View across valley to Marey-les-Fussey from HCDN Au Vallon

Domaine Michel Gros Vendange 2024 – Days 5 & 6, Wednesday 25th & Thursday 26th Sept

A day of more kestrel sightings all through today as in over the vines between Vosne & Nuits as went both to & from the Hautes-Cotes, and in the Hautes-Cotes skies as well, with other birds of prey – the only non kestrels I could identify with confidence being the occasional buzzard.

With the Cote D’Or vines picked in 4 days (recall took 5 last year) from now on it was the Hautes-Cotes all the way. Our route into the Hautes-Cotes was always the same, albeit with a twist today in how we got there over the final kilometres as in not what I was expecting as not the route we’d followed in 2023.

Firstly, the pre-departure ‘routine’ included a less than pleasant ‘episode’. The small in number sub-team I’d been a happy part of from Days 1 – 4, as I’ve mentioned previously used two vehicles, namely the domaine’s large white ageing panel van driven by Louis and one of the two Renault mini-buses the domaine had hired for the vendange from the outset. The latter accommodated 9 folk in 3 rows of seats, being the same 9 of us from the outset – thus routine and order was by now well established. I’d enjoyed a daily front row seat alongside driver Fabian, and AN Other, usually Chrystelle. I’ve described a kerfuffle with the transport from Day 4 when we’d all come together as one large team but that had not directly impacted our van’s happy band. That changed for this morning.

I’d always been amongst the first to the vehicle as I was always keen to stash my bulky knee pads, gloves, camera etc so I wasn’t having to keep hold of all that outside any vehicle in the pre-morning departure gathering. On this morning I came to our Renault to find two young (age 20s I’d guess) female floosies sat in the middle row of seats. These two had only arrived I think yesterday & had certainly not been part of the vendange from the start. Kudos to them for appreciating transport seats would be at a premium but that said I was concerned for my yet to arrive fellow sub team workers, two of whom would be left ‘swinging’. I politely attempted, with language a barrier, to suggest to these two females they were occupying seats of established team/vehicle ‘regulars’ from Day 1. I might as well have been talking to a brick wall as they clearly couldn’t give a wotsit for what I was saying, brushed off my comments, and sat tight. The inevitable happened when the others came to embark. The two to miss out were a sweet mother & daughter local pair who came every day by car. They’d been part of the 2023 team so I guess were year on year regulars.

On Day 1 this year they’d greeted me very warmly seeing me again which was mutually very nice & were also very pleasant each morning with greetings etc. This morning I could tell they were quite shocked, if not a little upset, to be the last two to the vehicle to find their ‘normal’ seats occupied by Mesdame Floosies. Early birds definitely caught the worm(s) here. We departed leaving the mother and daughter, and others unable to find transport, milling around the yard. Am not sure how but eventually everyone seemed to get up into the Hautes-Cotes somehow. Not good, not impacting me personally, but just one of a number of issues through the vendange, the rest of which did (impact me) which I largely haven’t detailed to date but I will in my final piece summarising this harvest ‘experience’ for me and what that all means post 2024.

Our route into the Hautes-Cotes (‘H-C’) is/was always the same in that the first part consisted of cutting across the vines between Vosne and Nuits to the northern edge houses of the latter, then curving right through a residential area of bungalows onto the D25, west beyond the Intermarche, then staying on the D25 Rte de la Serree past Le Gentilhommiere hotel in the valley of the Le Meuzin small river/stream climbing towards the H-C. Arriving at the edge of Meuilley, we turn right onto the D115 Rue de Beaune then previously (as in 2023) travel only a short distance before, multiple times turning off right into the pretty hamlet of Chevrey then into the different Gros H-C plots.

Harvesting Machine in distance from HCDN Au Vallon

Single bunch of HCDN Au Vallon grapes on post

View across the HCDN landscape from Au Vallon

View across valley to Marey-les-Fussey from HCDN Au Vallon (Michel’s Land Cruiser in middle ground) (2)

Today, I’d blithely assumed we’d be headed for the largest Gros H-C site, that is the 7ha Fontaine St Martin but, no, our destination to come was actually the 2nd largest site, the attractive hillside Au Vallon. How we got to/entered Au Vallon ‘threw’ me a bit as on this occasion we didn’t turn off the D115 into Chevrey but instead, with Louis’ van leading, stayed on the D115 through wooded areas to its junction with the D8 which we turned right onto. This took us past the Maison Aux Mille Truffes, who’s truffle products I’ve bought in the past for family at home, and into Marey-les-Fussey with its number of vigneron properties e.g Joannet & Thevenot Le Brun to name two. Just through Marey-les-Fussey we turned right onto a vineyard road onto a sweeping descent then climbing slightly came to the bottom hillside edge of Au Vallon.

Quite why we took what appeared to me to be an unnecessarily long way round to get to/enter Au Vallon when last year we came out through woods on to its upper slopes having come through Chevrey I never established but who was I too question !

View downslope in HCDN Au Vallon landmark tree on boundary

View upslope HCDN Au Valllon

Well presented grape volume HCDN Au Vallon

All Pinot Noir here. Milling around to be directed where to start, and with whom as the high trained vines see workers in pairs, a harvesting machine could be seen in the near distance with its attendant tractors and trailers support. No idea who it was working for but if to hazard a guess I’d say the Nuiton-Beaunoy Co-operative, premises on the southern edge of Beaune. The fruit here in Au Vallon seemed pretty good compared to what we’d seen elsewhere and on the Cote. There wasn’t the quality or volume of 2023 but the incidence of mildew here was much lower. Conversely there seemed a bit more incidence of grey rot than on the Cote but not excessive in context. I can’t now recall whom I was paired working with, having not noted it, but partly recall might have been Guy as owner of Onyx (rather than the other Guy – my room share). The grapes were nicely presented & much easier to pick on the high trained vines than the low trained Cote one’s. Much leaf stripping though was essential. The weather was largely grey and overcast through the day with the odd patches of brief blue sky here and there. We worked steadily through the morning, initially uphill before breaking for lunch back in Vosne. Back again in the afternoon to continue/finish where we’d left off. My sub team group, which had stayed together as one of 4 or 5 small entities within the larger whole, were somehow efficiently ‘flying’ post lunch, completing our allocated rows more quickly than others. We finished earlier than usual around 16.30 and whilst I didn’t appreciate it at the time that was because the Paulee was to occur that evening.

Domaine Michel Gros is strangely odd to me in Paulee terms with that ‘celebratory’ event, curiously perhaps, coming part way through the vendange rather than conventionally at or near the end as always my experience at the other domaines I’ve worked for/at. The reason for this seems (can only be) that the Gros vendange, in football parlance, is a ‘game of two halves’ i.e the first ‘half’ being the Cote D’Or work, the second the Hautes-Cotes. I’d been intrigued in 2023 to note how many of the original starting team regulars worked only the ‘first half’ then disappeared off home thereafter. I gather this has been the case at Gros for a while hence the Paulee taking place when it does to accommodate those ‘part timers’ who will leave. Whatever !

It seemed I was the last person to hear about the pending Paulee, and only did so overhearing a mention of it in the yard on our return from the H-C prior to which I’d been oblivious as in no one had seemingly though to tell me – can only assume word of mouth had occurred elsewhere. I had to ask questions re starting time etc then hurried to get ready, badly in need of a shave after 5/6 days without one. Having got myself ready into suitably smarter clothes, with the rest of our accommodation building curiously quiet cum seemingly deserted, I made my way across the dark yard, rain now falling, through the dining cave, and out into the other yard area outside the cuverie, anticipating/assuming as 2023 that our pre dinner gathering for fizz and canapes would be in the cuverie. Err no ! Whilst the cuverie front was open, it was in complete darkness. Bemused, the location puzzle was solved for me as I turned around to see the new building across the street was open and fully lit, occupied by revellers.

Pre Paulee Fizz & Canapes in new building (4)

Pre Paulee Fizz & Canapes in new building (3)

Pre Paulee Fizz & Canapes in new building (3)

Acho with admirers pre Paulee Social (Office Lady Sarah top left)

I made my across through puddles from the steadily falling rain to join the gang. Its quite amusing, if not impressive, to see one’s fellow workers in ‘party attire’ after day to day working garb. Michel, moving amongst everybody, serving champagne (didn’t notice or ask which champagne it was), was particularly smart in blue shirt and gilet. Chapeau. One of my serious regrets this year was the minimal interaction I had, or rather didn’t have, with Michel in comparison with 2023. With Pierre largely ‘running the show’ this year, and my sub team/transport arrangements day to day, quite different from last year I didn’t see much of Michel other than at distance in the vines, and close up really only at breakfast.

