux Dits’ almost suggests we could have been in a Chambolle 1er cru but I can’t think we were so we must have been in the quaintly named ‘Les Pas de Chats’, or possibly ‘Les Barrottes’. Assuming I return to Noellat in 2020 I must then make an effort to identify exactly the locations we visit (beyond the obvious Grand & Premier crus) & perhaps spend some brief time with Alain or Sophie and ‘Climats & Lieux Dits’ to get a handle on domaine vines locations. Mind, it some me some years to be ‘up to speed’ with Arlaud’s sites, and that with Herve always being helpful in answering my questions. The domaine’s website is no help in location of vines, even clicking in to the detail of each wine made. However, late afterthought that Bill might include detail has had me belatedly look back at BR’s domaine profile and tasting notes, one reference noting a little 1er cru for the Chambolle cuvee. If that indeed is the case then maybe we went to a bit of Les Feusselottes or perhaps Les Plantes ? Coming away from our late morning location I ‘snapped’ another unknown domaine’s yet to be picked Pino as we strolled past. Earlier as we’d come out of one section, crossing the tarmac road to another, we met two quite different ladies with a young boy on his scooter. These two ladies were adorned in vine leaf Roman like head adornments (fascinators the fashion term ?) and in very jolly mood. They were headed towards Chambolle but where they’d come from & quite why they had the ‘creations’ on their heads I’m totally unsure – a brief, amusing, diversion though !

Back to Vosne ! Lunch must have been unremarkable as no recall of it or photos, nor can I remember seeing a door affixed menu. Afternoon took us to Nuits Villages vines (Vosne side) – more towards Nuit than our Boudots and Aux Barrieres locations of Day 2. Possibly Aux Allots initially. Long rows so more slogging. I meant to mention when commencing typing re this day that there had been talk amongst my co-workers of the weather forecast suggesting rain, if not during the day then felt to be more probable for evening or overnight. Certainly the Chambolle morning and its ideal, sunny, conditions gave no inkling of any major weather deterioration to come. We moved on from our initial location(s) to another (village) location much nearer to Nuits than before, almost into the outskirts – perhaps La Petite Charmotte or La Charmotte. As the afternoon had moved on I could not help but notice the absence of the morning sunshine and gradually gathering/darkening cloud – particularly over the Combe behind NSG.

I think it must have been sometime after 15.30 that (fortunately) not too far down our latest NSG Villages rows, and not too far away from the vehicles on the road above us, that we felt the just occasional first large drops of rain. From then on it was only a matter of time and, with shocking suddenness, not only did almost semi-darkness descend but rain started to fall properly. There was no hesitation from whomever shouted at us to get outta there and get to the vehicles, and t’was a mighty good job we didn’t delay ! I’ve seen it ‘rain’ before several times in previous vendanges but this was ‘proper’ !! Trust me, it wasn’t far up our rows, and back to the vehicles, but in the short time it took us all to leg it there, what started as ‘rain’ turned into a storm & deluge of Noahesque biblical proportions ! If I’d seen people or animals going in two by two I might not have been surprised ! It was every man & woman for themselves, and in the case of our minibus at least, as the vehicle on its right hand side was parked tight to vines, several of us in our scrambling fell/tripped over the vines end of row wire, not exactly visible in semi-darkness, haste, rain deluge etc – which could be painful !! I know I tripped trying to throw myself into the front seat, not badly fortunately, and also saw Jean-Philippe, Jacques and Francoise all do similarly. By the time we were all in the minbus, panting to get our breath back, with the vehicle rapidly steaming up with hot bodies and wetness, it really had got dark, some thunder & lightning was evident, and good grief, WAS IT lashing down !!!! As ‘good’ as a storm I’ve seen in Burgundy in my harvest career. It was difficult to make out Nuits not too far away but lights were coming on.