3 of my sub team members

3 wise men – Michel Gros centre, Philippe right, Un autre left

Dining Cave emptying post Paulee

My room sharer Guy left & un autre

Reception prelude over we made our collective way into the dining cave, which the senior lady regulars had gone to some trouble to ‘dress’ for the occasion, and in which the tables had been moved to up & down the room lengthways format rather than the usual daily across. I didn’t note the entrée but the main course was a rather enjoyable veal and potatoes. Wine wise the evening was lubricated initially with two whites – these were 1) a Domaine Pradelle 2022 Crozes-Hermitage Blanc (a Marsanne – Roussane blend; and 2) the Domaine’s own Bourgogne Hautes-Cotes de Nuits 2022 Fontaine St-Martin Blanc (Chardonnay). The Pradelle was familiar to me from 2023 as some of you may recall. The owner of Pradelle was at wine school with Michel – they’ve remained long time friends and swap wines with each other. I’m not a huge fan of Rhone Blancs – the Pradelle was fresh & pleasant enough but I’d rather have the FSM. I’d brought a few bottles to Burgundy from the UK as usual, anticipating one or more evening socials with Bill, but as he’d returned to Switzerland said bottles were quasi surplus and, in number, potentially impacting the UK Customs regulations number of bottles I could acquire and take back to the UK, so I opened my sole bottle of Domaine Adhémar et Francis Boudin (Chantemerle) 2019 Chablis 1er cru ‘L’Homme Mort’ & shared this with a few others – was very well received, particularly by Michel and Philippe. The Paulee reds, all from magnums, were the domaine’s NSG 2012 Village, NSG 2011 1er cru, and Vosne 2013 Clos des Reas. The Reas particularly was atypically delish – definitely more than one glass necessary for ‘testing’ purposes ! And post speeches, with midnight having come around, so to bed !

Dinner White Wine 1

Dinner White Wine 1 (2)

Paulee 3rd red wine served – Clos des Reas 2013

Leaning (or not so) tower of food trays

Thursday 26th September
This was a free (post Paulee recovery !) day hence I inadvertently slept in to past 7.00 a.m. tut tut ! With heavy rain anyway working would have been out of the question. Post breakfast I spent the morning, with office lady occupant Sarah’s (such a nice lady) agreement, in the domaine office, using Michel’s desk working on ‘Bill stuff’, largely downloaded photos, re-sizing the same for email transmission, and captioning. Towards the end of the morning I took myself off to Beaune on an errand for a friend to collect a specific bottle, already ordered and paid for from the UK. Arriving at the Beaune merchant location (Vistavin – on an industrial park on southern edge of Beaune) it was just turned lunch hour so, knowing how the French love the lunch period, and with the business clearly not open, I initially chose to park up and kill time. That dragged so I decided to leave to get some petrol and come back – which I did. Subsequently a bit of a pantomime ensued with access to the business, a couple of phone calls being required, then a short trip to another close by associated wine business to finally obtain the bottle – phew !

Back to Vosne for more office work to while away the afternoon. Plenty of folk had clearly departed, including my room sharer, Guy, but bless him he’d left me a note with 3 cans of beer. Two other guys who’d been sharing the room next to us on our landing had also gone so I was alone – but that was good as it meant, with no others to consider, when I was in my room I could bolt the landing door outside my room to the stairs and so ensure no nonsense of Belgians etc trying to annoy me, leave furniture piled up outside my room door, or enter the room to misbehave with my luggage, possessions etc etc – all of which had already occurred. Not sure if dinner was on offer on this non- working day (don’t believe it was) I was content to enjoy bread & cheese in my room with wine leftovers and beers pre bed, now safe my beauty sleep couldn’t be spoilt by nonsense with the landing door bolted, ahead of Friday’s return to the H-C with influx of new faces & an improved transport situation.
MdMdlV

Domaine Michel Gros Vendange 2024 – Day 4, Tuesday 24th Sept

All the usual suspects at breakfast this day; older individuals, mostly longtime regulars, and including Philippe Durand – probably my favourite colleague along with Acho’s Italian owner. Philippe is an older guy family man from Belfort & I believe has, or had, a senior position with his local Sapeur Pompiers. For me he’s immensely likeable. His vendange role is as one of the principal tractor drivers. He’s always immaculately and neatly turned out & neat in everything he does, including eating his breakfast for which he has a very smart folding Laguiole knife to trim his fruit. Philippe is also my ‘weather man’ & today, first thing over breakfast was adamant in response to my enquiry that there’d be no rain today.

Destemmer debris Gros cuverie

Giraffe conveyors & destemmer ‘downstream’ from triage table

Gros triage table close up – Pierre in grey hoody

Pierre Gros’ intriguing looking cuverie testing bench

Two Gros employees ‘feeding’ the triage table

Our initial destination on this grey, overcast morning was a similar surprise as yesterday when we’d returned to Morey En la Rude de Vergy which I’d thought we’d finished the day before. Today, with a personal sinking feeling, having been glad to exit yesterday, we went back to the plateau of Boncourt (le Bois) beyond the railway line for more Bourgogne Rouge fruit. After the quasi horror show, largely waste of time/effort of yesterday, to day was rather better & ‘more like it’; if the grapes weren’t ‘great’ at least there were some. Our work here took us to mid-morning but, you guessed it, despite Philippe’s confident over breakfast weather assertion, as neared the end of our session we were lightly showered/rained on – and guess who had no rain jacket or hat ?

Looking north from NSG Chailots – Onyx firmly held on his chain given roadside

Looking south from NSG Chailots

Looking south from NSG Chailots

Our next destination was familiar from 2023 but w. hat wasn’t ‘familiar’ was our route to it and for quite a while I was baffled where we might be headed for. Our Renault minibus, chauffer Fabian, followed sub team leader Louis in the domaine’s large white ancient panel van. Louis took THE most circuitous route one could imagine to, ultimately, the south side of Nuits-St-Georges. Initially he headed east away from Boncourt & Vosne on the D109G which led us past the Aerodrome de Nuits-St-Georges with a couple of light aircraft and a helicopter on the apron, then turning on to the D116 into the eastern suburbs of NSG, briefly onto the D8 main road as leads to the Autoroute or into NSG Centre, then weaving through what seemed backstreets, past the Gare (Railway Station) de NSG, and ultimately onto the D35 to its junction with the D(RN)974, just south of the ibis NSG Hotel. Bizarre ! I’m guessing Louis was seeking to avoid the main road through NSG and its, to me, infamous traffic light controlled junction on the north side where the Moillard premises are. So convoluted was Louis’ route, albeit impressive in terms of local knowledge/geography, that for a time I was wondering if he was seeking to ‘kill’ time ! We were headed for the Gros plot of village NSG Les Chaliots as borders the D974 & has NSG 1er cru ‘Les Poirets’ above it. This plot is the only one south of NSG owned by the domaine. Its notable for being crossed by electricity lines and a large pylon. We parked on the roadside verge, starting our picking from there, which occasioned Onyx’s owner keeping him on his chain whilst himself working to avoid any road related harm coming to our furry friend (Acho and his owner had remained at the domaine today with a few others as on triage table duty). We made 2-3 passes here, meeting the rest of the team for the first time this week, who were working downwards, circa half way up the rows of our second pass. We finished here in time for an early lunch, it not being worth starting anything/anywhere else. Lunch was notably good as entrée of couscous with vegetables in a tomato sauce, followed by nice pieces of salmon with pasta.