We sat there a while, not too long, before somehow/someone communicated, phone call I think, that we call it a day and return to base ! Could not have been a difficult decision as one didn’t need to be a meteorogical genius to work out the lashing curtains of water weren’t going to stop anytime soon ! Our initial route, given the way we were facing, and as it turned out Hubert in the lead was heading initially for Nuits before taking a mainly concrete road back through the vines to Vosne, took us past the vendangeurs of another domaine who’d been a little beyond us. They were still out there, ok at first glance many of them seemed appropriately dressed, but goodness me it seemed recklessly crazy given the thunder and lightning. I assume they were just collecting what they’d picked and would soon be out of there !

The route back to Vosne was amazing in terms of the water on the road, gushing across it and coming down. The concrete road sections are a longitudinal v shaped gully with high edges, the latter I reckon to hold back vineyard soil erosion but the water in the centre of the road ‘v’ was incredible.

Back in Vosne, we ran for cover to the garage with gear for cleaning whilst outside the storm continued. Heavy rain lasted well into the evening, and ‘lesser’ weight of rain all night. Evening is gone from any memory, weather aside. Guess I was probably on laptop photo downloading, editing etc but, just ahead of our evening meal, I do recall a group playing tarot with my being invited to play but declining (wouldn’t have had a clue !). Jean-Philippe seemed a novice at the game, but Alain Noellat as not initially playing, although seemingly something of an ‘expert, was very keen to proffer advice to J-P and re-arrange his hand of cards !

The end then of a ‘climatic’ day. Maybe a defining one for our vendange in terms of conditions i.e days pre storm/post storm. Hereafter ground conditions would be much changed muddy/sticky with consequent effects on us, our footwear, buckets etc etc. Where would tomorrow take us ? We’ll see!

Domaine Michel Noellat et Fils, Vosne-Romanee – Vendange Day Three, Sat 21st Sept 2019

Into our third day and routines becoming well established and, for me, working practices clearer – if I approved or not !

For the Gilles sub team the weekend saw a departure – that of the porteur/chauffeur man himself – to Lyon to stay with one of his daughters, to return for Monday. As a substitute we had my room mate, Jean-Claude No2, if I can call him that to differentiate from his more forthright associate – Jean Claude No1 being the leader of another sub team, the tee shirt modeller from the Day One photos and our room through the night snorer. J-C2 is a quietly spoken, semi-reserved, no edge on him, pleasant guy so I was pleased to see him ‘lent’ to us for the weekend in a leadership role, notwithstanding this was his first vendange.

My neck was still extremely painful despite ibuprofen and pain relief gel. I also continued in my spectacles figuring I’d give my right eye a rest for several days then try the lenses again. Coffee first thing was always on machine free flow in our dining ‘shed’, with teabags/kettle if different brew preferred. Food was available but I never investigated exactly what as I’m always content with just a Cadburys breakfast bar (other bars are available !), particularly knowing a casse-croute break was to come idc.

So, where to today ? With J-C2 in the driver’s seat for us our convoy headed out of Vosne in the same direction as we’d taken yesterday to Vougeot. We didn’t get that far this time as GC Echezeaux was our destination – not unfamiliar to me as Arlaud had a few rows here from 2013 inclusive as one of the ‘& Arlaud’ offerings Cyprien took on from that infamous, difficult year (other than the NSG 1er Porrets which featured in 2012). I’m pretty certain we were now in Echezeaux du Dessus. Lovely morning again, sun coming up, and not a cloud in the sky. Our first rows, nice looking grapes bar odd dodgy bunch, took us uneventfully to the casse-croute break just after 9.30 a.m. The dogs were with us again, now as an established feature – but no chocolate titbits from me so’s I could avoid unwarranted abuse & poisoning accusations ! Instead, and never fancying the charcuterie myself, I let others give the dogs bits of fat etc. I confined myself happily to bread and cheese, with just water as the drink in my ‘meal deal’ ! Today’s casse-croute break seemed a little drawn out so, becoming a little bored, I wandered along the vineyard road we were on just some yards north towards Vougeot. I was then utterly amazed to realise I was looking at the Arlaud rows from past years, readily identifiable from the white (as Arlaud use) daubed marker post and heavy sleepers containing the soil to the start of one row where the land fell away slightly. Quite some coincidence – if the Arlaud rows weren’t directly next to Noellat’s they were only separated by a few !