Break gathering after 1st pass upslope to summit NSG 1er xxxxxxx

Descending in NSG 1er to start cutting upslope

NSG Town ‘proper’ from top of NSG 1er xxxxx

Tractor cases collection at conclusion of NSG 1er xxxxxx

Zoom view of NSG Town Centre & north residential edge from NSG 1er xxxxx

For the afternoon the whole team went to the domaine’s two adjacent NSG high, top of the slope, village crus once a transport problem I’d sort of seen coming had been resolved – somehow ! From day one there had been only two hired Renault Minibuses which, for me on first sight, clearly weren’t going to be enough. Our sub-team had been exclusively using one so I’m not sure how the rest of the main team had been getting about other than walking to the Vosne plots as had been the case in 2023. Seemed a logistical shortcoming, unless deliberate, to only have the two vehicles to supplement the various domaine vehicles. The adjacent plots, separated by a narrow grassy vertical path, had puzzled me in terms of identity in 2023 when Michel (Gros) had clarified matters for me. Just north of NSG, at altitude, such that views south over NSG town, and north towards Vosne are quite something, right at the top of the slope before one gets into scrub of grass and shrubs, we worked a part of Aux Champs Perdrix and then En la Perriere Noblot. Fruit from these sites is blend with that of ‘Aux Athees’ (by the Intermarche), Les Lavieres, and ‘Au Bas de Combe’ for the domaine’s NSG Village. We worked 3 uphill passes of long rows as, with a couple of rest breaks, took us through the afternoon to just after 17.00 hrs. Re-joining with the rest of the team though had one major negative after the relative freedom, peace and camaraderie of our small sub-team as we had joyously been spared the nonsense and stupidity of the Belgian youth scumbag yobs which this afternoon had manifested itself again in their attempts to dump buckets of crap over one of their own number or some other targetted unfortunate. Fortunately, I was always far enough away but, whilst never struck, I did ‘suffer’ with others, the odd bunch of green or other grapes whistling through the air close by directed at one’s person. The nearest one such bunch came to me was a couple of feet away into the leaves of a nearby vine as their aims were well off & the throws being at some distance away. Utter nonsense as could have caused damage/injury to anyone unfortunate to be hit. Absolutely not needed. Hey ho.

Back to base, shower, laptop photo work, dinner & bed. The above was the end of our Cote de Nuits activities, Day 5 Wednesday seeing our first trip to the Hautes-Cotes and that evening the domaine’s vendange Paulee. As I know my enthusiasm for the Hautes-Cotes isn’t, it seems, widely shared I’m minded to condense all our remaining days into my next instalment – but will see when commencing that !
MdMdLV

Domaine Michel Gros Vendange 2024 – Day 3, Monday 23rd Sept

No more rain overnight with a dry, if grey and cloudy, day promised. Usual c6.30 start for breakfast – for me banana, dried apricots and a breakfast bar – all brought from the UK. Black coffee to wash down; occasionally I’d be ‘reckless’ and have a breakfast tea !

Easy decision to consider my Wellington boots (‘wellies’) to remain appropriate as, even without more rain, the vineyard soils remained damp and ‘sticky’ underfoot from previous precipitation. One of my early morning at the domaine gate pre-departure photos this day might make some of you ‘wonder’ at the attire of a few of the older ladies. The fancy dress, or costumes, represented a pre-vendange email circulating ‘themes’ for particular days. Not something myself, or the vast majority of the workforce it seems, wanted to get involved in – tricky enough working in the vines without nonsensical attire. Each to their own though ! What did please me was the arrival yesterday of my young Italian chap friend (annoys me I can’t recall his name, if I ever knew it) from 2023 with his lovely & super well-behaved/well-trained dog, Acho, a Labrador cross type in appearance. Acho just has one of the loveliest, endearing, calm, placid natures of any dog I’ve ever come across – I was delighted to see them both. Their accommodation, for man and beast, was a large, ancient, Fiat van acting as a quasi motorhome, parked in front of the Mairie, Acho’s nightly bed being the front bench seats – not his master’s bed !

Usual early morning pre-departure gathering – some in fancy dress

Well behaved lovely Acho lying quietly on dining cave floor post evening meal

Whilst waiting for ‘kick-off’ departure a distraction from my looking around musings was the cry of a bird. This was a small falcon flying over the domaine buildings but unusually vocal, maybe seeking its mate. In the UK we know such falcons as ‘Kestrels’, quite commonly, and notably, seen hovering over motorway embankments, fields etc. This year I was to see at least one, often two, kestrels over the vines between Vosne and Nuits most days of the vendanges, with it also a year for seeing birds of prey most days in the Hautes-Cotes.

Pic taken to show Morey ElRdV very stony ground & steep slope

Our small sub team remained intact and continuing to operate autonomously. Pierre Gros’ start of the vendange advices to me that the whole team would come together to work Richebourg Grand Cru had not come to pass as that had been ‘done’ by the rest of the team without us. I wasn’t particularly ‘bothered’ as I’d had that experience in 2023 and found it slightly underwhelming for a storied GC. I was much preferring, and enjoying, the small sub team experience this year, and the differing terroirs we were going to which I’d not seen/experienced in 2023. In that vein our initial destination today first thing was back to Morey-St-Denis and ‘En la Rue de Vergy’ – again ! This surprised me simply because I’d thought we’d finished that yesterday afternoon !!! We returned to the same concrete road corner location above the Clos (des Lambrays) with the vehicles, and walked down slope on the southern edge of the Clos to the plot of the day before. In grey and overcast weather we did two more upslope row passes in this area on very steep, and notably stony (see photo), ground. Some of the grapes here were amongst the best I’d personally seen but there was little or no consistency of quality or volume from vine to vine, row to row. Walking back to the vehicles, picking completed, we had the chance to mingle and chat with the Domaine des Lambrays team who were exiting the higher up, above the road, to the tree line, plot they’d been working in. Perusing my ‘Climats et Lieu Dits’ afterwards confirmed the Lambrays personnel had been in village terroir ‘Les Larrets’. I was much taken with, and slightly envious of, their smart, uniform, mid-dark green polo shirts. I’ve never worked for a domaine with similar – nice touch I thought. Their porters were notable for the curious wheelbarrow-type ‘contraptions’ they were using to bring grape cases to the road/vehicles. These ’wheelbarrows’ were, necessarily given vines row width, quite narrow and at the same time long. Seemed to me they must have been a bit of a tricky ‘nightmare’ to push either uphill, and maybe more difficult downhill, whilst keeping level so their ‘cargo’ wouldn’t spill. The socialising with the Lambrays team was nice – seemed no rush on the part of leaders of either team to move on. Had me thinking how rare this sort of inter-action has been, for me at least, as over 15 harvests I can’t actually recall any previous inter-team mixing of this sort.

Tractor to tractor grape cases transfer at summit of Morey

Morey En la Rue Vergy grapes – rare normal look this year (1)

Louis our sub team leader in vine Morey grape sorting

Lambrays Morey Larrets fruit

Lambrays Porter with wheelbarrow in Larrets

Lambrays team mingling with us prior to both teams exiting

From Morey we went further north which, given the domaine’s holdings, had to mean Gevrey – specifically ‘La Platiere’. I believe this was the plot of vines most recently acquired by the domaine but am not able to establish just when that was. On the flatlands eastern side of the D974 as one approaches Gevrey from the south. Located well towards the railway line, La Platiere sits below ‘Grand Champs’, itself below Croix du Champs, and is not, it seems, worthy of a mention in Jasper Morris’ Inside Burgundy book in the pages covering various notable Gevrey village sites. To me, unless it’s the soil, ‘La Platiere’ has little to commend it when looking at the likes of Bourgognes such as Pressonnier and (Arlaud’s) Roncevie.

The weather had improved markedly en route to Gevrey and, parking outside a small industrial shed type building, the only structure for some distance in a ‘sea of vines’, we made our way across a track to a small pile of cases in front of the vines in the sunshine, with high clouds and some blue sky above. The Gros vines (several rows) had been very clearly identified (unusually !) by red and white tape strung across the rows, and additionally, a large piece of white paper had been hung from the tape at its right hand end with ‘Michel Gros’ written on the paper in yellow ink. I was mildly amused at this, never having seen such overt identification – we are usually pointed to the appropriate rows of vines wherever as marked with whatever coloured paint the domaine uses to indicate its ownership – a dirty white for Gros. I could only assume that here whichever of our tractor drivers had previously deposited the cases had gone to the extra effort to clearly identify the target vines. I think, belatedly, we might have only made the one pass here pre-lunch as the rows are very long which is intimidating if one has any level of fatigue ! A slightly amusing incident occurred on departure as I was at the back of van or minibus, having loaded our bits and bobs of plastic water barrels, plastic cups, odd buckets etc but my driver seemingly hadn’t realised I hadn’t embarked and set off without me but, fortunately for me, having only pulled forward a few yards the vehicle was halted by the shouted warnings of my colleagues I was about to be left behind !! Much amusement as I made it into the vehicle – and so back to Vosne.

Arrival 1st look at Gevrey La Platiere – Gros rows extent tape marked

Note for avoidance of doubt on 1st row on right at Gevrey La Platiere

Post lunch, we returned to Gevrey and undertook two more passes. I was slightly hampered as I’d somehow forgotten my knee pads doh but managed ok without this time. Departing Gevrey I was intrigued where we’d go next but in the possibilities of my thought processes I hadn’t considered Boncourt-le-Bois, or actually the vinous & agricultural areas either side of the main railway line before reaching the above hamlet in the countryside north of Nuits. I was already familiar with the plots of vines we were heading for as Domaine Michel Noellat have vines in both the locations we’d be at this afternoon and I’d worked in those in 2019 & 2020. I’d have happily continued/been at Noellat but, I think for 2022 and since, that charming domaine had moved 100% to employment of contract picking team(s), dispensing with local and intern vendangeurs – a shame (for yours truly particularly as I’d loved 2019 & 2020). I’m assuming that as Michel Gros and Michel Noellat have vines either side of the railway (Bourgogne Cote D’Or I believe) then guess that may be the case for other Vosne domaines.

Both our locations are reached by turning left off the D974 main road (coming south) just after the Le Richebourg & Restaurant La Toute Petite Auberge businesses onto the initially narrow D109G. Our first target site is before, but alongside (very close !) to the railway. Turning off the road to the right before coming to the last few houses before the rail line a track takes one along the rear of those houses to the railway then turns right for a short distance to the vines – ours were just past the railway signal box and another railway associated building which seemed to relate to the overhead power supply. Not one of the most ‘compelling’ terroirs, and for this year, far from compelling grapes in either quality or quantity – in fact pretty poor in both respects and thus a tedious exercise. The only saving grace was we didn’t spend too long here and doubled, or tripled up, to a row it wasn’t too tedious. A close eye was kept on Onyx to be sure he didn’t get too close to the railway. This section of line between Dijon and Beaune (and beyond both I assume) always fascinates me at how busy it is with a wide of variety of very regular train traffic from TGV, local units, and all manner of freight trains. The signalling must be extremely efficient to ensure all runs smoothly. I was particularly intrigued (not that I’m a serious train spotter in the UK or France !!!) to note one passing freight train appeared to be hauled by a UK rail freight company diesel locomotive – I wasn’t aware, other than Eurostar, any UK originating trains operated into France, and not this far south.

Train interest aside, we exited our first underwhelming site, the way we’d come into it and back onto the D109G, and the narrow underpass beneath the railway, following the road immediately right and then, after a sharp left-hand bend, gently upwards onto the wider plateau. From the D109G, the extensive area of vines stretching north into the far distance were on our left, to the right an almost equally extensive area of sunflowers looking very ready for harvesting. Exiting the vehicles we seemed to mill about a while for no apparent reason(s) whilst our leaders sorted themselves out and how/when we got cracking. Arriving, I’d been particularly struck (one could hardly miss it !) by an incredibly large, in relation to the myriad others around it, sunflower – almost ‘triffid’ like. A definite photo opportunity.

Our bigger of 2 vehicles at Bourgogne Rouge plot on Vosne side of railway by signal or power building

Pre start rest at Boncourt le Bois BR plot

Back to our raison d’etre – grape picking ! Well, if any site encapsulated the 2024 vintage (for Gros at least) here we had it (or lack of !). I could hardly believe what we experienced & am now trying to describe. I was paired with another, quiet, older guy with our allocated row on the far right of the plot we were working with unused land to our right. We didn’t so much work our row as just, honestly, walk along it looking for grapes of which there were precious few cum next to none, and what very few there were highly unimpressive and materially mildew affected. Our bemused ‘stroll’ to the end of the row produced an end result of a smattering of poor grapes in my bucket, with the others not much better off. Quite remarkable as I could recall the Noellat years seeing significant volume from vines not too far away. We then moved as a group some yards west to more (all long here) rows. These rows were ‘better’ in a loose sense, as not as ‘bad’ as the first ones, but still the quantity and quality of fruit was poor. All seemed a notable waste of time and effort, and if I’ve ever worked an area of vines were machine harvesting might have been appropriate then here we had it.

By the time we’d finished our ‘efforts’ here and got back to the domaine it was c17.30. There was a suggestion of rain again for Tuesday – we’d see for what, whilst I didn’t realise it would be our last day on the Cote, before heading into the Hautes-Cotes on the Wednesday. Wine at dinner capped a nice end to the day – Vosne 2022 1er cru Brulees – maybe infanticide but very Yum !!!!

MdMdlV

Domaine Michel Gros Vendange 2024 – Day 2, Sunday 22nd Sept

Last year, as best I can recall now, we didn’t work Sundays which were free days but, and perhaps as only our second day this year, there was no sign nor prospect of such ‘luxury’ here.

After a very annoying occurrence during the night which badly, and inexcusably, saw the ‘beauty sleep’ of myself and room sharer, Guy, disrupted, to say nothing of our privacy (will say no more about this here), making my way over the yard to the dining cave building for breakfast it was apparent we’d also had light rain only overnight. The consensus amongst the Meteo sages over breakfast, including Michel (Gros), who’s weather forecasting ability had been impressively spot on last year, was that there’d be no more rain until the next night i.e 22nd/23rd. But, post breakfast, and meandering over to our gathering area outside the new building, I noticed others were busy moving in and out of the new building equipping themselves with the wet weather gear (clothing, rubber boots etc.) the domaine provided (laid out on pallets) for those stupid enough, or too lazy, to bring their own. With the odd curse to myself I hurried back to my room to get my Wellington boots (‘wellies’), cagoule, and over trousers albeit keeping the latter in their bag for now.

Cuverie yard early a.m. gathering

New building with domaine wet weather gear laid out

The first destination of our select sub-team little band was another new (to work in) terroir to me – Nuits-St-Georges Aux Murgers, adjacent to Aux Vignerondes from yesterday, and below Chaignots & La Richemone. The small extent of the domaine’s holdings in Murgers and Vignerondes lead to grapes from these terroirs being blended into the Nuits-St-Georges 1er cru. Average production I believe circa 600-900 bottles. I’d asked Pierre about producing separate 1er crus but he shrugged and explained that amount of grapes/wine per individual terroir led to a preference to blend – understandable I suppose; as was our small in number sub-team of this year working these terroirs, which I’d not experienced last year. I’d not previously considered a valuable (to me) side effect of being in the smaller sub-team but, enjoying now, this was great ! Namely, we were away from the main group, but in particular, the ridiculous, undesirable, element of scumbag Belgian youth and their propensity, as well as being lazy/slow, to distract themselves by throwing bunches of grapes around the vines at unsuspecting individuals, as well as looking to tip buckets of filth, grapes etc over AN Other – apparently a bizarre ‘initiation’ ceremony for a new, first year, worker. Doubtless my previously making clear this would not happen to me or consequences would follow, and nor did I consider hurling grapes around, or throwing bread at meal times, to be ‘clever’, had led to my lack of popularity in Belgium – which I couldn’t care less about.

NSG 1er cru Les Meurgers fruit

NSG 1er cru Les Meurgers top of slope post completion

NSG 1er cru Les Meurgers top of slope post completion3

Team members in NSG 1er cru Les Meurgers

It didn’t take us long to work Murgers and, to be quite honest, I can’t now recollect much about it, even prompted by the few photos taken although the latter suggest the grapes here weren’t ‘bad’ in context of what we experienced elsewhere. Done by c10.30 we moved off to Vougeot, taking the D25 briefly from the Vougeot/Gilly RN74 roundabout then right onto & along the Rue de L’Ancienne Nationale, behind the Total Energies Filling Station on the RN74, stopping/parking outside the last couple of houses looking north just before the Rue rejoined the main road. Initially, I was bemused by our street location and where we might be going but what followed was probably the most bizarre entry, and subsequent exit, to vines I’ve ever had, or will have ! Our on-foot destination into the vines turned out to be down the narrowest of rough underfoot, weed-filled path (in Northern England we’d call this a ginnel – a narrow passage between buildings) between two homes, down which we carried everything we’d need including cases as well as bucket etc. Emerging from said path, hey presto (!) we emerged, on this grey, dank, overcast morning into an unprepossessing plot of Chambolle Village vines – namely Les Nazoires. Another first for me & quite bizarre in terms of access!