Anyway, we continued post break with the remaining Ech rows but at some early juncture there was something of an amused commotion leading to us standing up. This was on account of one of the other sub teams, notable for including the leading lights from lunchtime singing, having dressed up in Gilet-Jaune uniform !!!! This was highly amusing, although I never established what prompted it. I was much taken/amused by one of the guys even including a ‘fetching’ dayglo yellow hat with ear flaps to enhance the gilet jaune ! Once we’d all exited our completed rows I grabbed quick opportunity to photo the G-J team.

From Echezeaux we took a short drive past Musigny and Les Amoureuses before turning left towards Chambolle, but almost immediately took another road left through the vines where we parked up to tackle an upslope piece of Chambolle Village – and very nice aspect up hill it had too with track and trees/shrubs to the top. I’ve spent some time looking closely at my ‘Climats & Lieux-Dits’ bible (everyone remotely interested in Burgundy should have a copy imho) to try to work out which vines we were picking in. Initially, but mistakenly, I thought we were in ‘Les Pas de Chats’ (across the road from Les Feusselottes’) but I was looking at the wrong road, instead our vehicles were parked at the edge of the next road south. Thus, I reckon we must have picked in either Les Gueripes or Les Foucheres or both.

Very pleasant in whatever terroir it was, with my sub team cruising efficiently ahead of the others up to lunch. In fact I, and I think it was Donna, with joint exquisite timing, actually had just picked the very last vine at the top of our designated rows as the call came to cease for lunch. Quite a coincidence, and similar was to happen to me on my own that afternoon in a section of Fixin Village. No photos of lunch taken today ! I must have been concentrating hard on my nosh !

Onto the afternoon and no photos taken either, sorry ! Typing this back in the UK post vendange (and a little stupidly not having scribbled just outline reminder notes as has been my practice previously) I’ve been falling back in part on my photos to remind of our itineraries/locations etc. When no photos have featured this is generally a sign of a few influencers e.g I’ve not been enthused/excited enough by location etc to prompt camera use, or; the weather has been bad enough to prevent me getting the camera out etc etc. For this 3rd day p.m. we journeyed to a particularly flat, low on the ‘slope’, uninspiring piece of Fixin Village (without getting close to the village proper some way ahead) we were to come to more than once. Its lower edge was a public road with residential dwellings on the other side. I can only think now we must have been, most likely, in ‘En Clomee’ – if not there then am not sure ! Exciting it wasn’t though, and the rows long. Bit hard to see why it might be designated ‘village’ other than, say, Bourgogne Rouge. Fruit was ok, no issues there, but the afternoon was a bit of a physical slog, for me notable only that, as mentioned above, I again just happened to finish my row, a little way ahead of others, coinciding with the c 18.00 hrs call to end the day. I cursed gently to myself thinking that if we came back to take up & finish where the others had left off I’d probably ‘suffer’ as having finished my row ! Maybe a lesson for me I can hear some of you thinking !

So, good day, both of the domaine Grand Crus dealt with, along with NSG Aux Boudots, but absolutely no sign/mention of us heading to the domaine’s premier crus, Morey’s 1er Clos Sorbes, Savigny or Pommard. Instead, for now, we seemed to be on a CdN Villages fest but I told myself it had only been Day 3. I recall it might have been this day’s lunchtime that I managed, pre lunch, to ask Madam Isabel Noellat about use of the domaine wi-fi and in her ever helpful, nothing too much trouble, way she’d printed off a page of A4 from her bureau computer which had all sorts of password details, and other IT related saved reference details – which, for me, had the extremely long wi-fi router key of numbers and letters. The evening of Day 4 was to be the start of my attempted log on frustrations !!!