Chambolle Village Route Nationale side pre start

Chateau du Clos de Vougeot from RN74 ChambolleVillage

Vougeot frontage to unreal entry to Chambolle Village2

We moved around in Les Nazoires with 3 or 4 row passes before moving en vehicule to a RN 74 roadside location for what was either Les Mombies or Les Maladiere. It was the one of those two in which is the white roadside sign for the Caveau des Musigny – I think must have been the former but am far from sure now ! All this took us up to lunch, or time to depart to get back for said meal. I quite like these varied mornings or afternoons as time passes quickly without ‘dragging’ and the cooler weather was a definite plus. Bits of light rain/precipitation had come and gone through the morning but nothing serious to impact work.

Post lunch took us back to the Chambolle Village roadside location initially to the plot of either Mombies or Maladiere we hadn’t ‘done’ pre lunch. Nothing remarkable or memorable to comment on here, but our next location was a great deal more interesting. This was still Chambolle but quite different to our three previous largely flat locations. We were in a steepish/sloping “Les Argillieres”. The domaine describe this thus, note the reference to Musigny, which more than one of my colleagues verbally referenced to me:-
“The main parcel (42 ares) is situated in the Argillières, the name of which gives a clue of the nature of the soil. This parcel continues the Musigny vines in the North at the entrance of the Chambolle comb. This parcel produces a cuvée with an unusual strength and density for a Chambolle village, and in this view it is rather similar to a Premier Cru.”

The domaine quote the vine age across the various areas of Chambolle Village as 50 yrs old. We somehow managed to get the vehicles to the top of the slope before we alighted and walked down to pick coming back up as customary. Before descending I managed to grab a quick picture of our little group for ‘posterity’ ! We had two passes at different points in this terroir, one almost on the ‘corner’ of the hill around which was Musigny with ‘Les Amoureuses’ below. We weren’t that far away as best I could tell from the Domaine Michel Noellat Chambolle Village I’d worked in during the 2019 and 2020 (Covid affected) harvests – but Argillieres seems pretty special and is now my Village site favourite. I can’t now, with passage of time, recall grape quality, and quantity here but my brief end-of-day scribbles don’t include anything negative. I do remember at some point during the vendange, and from a hillside site (could have been this one), musing to myself (easy to do a lot of musing whilst working !) on whether I had formed a sufficiently solid impression that grape quality was better, & mildew damage seemed less, from altitude sites but I never ultimately decided on thoe aspects to fully convince myself one way or another – it was that sort of a harvest ! The rain, or drizzle, immediately post lunch & in Chambolle Argillieres had been kind to us i.e held off but the heaviest was to come/return as we concluded our afternoon in yet another new to me terroir, and the one that reflecting post vendange completion, was my favourite – for no other reason than I liked it best, even on a wet and grey late afternoon.

Chambolle Village hillside vines around hill from Musigny

Commencing hillside Chambolle Village around hill from Musigny GC

My select bunch sub team at top of hillside Chambolle Village

Our final p.m destination, after a little more vehicle travelling, and after our van had to pause a while in Morey centre to await the other which had become detached, was another first:- Morey En la Rue de Vergy (‘ElRdV’). Am not sure why but, curiously on a personal basis, notwithstanding 9 harvest years of working and living in Morey-St-Denis, I’d never been up to the high parts of the village, and not above Clos des Lambrays or Clos de Tart. The other producers with vines here (ElRdV) I know are, in no particular order:- Bruno Clair, Aurelien Verdet, and Lignier-Michelot but doubtless, there are others.

Morey from above Clos des Lambrays

Positioning to start MSD En la Rue de Vergy in rain (1)

Positioning to start MSD En la Rue de Vergy in rain (2)

Top section of MSD En la Rue de Vergy with our camion

We approached by going high up the village until, with Cote Rotie on our right, we turned left onto a well-made concrete/cement type road, with the Clos des Lambrays below us, and the likes of other village sites La Bidaude and Les Larrets above us. We proceeded the length of the road until it turned sharply left, and steeply, down the southern edge of the Clos des Lambrays at which point we disembarked the vehicles, then walking (little hard to stop oneself’s momentum becoming too much so steep was the road) a little way downslope and right into En la Rue de Vergy at its bottom edge. I noted with interest the Clos des Lambrays had been picked – not a bunch of grapes in sight ! We had time to do one pass here, upslope, one person to a row. Finishing this one pass that was ‘it’ for the day, the rain, typically, stopping as we left ! Our return to Vosne was a meandering tour through the vines, with it a late almost 17.30 by the time we got back, well behind the rest of the overall team who’d clearly been back a while !

At summit of MSD En la Rue de Vergy post completion

Fruit bucket MSD En la Rue de Vergy

Onyx post completion of MSD En la Rue de Vergy

View back to MSD Hautes from above Lambrays

Somewhat fatigued, a shower was the order of the day. A word on our evenings:- dinner was circa 20.00 hours, in practice more often than not a little later. Pre-dinner, unless one had one’s own beer, the drinks offering was red wine and cassis, or just the red wine if one didn’t care for it with cassis. For the most part i.e lunch, pre-dinner drinks, and unless Michel and/or Pierre opened more ‘superior’ wines with dinner (as they invariably did e.g NSG Village, NSG Chaliots, Bourgogne Cote d’Or, HCDN Fontaine St Martin) the red is/was an interesting wine I’d become familiar with in 2023. In brief, the domaine takes the pressings from all their other cuvees, and presses again to extract the max residual juice – this then forming our unclassified ‘Vin de Table’ – the latter my name for it. Very drinkable always. I suppose I should have asked if 2021/22/23 but that never occurred to me. As in 2023 the catering was provided by an external ‘Traiteur’ who delivered daily (twice I think) in large ‘warm’ boxes. Our catering team, with last year’s chef (my then room-mate) indisposed at the eleventh-hour pre-vendange for personal reasons this year, was a very young twosome who travelled in daily from Dijon. The young lady of the twosome was Manon, an engaging, bubbly & always cheery personality, her colleague/friend (never established if he was actually the boyfriend) a hardworking young man with blond highlights & tattoos who’s name now escapes me. Both were very friendly and chatty with me at all times which was appreciated and responded to accordingly. They had to prepare the dining cave, dish out the meals into large serving dishes and provide for each table, and then clear up, wash up etc afterwards. They did well.

Tomorrow, Monday, would be a dry day when we operated for the most part north of Vosne before a mid to late afternoon session back in the Vosne locale across the railway lines at Boncourt-le-Bois.

MdMdlV

Domaine Michel Gros Vendange 2024 – Day 1, Saturday 21st Sept

After travelling, arrival day and evening socials/dinner, this was ‘it’, day one for this vintage which, maybe more than usual, has had one wondering what might be in store given the much-trailed 2024 weather issues and effects to this point.

Had forgotten what sort of timing I’d used last year for getting up, ready, and early into breakfast but settled on rising here at c6.30 which seemed ok when I made it into the dining cave to see only the well-known older regulars from last year who presided over laying out breakfast materials and brewing the all-important very strong black coffee. Tea bags of varying types were available but to ‘brew up’ required a tea bag in mug with a microwave to heat the water – a dubious-looking microwave of some ‘vintage’ who’s turntable no longer turned !!!

I’d come prepared with my own bananas, breakfast bars and soft apricots which would suit me thro the vendange rather than the huge hunks of bread, chunks of butter, and confiture the regulars were used to/put away, and dip into their coffee – not for me !!!

Back to my room post breakfast for teeth brushing and gathering my stuff:- camera, knee pads, gloves, and, on this dry-looking day, old Merrell trainers which are my gardening/exterior of the home footwear in the UK. Ambling to the plot across the road from the domaine gates where we habitually gather, and were the vehicles are (tractors x 4; 2 v Renault Minibuses, large white Peugeot van, plus assorted smaller white vans and blue 9-seat Citroen Jumpy, any number of familiar from last year faces greeted me cheerily and enquired as to my health etc.

The standout feature for me was the new Gros building which had been under construction last year, and I recall may have been started in 2022. Purpose various to give the domaine more covered space. Immediately, the building looked finished but closer inspection revealed not – both in exterior & interior aspects (roof edgings, no guttering/downpipes etc, and inside a bathroom, toilet and shower area to be fitted out. The building though, I guessed work having paused for the vendange, is quite attractive different in terms of what I can only describe as 3D type brickwork (see photo[s], which hopefully Bill will publish, which I’ve not seen before and certainly differentiates it from others of similar type. The exterior whiteish smooth hardstanding (concrete ?) is complete as are impressive & neat exterior walls edging along the street.

Return of Onyx yay !

Day1 c8.00 am gathering in front of new building pre dearture

Amongst one of the later arrivals, in battered large white panel van, I was delighted to see one of last year’s canine specials, the largely white, wolfish looking, in practice very friendly, Onyx – and, bless him, as I called his name thro the van side window he wagged his tail for me from within. His elderly, dishevelled looking, short gent, Guy, greeted me warmly. We would partner up cutting rows in HCDN En Fretoilles in days to come.

Temporary office lady, Sarah (ex Patriarche), all the while recording our individual attendances via clipboard, is a long-term substitute for last year’s fiercely efficient Juliette whom, Pierre Gros had told me in response to my pre vendange email enquiry, is on a long-term sickness absence (reason not given and I didn’t ask).

My pre-vendange strategy now came into play here ! Last year, whilst I’d participated, amongst others, in working in Clos des Reas, Richebourg, and Vosne 1er Brulees, I’d missed out on the likes of Clos de Vougeot Maupertuis and Echezeaux plus some other ‘lesser’ terroirs. The latter top sites had been worked, as had a number of the other attractive to me terroirs, by a smaller sub-team split off from the whole workforce, and with their own moving around transport. Consequently, in response to one of Pierre Gros’ later pre-vendange emails I’d asked, politely not cheekily, if I might be part of any smaller team this year. His reply had been a no problem affirmative with the obvious caveat that I remind him on the first morning (as here) which now I politely did. He readily & casually confirmed ‘the plan’ pointing me to one of the two Renault minibuses with senior ‘players’, driver Fabian and Christelle, both of whom I knew slightly from last year. Isn’t it good when a plan comes off 😉 ? The sub-team also utilised a large white ageing (presumably domaine-owned) Peugeot van driven by a youngish guy, name of Louis, who I didn’t recall from last year.

If any readers at this point just want to know what we did during the day without reading more then I can summarise thus:- Morning:- Vougeot, then Echezeaux to neatly take us up to lunch. Afternoon:- a plot of Nuits-St-Georges Village (think this was La Charmotte, if not then Aux Saint Juliens) followed, by a ‘close of play’ Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Aux Vignerondes.

To Vougeot in more detail. Little tricky to describe exactly where we entered the Clos and the Gros vines are (just slightly along from the entry in the wall). If one imagines The Clos ‘roughly’ as a rectangle then our location was very roughly south west; Grands Echezeaux being on the other side of the wall. The Gros vines are ‘further round’ coming from the south, nearer to the Chateau (if still a way from it), than the Domaine Michel Noellat Vougeot vines I’ve worked in previously. Assuming Bill publishes the appropriate photo(s) one can gain a better idea of our location by assessing against where the Chateau is over the sea of vines.

Rooftops and chimneys of Chateau du Clos Vougeot across the vines

View along Vougeot top wall to our vehicles

Row pass finish rest period Vougeot

Row pass finish rest period2 Vougeot

Vougeot better grapes – not many like these

Fairly mixed quantity & quality of Vougeot grapes

This day was by some margin the best day weather-wise of our vendange – after this matters, meteo wise, became clouded in uncertainty (and worse) but a bright, cloudless, sky morning set the tone for the day – I subsequently saw 25°C during the afternoon, must have been on the vehicle dash. As a Saturday, Vosne was very sleepy as we left (the rest of the workforce were ‘doing’ Clos des Reas) with the main road quiet before we turned off it and took a back route to the Vougeot wall. The clear sky already featured two distant hot air balloons to the east. These were a portent of quite a bit of aerial activity through the day with any number of different aircraft – the NSG aerodrome must have been busy. Three, presumably French Air Force fighters or training aircraft, flew over mid-morning east to west heading for the top of the Cote D’Or escarpment. No idea what type they were – but distinctive with long noses and fuselage before stubby un-swept wings, and short further rear fuselage to the upright tail. I can’t recall now how many rows of vines Gros have here or whether we were doubled up in the rows, guess we were. As a first sighter to this vintage, the grapes were very much less than impressive – scrappy, bitty, small bunches and clear evidence of mildew. I was subsequently to ask Pierre Gros about the yield here. He came back to me with 4 differing terroir yields – I’ll cover those off in Day 2 or Day 3s words – but suffice to say not ‘good’, quite the contrary.

From Vougeot seemed but a short ‘hop’ to the Gros Echezeaux plot. This was very appealing on the eye (or mine anyway) indeed. I’m confused.com as I type this in terms of Lieux-Dit. Say this as I’d understood, or thought I did, that the Gros plot is in ‘Les Loachausses’ but where we were, with a bit of gentle upslope altitude, is at odds with the map in my ‘Climats & Lieux Dits’ “bible”. I’ve worked in both the Arlaud & Michel Noellat plots, which are actually very close to each other, and they are both in Les Treux to my understanding. I’m going to have to ask but for now guess we were in “Du Dessus” or ‘Les Poulailleres’.

Decent bunch of Echezeaux grapes

Decent bunch of Echezeaux grapes2

Domaine’s case collecting tractor in Echezeaux

Echezeaux grapes – overall much better than Vougeot

Echezeaux grapes about to depart pre lunch2

Fallow Gros Echezeaux for Spring 2025 replanting

At this point I halted my typing as time for dinner loomed. This was an opportunity to ask Michel about my puzzle. This got me absolutely nowhere as he seemed as bemused as me, confirming their vines are indeed in ‘Les Loachausses’, so for now I’m baffled but thinking is there an error in the mapping in my above ”bible” ? Whatever……….!! The Gros plot we were looking at had above it a fallow section of neatly tilled soil where whatever vines had existed previously had been pulled out – no sign remaining. Someone in our group told me replanting here was planned for Spring 2025. I could but guess in that obtaining the vines back they’d been ‘inherited’ in a poor state. So, in totality the Michel Gros overall plot consisted of the existing rows of vines below, and the ‘empty’ section, and also, maybe curiously, included two old-vine planted rows above the ‘empty’ section which we rattled through after the main element. What was clear, and good, was the quality of the grapes in Echezeaux. A very significant improvement on Vougeot and almost ‘normal’ – whilst quality of what grapes there were looked very good, and signs of mildew were much less prevalent, more volume would have been ‘good’. Anyway, a decent way to go into lunch.

Post lunch took us to another, for me, new location & an unusual one too. Assembling, we were almost, apart from a narrow tarmac road, but up to a fence separating us from the car park of the NSG Intermarche ! We seemed to hang about here for a while prior to getting going, not sure why. Just along the road to our right from where we were standing was a white, flat bed truck with bored looking driver – turned out he was from Louis Latour, waiting for his picking team to arrive – they subsequently did after we had got going and, sizeable in number, picked rows adjacent to us.

About to start NSG Village plot adjacent to Intermarche Store

Pre start of NSG Village by Intermarche store

View from NSG Village of Cote D’Or upslope

Whilst we were waiting to get going I noted with amusement a woman sat alongside the two laundromat washing machines on the outside of the Intermarche who was accompanied by two largish dogs of mastiff or fighting type breed. Some minutes later the inevitable happened in that Onyx managed to find a gap in the fence to the car park, and without regard for his size, immediately started fighting with one of the aforementioned dogs. Fortunately, the woman was accompanied by a guy who hadn’t been visible previously and between them they separated the snarling dogs &, with much shouting from us, naughty instigator Onyx came back to us without ‘damage’. Ten out of ten to him for bravery though ! It was hot, hot, hot here as the afternoon progressed with 2/3 passes of the quite ling village grapes rows. Something of a thirst-inducing slog ! Mixed results in that some decent grapes but again mildew evident.

From the above site we moved not too far away, to another new one to me to add to my ‘worked in collection’. This was mid-slope NSG 1er Aux Vignerondes, on the north side again of NSG, situated between Aux Boussselots & Aux Murgers. I wrote ‘split site’ here but can’t now recall exactly what I meant by this but have a recollection the lower set of rows upslope ended in a grassy sward with another set of rows above this, which saw us split into two groups to work the rows. Again small yields were the order of the day. Completing work in this premier cru took us to a close for this first day.

Mixed quality NSG 1er cru Aux Vignesrondes grapes.

Part team in NSG 1er cru Aux Vignesrondes late in day

View to NSG from 1er Aux Vignesrondes

Back to the domaine and room I figured, if I were quick, I’d be well placed to be the first of the 4 of us guys in the 2 rooms on our landing to get in the unoccupied shower but, to my frustration, whilst I was dumping my working gear, collecting my washbag, towel etc the Dutch guy in the next room beat me into the shower – nothing for it but to wait what seemed an age for him to do his ablutions.

At some stage either here or earlier M. Nanson had messaged me to mention he’d be finished in Vosne c19.00 hrs and suggesting a meet up at the Liger-Belair La Cuverie de Vosne, conveniently all but next door to me. Eventually, a little after the appointed hour, contact ! Nice bottle of Chablis lubricated a brief conversation before ‘Sir’ had to head off to his car, and a return to Switzerland for the duration of my vendange, meaning no Beaune session for once and thus 3 ‘redundant’ bottles I’d brought from the UK (2 of which subsequently returned with me).

And so to bed ! Day 2 to come with a marked change in the weather, another NSG 1er cru, plenty of Chambolle village before concluding in a charming site in dear ole Morey-St-Denis.
MdMdlV

Domaine Michel Gros Vendange Sept 2024 Preamble

Bonjour Tout les Monde ! MdMdlV reporting in ahead of this latest Burgundy grape harvest (vendange); my 15th in total, ‘across’ 5 domaines, and my 2nd at the understated, modest, yet most excellent Domaine Michel Gros.

In the last couple of months, there’s been a welcome, and in part very interesting, regular number of personal emails from Pierre Gros (son of Michel who’s still ‘around’). Readers who followed my experience last year will recall we saw and heard not a lot from Pierre as his wife gave birth to their 2nd (I think – had thought 3rd but believe that’s incorrect) child not long after the harvest commenced, hence, he understandably disappeared with Father Michel, supposed to be stepping back, actually stepping in to ‘run the show’ which was brilliant for me as Michel is a lovely character, in a quiet way, with excellent English (though he denies this), appreciated my interest in all things terroir related, and seemed to either warm to me, or take pity on me, insisting on my taking favoured passenger seat status daily in his ageing Toyota Land Cruiser rather than slumming it in one of the minibuses or vans, and regularly talking me through various terroir, vinous, and domaine history aspects whilst we motored about.

Pierre’s emails commenced with seeking:- a) confirmation from regulars and previous attendees that we would be coming this year; and b) whether that would be for the full harvest including the Hautes-Cotes (me – of course, the whole thing), or just the first part encompassing the Cote d’Or vineyards. I’d been quite surprised at the extent of personnel changes after week 1 last year. He later moved on to ask us all to request/order the Domaine’s 2022 wines we wanted to buy with the benefit of 20% vendangeur discount – a handy ‘perk’ ! as these would need to be bottled, labelled, foiled and packed pre-harvest. With each of his emails, he included quite detailed commentary on the likes of what had happened/was happening in the vinous year and with such as flowering, veraison, weather influences/impact etc etc. I’ve never seen/had this sort of hugely interesting information flow before but very much appreciated it although from minute 1 there was a good deal of bad news around weather impacts as Bill has similarly, and from a wider perspective, covered off e.g the very wet weather thro the year (as featured in the UK, or parts of it), resultant mildew, odium, rot etc and consequently how the vignerons had been restricted in getting into the vines to address/treat the above.

I was eventually a little surprised at how early he did so when Pierre called the vendange start for Saturday 21st Sept, requesting the ‘lodgers’ arrive/convene for the evening of the 20th – can’t recall exactly when now but was a few weeks ahead but seemed to me this was a late starting year, which personally had not seen for quite a few years, and which might consequently go into early October – the potential for similarities to the into October 2013 shocker at Arlaud made me shudder cum wince recalling that annus horribilis!

So, after researching and mulling travel options, and equipping myself with the necessary tackle (new gloves) the afternoon of the 19th saw my departure from my NW England home with my BMW newly featuring Crit Air Sticker, Fulli peage badge, and UK Sticker to rear left of the licence (number) plate, the latter as an understated alternative to a large UK sticker elsewhere on the rear of the car. Last year I had such a larger UK Sticker on the rear window which prompted my wife at the time to pithily observe “could you not get a larger one” ! No m’dear, or smaller, as that was all that was then available in my local motor factors. The destination was again, as last year, Newhaven, Sussex for the DFDS Transmanche Ferries overnight crossing to Dieppe from whence to Vosne via Rouen, skirting Paris, then the A6 past Chablis, to Beaune, NSG, then arrive. My ferry departure timetable was 23.00 hrs, docking Dieppe 5.00 a.m French time which would allow pacing myself to Burgundy for anticipated arrival circa lunchtime/early afternoon. I had planned to leave home circa 14.00 hours, with DFDS requiring vehicles & passengers to ‘book in‘ 90 minutes pre sailing time i.e 21.30, for the circa 320 UK miles (c 510 km), which should allow no rush and some contingency. As it was I was ready to go by c13.30 so with little point waiting, off I went. Trouble free run to Newhaven with modest diversion into Lewes for a fuel top up at a favoured filling station. Was in plenty of time at the ferry terminal, joining 8/9 other cars and a couple of caravans in a queue to await passport checking etc. On the ferry, without a cabin for economy purposes, and not having ‘enjoyed’ the ‘airline’ seats last year, I joined several other folk on a padded circular bench seat in the forward viewing lounge to stretch out and seek some kip – which I actually got for a change !

On time into Dieppe with smart offloading & I was on my way in the darkness. Trouble free run to Rouen. Here, some apparent major route works had diversions and for a while I was nervous, despite my satnav, I might be heading for the likes of Le Havre or Brittany but with mentally fingers crossed I soon saw signs including Paris and the autoroute thereto.

It was somewhere after here my peage badge came into play for the first time with a serious degree of nervous anticipation on my part that it would work as the instructions and videos (latter watched several times up to home departure) suggested. Worry thee not, oh yee of little faith !!! Approaching the first peage, much more cautiously than confident others, as I got very close a ‘beep’ sound emanated within the car – presumably from the windscreen affixed badge, followed almost immediately it seemed by the approaching barrier ‘magically’ lifting, and green light on the peage kerb indicating ‘go’. Wow, serious result !!!! No more right-hand drive car solo occupant issues. Marvellous – this and the following same peage experiences being the highlight of my journey. Technology in action!

Trouble free run down to outskirts of Paris. Hereabouts I came majorly ‘unstuck’ last year having not at that point programmed the satnav instead seeking to rely on a printed route finder which actually turned out to be difficult to read & follow given the route and changes whilst keeping eyes on the roads. I actually found myself lost in Paris last year which included at one point unintentionally going round in a ‘circle’. Only parking up and belatedly setting the satnav to Nuits St Georges did I extract the car and myself, getting back on track after losing a shedload of time. This year the satnav did the business for me but, on very busy, slow moving, roads (this was c8.00 a.m. hence presumably Paris commuter traffic), with various direction changes I could very well see how I’d come unstuck last year.

Anyway, eventually leaving Paris behind, the A6 took me past Chablis and other notable places, with just a couple of Aire stops to clear the windscreen insects, to the outskirts of Beaune then a quick other autoroute ‘hop’ to come off at Nuits then following the route via Boncourt le Bois to arrive in Vosne at a, to me, impressive c11.30.

Quite sleepy hollow at Gros but I soon met Pierre who confirmed I had the same room as last year & would be sharing with a Guy (as in gee not guy). Was able to leisurely unload my luggage/gear, seemingly maybe first to arrive, have some of my journey (home prepared) sandwiches, then contemplate my next move. Gros wise the next key event was the evening social gathering, circa 19.30, ahead of our first communal dinner otherwise the afternoon was mine. Some little time ahead of the vendange I’d been in online touch with a gentleman on a UK wine forum – we’d corresponded for some time as amused like minds on aspects of the forum and individuals but had never, until now, met in person. My correspondent had told me he and his wife, on holiday in the south of France, would be calling at Domaine Ravaut, Buisson on their journey north thro France at c14.00hrs to collect ordered wines before continuing to the UK and their Scottish home. We’d loosely ‘talked’ of meeting at Ravaut (a domaine I have really appreciated for some years and visited myself 2/3 times but not for a few years).

Clearly my early arrival on the Cote now made this easily feasible when I’d anticipated the opposite. So, a leisurely temporary leaving of Vosne down to Buisson. Didn’t seem much activity at all as I might have expected in the vines (ok, lunchtime) but the same had applied late morning from NSG to Vosne. I mused was this a matter of domaines/maisons having started harvesting earlier and finished, or was it alternatively, the opposite ? We’d see. I’d no sooner got to Buisson and was manoeuvring my car outside Ravaut when my contact phoned me to see if I’d made it, told me he and his wife were leaving Pernand and would be with me shortly. By this time the Ravaut team had finished their lunch break and departed for the vines. Success, my man and wife, with newer BMW than mine, soon appeared and after warm greetings etc we made our way into Ravaut. A smiling M. Ravaut met us in the yard (name escapes me hear – Philippe ?), with smiley (sister ?) Celine also in attendance. I was humbly taken that I was recognised and warmly greeted not having called for a while. My friend acquired his wines then we were offered a viewing of the Ravaut cuverie set up in action – neat, busy, and impressive. Also with us was a very cute & friendly Cairn terrier, by the name of Larry – sweet little dog which the breed aren’t always ! I hadn’t thought of acquiring any Ravaut wines previously but the opportunity seemed to good to miss so I asked an agreeable Celine if I could order some wine for my collection at the conclusion of the Gros vendange. Ready agreement thus 6 bottles of Aligote and 6 of the Ladoix Village blanc reserved.

Guess the domaine…….

Ravaut Triage Setup2

Domaine Gaston & Pierre Ravaut Triage Table

Ravaut Triage Setup3

Ravaut Triage Setup4

Larry (the Cairn) Ravaut (1)

Visit concluded, we exchanged parting pleasantries and went our separate ways. For the rest of my afternoon I toured slowly parts of the Cote de Nuits, mainly close to Vosne. I noted a team in a part of Richebourg very close to the Michel Gros vines so this must have been one of the other family Gros domaine teams. The latter part of my tour took me up to the Concouer-Corboin plateau were I was intrigued to note a different type of (machine) harvesting – of sunflower seeds by an impressively large combine harvester which chomped its way through the sunflowers with some ease !

Hautes-Cotes de Nuit Sunflower Seed Harvesting2

Domaine Michel Gros Daily Timetable Notice

Domaine Michel Gros Dining Cave at breakfast

Domaine Michel Gros Dining Cave

Gros Dining Cave 1st evening

Drifting back to Vosne I was gratified to find the Douche (shower) near my room actually had warm/hot water – had not been the case on arrival last year as I’d found to my chilly, bracing, teeth chattering cost ! Good to shower away the 24 hours plus travelling, change, meet the now arrived room sharer Guy, a nice man, change, and saunter to the courtyard (shared with Mugneret-Gibourg) for the evening social gathering then dinner (plenty of familiar from last year and new faces). And so to bed !

First day proper Saturday to come with, not too shabbily, a start of two Grand Crus !
MdMdlV

It’s true – I’ve bored you enough about a year that has experienced wave after wave of rain – but with some nice sunny days too. Unfortunately, for many producers, the balance has seemed to be more in favour of the rain this year, evidenced by even more thunder-storms in the Côte d’Or over the weekend – and so my message is unchanged.

If you haven’t been hailed, it’s predominantly been a year of fighting the mildew.

The best exposed and drained soils — unsurprisingly, mainly in the grand cru locations — have suffered less, but it’s not all roses here either. A simple walk around Montrachet will reveal beautiful bunches but also bunches with dried-out grapes (due to mildew) or grapes pitted by hail impacts — as good as the location is, it’s no protection from the hail.

I was in Beaujolais and the Mâconnais last Thursday and saw the first truck-loads of white grapes heading to wineries – but in this early case, the grapes were for crémant – these are always picked earlier, at closer to 11% potential alcohol than the 12-13% of the still wines. But I did also see a single team harvesting reds too. A few more were in the vines over the weekend – notably Lafarge-Vial.

I chatted with Richard Rottiers who can easily position the vintage at the top and the tail of greater Burgundy:

“2022 and 2023 were two good years for volume so I have managed to keep some stock here in Beaujolais – fortunately! – because 2024 is a year with lot of mildew – it was very hard to fight against the ‘fungals’ with this year’s rain. It all depends on where the storms went; I lost a lot due to hail in some parts of Moulin à Vent and none at all in other vineyards. I will start my harvesting on Monday (9th September) as I already have sectors with 13-14°. I think I will have half a harvest but I have some friends here who may not harvest at all…
“Likewise, the volume in Chablis was very good last year – fortunately – this year I think 5-10 hl/ha is realistic !!”

“5-10 hl/ha” – that would be pretty shocking – 10-20% of a normal harvest volume – and Richard (Domaine des Malandes) has about 5 hectares that are protected by hail nets…

Anecdotal, but the vines around Solutre looked nice last week – still some sub-optimal bunches – but easy to triage, indeed avoid cutting completely…

My own ‘home’ domaine in Beaune will be starting their harvest next Monday (16th September) – Dujac, maybe, on the 17th, though many more in the Côte de Nuits will be waiting almost another week. There are, of course, many outliners too in the Côte d’Or – Thibaut Clerget is starting in a couple of days and the team of de Montille was already picking some pinot grapes yesterday in Pezerolles and today in Taillepieds – but I’m assuming that they were picking some young vines – these are usually the most precocious.

But never forget that since the late 1990s burgundy became a wine of triage. It’s not how the bunches of grapes look at the start – it’s what you choose to throw away and therefore how best grapes will express themselves as wine. That’s the fun – though clearly we will have many fewer bottles to have fun with in this vintage !!

Here are a few images that date from mid-August up until last Thursday:

Montrachet 20 August

Montrachet 20 August

Richebourg 25 August

Pommard 1er 26 August

Pouilly-Fuissé 5 September

Not so Serene…

It’s the start of August so, as the domaines start to think of their pre-harvest holidays, it’s a worthy time to take stock of the vintage so far.

Complicated !!

Not surprisingly, due to the many complications, it’s going to be a later harvest, and potentially quite a prolonged harvest too.

A microcosm of the vintage is Chablis – to a greater or lesser extent, everywhere is like Chablis – it’s the peaks and troughs of Chablis’ weather patterns that have expressed themselves more in earnest, more brashly, though:

Parts of Chablis were affected by frost – they have seen a lot worse but the effect was there

Parts of Chablis were under water already for the second time in April – La Chapelle-de-Vaupelteigne

Parts of Chablis were hailed already for the 4th time in June – Chichée

Parts of Chablis were decimated by hail – Fourchaume & Fontenay

Most of Chablis has been fighting the mildew – the grapes and the leaves

Most of Chablis has been deluged by stormwater in the last 2 weeks

By a degree – plus or minus but mainly minus – it has been much the same in the rest of Burgundy and Beaujolais. In the last week, there have been heavy storms in the Côte d’Or too – heavy enough rain to start moving some of the topsoil down the hills (Meursault) or to have had some hail mixed in with the water (Saint Aubin).

Everywhere, the vine-treatments have been unending; unless you have been using contact sprays (ie not organic) with your treatments quickly washed away by the rain that punctuates all this year. On average versus the more recent dryer years – the number of treatments have been double.

Until mid-July, and ignoring the much stronger frost of that year, 2024 has reminded me of 2016; an early growing season with so much rain and not that much sunshine – that all changed when the sun came out in mid-July in 2016. This year the sun and warmer weather arrived just a few days later – but the extra warmth and sunlight were still punctuated with much more rainy weather than July/August of 2016.

We will have to wait many months before discussing the wines of 2024 but in terms of the conditions in the vineyards, and the apparent yields of grapes, at this stage we seem to have quite the hierarchical vintage, i.e. the better-placed vineyard sites (1ers and grand crus) seem to have decent yields and (probably due to better drainage) seem to have been much less affected by the mildew. The more ‘humid’ locations having little to no yields and prime mid-slope locations are looking beautiful.

This is going to make life complicated for the harvest !!

2-3 weeks ago, many domaines in the Côte d’Or were thinking about starting their harvest 15-16 September but those dates are already starting to come under a little pressure as domaines think to start 7-10 days earlier. The yields are a complicating factor; the smaller the yields, the faster the grapes will ripen. The higher the yield, the longer a domaine will wait for maturity.

So the harvest timings are currently in-line with 2019 – but with a lower crop this year – and also very close to the 2021 vintage timing.